The painting Separation came about following a journey through the  North Island of New Zealand. Travelling  past the mountains of the central plateau with a glimpse of Mt Taranaki far to the west  I recalled the story of how Taranaki and Tongariro had both loved Pihanga and how, after Tongariro's triumph, Taranaki in anger had fled to the west with the course of the Whanganui  river  marking  his   path. In his separation Taranaki still weeps. 
In the shadow of Ruapehu is Raetihi, once a thriving regional centre. Like many other small rural towns, there is now a real sense of separation from the rest of New Zealand. The ambitiously grand and solid buildings which once housed its post office, banks, theatre and municipal offices are now  tea rooms and craft shops. The mountains of Tongariro National Park which I have  represented in this painting are  where I started tramping and climbing as a teenager.  When I was a young man mountaineering was for many years the driving passion in my life. The mountains I have painted here are the remembered hills of my youth  forever separated from me by the distance of time. The paintings Plateau and Mangaweka also take up this theme