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Stephen Hopper

22/05/2026

'Echoes of Giants on the White Slope'

At the Head of the White Slope (Pen Yr Ole Wen), the cunning mist—at once benign yet concealing hidden dragons—demands certainty of footing.
It’s here that steps of giants once creased the rocks, sending bloody streams through the veins of an ancient past.
Shrieking around the peak’s wizened head, cracked consonants and vexatious vowels of Princes past—Llywelyn and Dafydd—echo into the void.
To experience the slope’s majesty, the traveler needs to embrace weariness and wariness in equal measure. Respect its presence, and Wales’s seventh highest peak will reveal its seventh heaven.

My oil painting and narrative of Pen Yr Ole Wen (The Head of The White Slope) looking West towards Yr Wyddfa, Eryri. Oil on Claesson canvas 40 x 50cms.

07/05/2026

Tonal grisaille from my wanderings in the Welsh 3000s of the Carneddau – in the footsteps of brothers Llywelyn and Dafydd.
And with next stage of oil colour in progress..

11/04/2026

If you've never been to Cym Idwal, go there.
Here is my narrative ...

'Fire & Ice in The Devil’s Kitchen'

"Forged from the ancient granite of millennia, the giant armchair of Cwm Idwal is a canvas sculpted by a glacial alchemist.
Between Glyder and Garn—the ‘Twll Du’ or ‘Devil’s Kitchen’—is a deep, fiery chasm from which foreboding mist plumes skyward. And bird song is eclipsed by the screams of a 12th-century prince drowned in the lake by an ice-blooded uncle.
It’s here amongst the moraines and heather-covered mounds that Darwin catalogued rare and delicate plant life, clinging to life in the stillness.
Flowing out from this Devil’s pestle, the cascading, clear, oligotrophic waters of Afon Idwal sound a musical torrent of myth, legend, and mystery."

28/03/2026

'Fire & Ice in The Devil's Kitchen' – charcoal grisaille underdrawing for next oil painting...
And first thin colour glazing...
Echoes of the dastardly Nefydd Hardd, marine fossils discovered by Darwin, a mountaineer's playground, and a birdless lake...
Not short of inspiration in this place!

18/03/2026

Resuming work on my new portrait of Wilfred Owen—during the week of his birthday—drawn from his poem Anthem for Doomed Youth.
I attended the Wilfred Owen Birthday Lecture on Monday at Craiglockhart Campus, Edinburgh University—once the WWI military hospital where Owen was treated. The lecture, delivered by Major General Tim Hodgetts, was both powerful and sobering.
A long-serving medic, he brought into sharp focus the horrors Owen must have witnessed. He described the grim task of assembling the dead—recalling a moment when a severed leg did not match the torso it was meant to belong to.
A stark reminder that war is neither heroic nor an ‘excursion’ nor adventure.
As Owen expressed it, 'the absurdity, the “pity” of it all.'
This new portrait, once completed, will be unveiled alongside an earlier piece later this year.

04/02/2026

Any Gin-drinkers out there?
'The Source of The Spirit' (narrative in images)
Oil on linen, 40 x 50cms
This painting of Rhiwargor waterfall, Lake Vrynwy, is currently for sale in the Willow Gallery, Oswestry. It's part of my new series of expressionist landscapes.
A limited edition print run of ONLY 50 giclée prints is available—as is a 5-pack of greetings cards—featuring a selection of the new work – details will follow soon!
Commissions are welcome – message me for details.

22/01/2026

I’m delighted to be exhibiting some of my recent work as part of the New Year Open Exhibition at the Willow Gallery in Oswestry. The gallery is one of the foremost contemporary galleries in Shropshire and the North West. Relax with a coffee or lunch amongst some exceptional art!

14/01/2026

'Footprints of The Lost Legions'
Oil on linen, 40 x 50cms

This painting was commissioned by a client in Ireland and is part of a new series of expressionist landscapes. Examples of my new work are currently for sale in the Willow Gallery, Oswestry.
Commissions are welcome – message me for details.

13/01/2026

'The Indifferent Hunger of The Sea'
Oil on canvas, 40 x 60cms. Currently on sale at the Willow Gallery, Oswestry.

An abstract study of a petrified forest—wretched roots wrestled from life by waves of salted, scouring tides.
Amidst relics of human habitation, suffocated by creeping silt, the coast of Wales near Borth resembles an alien tapestry in colour and form.
Inspired by contemporary Welsh poet Gillian Clarke’s work Cantre’r Gwaelod (The Drowned Hundred)—a legendary ‘Atlantis’ lost under Cardigan Bay—the piece makes specific reference to the relentless indifference of a ravenous sea.
The futility of man-made intervention lies stripped bare. Leaving behind the bleached skeleton of a Canute-like coastline— featuring tree stumps from oaks, pines, and willows preserved in peat, dating back around 4,500-5,000 years.

14/12/2025

'What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds.'

Wilfred Owen. One day before his death. Eight days before the armistice.

Work in progress - composition, charcoal and tonal values before the underpainting.
.art.ists

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Llanrhaeadr-Ym-Mochnant

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