“Misty Mountain Hop” expresses my experience of a foggy, rain-soaked early morning in Milford Sound. The painting reimagines cool blue light as the sun tries to break through the cloud and mist, faintly illuminating the fading forms of the enshrouded mountains. The painting plays with the boundary between solid form and shifting atmosphere. My approach favours suggestion and emotional clarity rather than literal detail. Technically, I build depth through successive layers of translucent colour and careful blending, reducing detail so value and temperature govern spatial relationships. Edges are softened, forms layered, and highlights placed sparingly to let light and shadow indicate distance. I work from sketches, photographs, and recollection so that the painting reflects my experience rather than simply being a transcription of the actual place.