For this exhibition I’ve decided to focus on my own front yard – the misty sandstone cliffs and valleys of the Blue Mountains.When Charles Darwin first laid eyes on the massive cliffs of the Blue Mountains in 1836, he was deeply impressed by their ability to convey a window into the ancient past, through the layers of time they indicated. So much so that he gained crucial insights into what, 20-years later, became his mainstream Evolutionary theory.The paintings I’ve been making from here are attempts at poetic investigations into similar impressions – but with the benefit (and accompanying confusion) of the much wider lens of today’s science, geology, archaeology and painting language. From this viewpoint, the mists forming and vanishing in the sandstone valleys are no longer a symbol for the contrast between transience and permanence – both the mist and the even the stone itself are moving, changing creations in time – driftless. – Neil Taylor, 2019.Neil Taylor has been a Finalist in major prizes; most recently the Tattersalls Club Landscape Art Prize (2018). His has exhibited in the NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize, KAAF Art Prize and Calleen Art Award, Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Art Prizes. He is a past Winner of the Mount Eyre and Gosford Art Prizes and a previous winner of the Viewer’s Choice Award for the Mosman Art Prize.