Walkers in the Brecon Beacons earlier this year may have been surprised to come across a group of four men, dressed in warm anoraks and with mittens to protect their fingers, sitting spread out upon steep hillsides with artists’ easels in front of them painting the landscape under looming clouds, writes Robert Macdonald.

If the walkers plucked up the courage to peer over the artists’ shoulders they might see that each of the painters was interpreting the landscape in radically individualistic ways.

The Tower Gallery in Crickhowell has this month being exhibiting the results of all this hardy behaviour showing paintings of the Beacons and other mountainous areas in Wales created outside in all weathers. The exhibition is the product of a remarkable artistic partnership.

The four artists, Andy Lovell, Blaise Thompson, Dan Williams and Mick Armson, all met whilst sharing a studio with fellow illustrators and designers in Shoreditch, East London in the early ‘90s. Although they would go their separate ways over the following decade, the four remained in close contact, very much aware of how each other’s work was developing.

Their converging interests has led to a long creative relationship. Its inception some years ago took the shape of a group drawing trip when they borrowed a cottage high up on an escarpment overlooking Crickhowell and spent a week or more painting not just the mountains but also townscapes. Since then they have met up a further nine times for similar ventures, not just in Wales but in Devon, Kent, East Sussex, the Isle of Wight and Suffolk.

Although the four men draw support from each other and discuss their work at the end of each day’s painting what is clear is that they each go their separate ways, encouraged by their companions but not overly influenced by each other.

They also work in a variety of different media and techniques.

Perhaps the most arresting on entering the Tower Gallery are the very large monotype images produced by Andy Lovell which give an impression of immense rolling mountain scenery and swirling cloud above, two of them entitled ‘Brecon Rhythms’. He also has created large monotypes of Llanthony Abbey which bring to mind John Piper’s boldest works, though very different in technique.

Quite different are the oil paintings by Blaise Thompson which take landscape painting almost to the point of pure abstraction with strong flat colours. His charcoal drawings have a touch of abstract expressionism about them.

Also into colour in a lyrical way is Dan Williams who uses ink and gouache and also oils to turn landscapes into lovely musical compositions with a touch of neo-romanticism in his approach.

Mick Armson tackles the same landscapes with watercolour and ink as well as pencil but he also creates meticulously cut three-colour lino cuts of townscapes and harbour views. His linocut of Crickhowell’s High Street is busy with human activity – tractors and walkers while he also has lively portrayals of Welsh harbour sides with boats, people and gulls

The four men together create one of the most powerful exhibitions of landscapes to be seen proving that there is still immense life in a grand tradition and demonstrating yet again the enduring pull that the Welsh landscape exerts on imaginative and creative minds.

The exhibition continues at the Tower Gallery until Thursday, September 18.