 But this buoyancy was short-lived and by the following year, in "The Fox", currently being exhibited in the Ulster Museum, his mood had changed and a seriousness of purpose began to emerge which eventually overwhelmed him.The strict stylization seen in the latter composition became his hallmark for more than a decade, during which time he nevertheless produced some of his most memorable pictures, including "The Road to the West", 1944, and "The Old Callan Bridge", 1945.In "The Road to the West" he is still at the height of his powers, his treatment of the landscape being entirely original, a sense of discovery still evident, the whole in keeping with the mood of the times.