KENNETH WEBB | In the Steps of Alcock and Brown
Oil on Canvas
61 x 91cms / 24 x 36 inches
Signed Webb (lower right)
In the Steps of Alcock and Brown by Kenneth Webb portrays the historic Connemara boglands near his Ballinaboy studio, where the first transatlantic flight landed in 1919. Rows of hand-cut peat stretch across violet-toned water, reflecting a sky alive with memory and meaning. Waterlilies bloom amid earthy furrows, echoing the land’s transformation. This lyrical painting bridges history, nature and innovation, capturing the quiet power of place as a vessel for human spirit and connection.
In this evocative landscape, Kenneth paints a place where history, innovation and natural beauty converge: the peat bogs adjacent to his Ballinaboy studio in Connemara. This stretch of land, now peaceful and quiet, was once the site of remarkable global achievement: the landing place of Alcock and Brown in 1919, following the first nonstop transatlantic flight, and before that, home to the Marconi Station, where the world’s first regular transatlantic wireless messages were sent.
In the Steps of Alcock & Brown captures this confluence of past and present, memory and meaning. The composition is structured and lyrical. Rows of hand-cut peat fields stretch rhythmically across the land, their dark troughs filled with still water that glows with sky-reflected violet and sapphire. Amid these human-made forms are natural ones, waterlily pools blooming with colour, echoing the vitality of the bog’s ongoing transformation. The distant hills, familiar in silhouette, rise gently beyond, bathed in soft lilac and rose tones.
The palette here is one of balance - earthy browns and greens coexist with radiant hues of amber, teal and blush. As always, Kenneth’s fascination lies not only in surface beauty but in emotional depth. This is not a nostalgic view, but a meditation on connection. The title itself becomes a metaphor. Just as Alcock and Brown bridged continents, Kenneth bridges past and present, nature and memory, with each brushstroke. His paintings are, like the Marconi transmissions, acts of communication - visual signals sent across time and space to share emotion, insight and wonder. In this way, In the Steps of Alcock & Brown is a celebration of the power of place, the imagination it inspires and the human spirit that dares to traverse it.
