Misty Larchwood, Autumn

This is, in essence, a classic example of Hitchens's mature art. Asked to analyse it, he would most likely have pointed to the strong horizontal movement, given room to move rhythmically from left to right by the canvas dimensions (two-and-a-half times wider than it is high) and balanced by the only slightly less powerful vertical movement in four compartments. Once having established this surface structure, we are ready to look into the picture and follow the path receding from the foreground in a series of lights and darks to the vertical 'waterfall' of blue. Back again in the foreground, we take note of the two tree trunks bending away from each other and thereby leading the eye this way and that over the canvas to explore the rest of the painting: yellow answering yellow, Venetian red on the left luring us down that path again, browns on the right bringing us back and upwards. Thus, behind the seemingly riotous splashes of colour, all is carefully ordered with a complex system of balances both on the surface and in depth, which will keep the eye exploring year after year.

P.K.