As part of the next exhibition, I have been developing a sequence of works

based on the experiences I have had walking, collecting and researching

my work along the shores of the many and varied coastlines of Scotland.

 

 Ardneil Bay and Arran, on the Firth of Clyde.

 

                                                                          

Working studies for Walking The Coast

When out collecting and researching for new work, my travels take me to a wide variety different places. I am lucky enough through the years to have had the opportunity to experience the incredible beauty, colour and diversity of landscape, people and folklore of my native Scotland.

During the course of a typical journey my studies will, inevitably, lead me back on to one of those thin strips of land which we call the shore. The edge has a curious and magnetic fascination that has been with me since boyhood, growing up on the shores of the Firth of Tay, and the coasts of Angus and North East Fife.

 

A snowy Clyde coast and Arran.

Working from my sketchbook notes, I have chosen to create a series of eight coasts which have made a significant contribution to my art. Each piece consists of a painted panel representing the colour and mood of the area (based on the working studies above) with a recessed box containing a small collection of objects, or votive offering to the shore.

The coastline experiences being used in this sequence are from Ardneil Bay, Ayrshire; Abertay Sands, Fife; Uig Bay, Skye; Traigh Mor, Lewis; The Tan, Argyll and Bute; Loch na Keal, Mull; Kingoodie Bay, Tayside; and Stenness, Shetland.

Notebook pages for votive offerings

The following are working notes from my Moleskines for Walking The Coast. They are my ‘memoria technica’ so therefore may seem disjointed, but they should help to get the basic ideas behind each piece. (There are a few references to the working title of Walking The Coast (with Joe’s ghost), and during the development of this idea I was carrying around a copy of Joseph Cornell’s Vision of Spiritual Order in my work bag. Good company on any journey!)

(more text to follow)

 

 

This entry was posted on Friday, December 25th, 2009 at 8:06 pm and is filed under Collecting and researching, Work in progress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.