The Picturesque was a highly popular idea in the mid- to late eighteenth century. It encouraged viewing the natural landscape as if it were a picture in a frame. William Gilpin (1724–1804), generally accepted as the founder of the Picturesque movement, set out his ideas in a series of written guides to areas with dramatic scenery, such as the Wye Valley and the Lake District, illustrated with his own watercolours. He famously observed that nature rarely produces a flawless composition, giving artists permission to modify reality, adding a dramatic tree to block a dull view, shifting a hill, or artificially roughening calm water to improve the overall effect. Gilpin preferred ancient, storm-scarred or twisted trees over smooth, young saplings, as their rugged shapes added texture and visual interest.

For this painting, Myrna also draws on a newer concept of the ‘hyper-picturesque’, landscapes, settings or digital artworks that go far beyond standard scenic beauty to achieve an idealised, ultra-vivid scene. She incorporates digital elements while retaining the traditional, picturesque treatment of trees. All source images and photographs were taken along the River Wye; she made a digital collage of different elements on her iPad, adjusting exposure and lighting and using post-processing to create the final image before painting.