Winter 1956, Yorkshire 1956

Terry Frost made *Winter 1956, Yorkshire*, in 1956 with oil paint on canvas, and you can tell he really worked the surface. There's something about the way he's layered the paint that makes me think about process. Looking closely, you can see the texture is pretty complex. In some areas, the paint is thin and washy, like around the top, but then you've got these thicker, almost sculptural strokes down below. There's a real push and pull between the flatness of the canvas and the illusion of depth. Notice how the verticals run down the painting, but that solid dark block at the top left is really interesting, and seems to hold the composition together. The colours are muted, but that touch of blue is really important. It reminds me a little of the work of Patrick Heron, another British painter with an amazing feel for colour, and that sense of art as an ongoing conversation.