The Crags

So I'm thinking my latest project is drawing one of the places I love most in Edinburgh, the Crags, with a view to doing some printmaking over winter. I wanted to draw so much more this summer, but other things it's true have taken precedence. I think I love the Crags even more when it's windy and the clouds are dark, mixed with some patches of white and it's all a bit wild just before it begins to rain.

Freedom

This is my final piece relating to the last blog post I wrote, which was all the way back in May. I read in a book, The Creative Gift by HR Rookmaaker, that freedom is not freedom from something but freedom to do something, freedom to act (to paraphrase). When I did this piece I was thinking about freedom from depression. Freedom from slavery, freedom from fear, but what about freedom to stop slavery, freedom to stop fear. I think that there's just something so much more powerful about using "to" instead of "from". How great it would be to always want to run to and not from something. 

Germination

Well, I went to see the RSA New Contemporaries Exhibition. Some interesting pieces and a couple I found a bit disturbing. But needless to say that is just my POV. My favourites pieces had to be those by Jonathan Richards http://www.jpfrichards.com/. I loved the way that the stretched linen (painted with acrylic) on canvas reminded me of the fragility of filo pastry, and that something folded and white could engage me to the extent that I didn't want to stop looking at it. Strongly resisted the urge to touch. This is one of his pieces, but my favourite was a smaller canvas with a lot more folds that were tucked and twisted under and through.

Duncan (2009) - Jonathan Richards

My current project is about what it feels like for me to be free of depression - moving from a place of restriction and darkness to one of openness, light and growth. I've been looking at plants pushing through fences (one of my sketches below) and open and closed doors. I've also planted some lupin seeds to watch new growth and I'm so excited, my first seed sprouted today and pushed its way up through the soil. Below is a photo of the little seedling. As an aside, one of the doors this week was one at St Triduana's Chapel. Apparently St Triduana was one of the virgins who accompanied St Regulas to Scotland in the 6th Century. The story goes that while residing in Angus, she was pursued by Nechtan, the local chieftan who was struck by the beauty of her eyes. Her response to this unwanted affection was to pluck them out and send them to him impaled on a thorn. I've been trying to figure out whether a simple "no" just wasn't working or whether she was trying to point out that admiring her solely for the beauty of her eyes was a bit shallow. Either way, it must've hurt both of them quite badly. Maybe it was for the best??

Cement

Inspired by the desire to convey strong tonal contrasts and by The Baths of Caracalla (below) by Sir David Young Cameron (1865 - 1945), I spent a few days out in a park near me with lots of overcast weather and little shadow, trying to capture some stark whites and deep blacks. But when the sun broke through the clouds it was pretty amazing! I had the usual dogs trying to eat my work and the little kids peering over my pages to see what I was doing (which I always find quite cute). Unfortunately, both dogs and kids got into trouble by owners and parents, particularly as I was standing drawing in a puddle at one stage to get a good vantage point. I also went to an Alan Davie (Scottish Prints) exhibition for inspiration. Some of his prints reminded me of Aboriginal art in Australia. What I probably found most interesting were those of his prints that used thick chunky lines and opaque black. Anyway, the sum of my inspiration are my prints above. I got asked why I printed one with purple ink and I think the answer to that is that I've discovered I find purple romantic and almost moody. This ties in nicely with my current reading of the gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe. I love all the discussion of noble sentiment and the reading aloud of great works of genius and taste. I also love Emily's repeated fainting fits. I'm planning to go see The RSA New Contemporaries Exhibition next week, see http://www.royalscottishacademy.org/pages/exhibition_frame.asp?id=242. Other than that, I'm off to the Yorkshire countryside for a few days for some exploration, laughs and R&R. 

Be Thou My Vision

Yes, guilty as charged. No post for over 2 months. Although people have been using my Titian post as some kind of weird forum and I have to keep using comment moderation to reject their comments. I don't have the heart to delete the post to get rid of the problem as I like the image of Boy with a Pipe too much. So as promised to members of my family, here are photos of my paintings inspired by the last verse of the hymn Be Thou My Vision

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

I'm currently doing a project based on strong tonal contrasts (light and dark) on buildings/walls, but unfortunately, the sun didn't shine (well it did, but just behind the dense clouds!) this week so I'm having a few difficulties with getting a good composition. I've been messing around with etching on metal and perspex though which is fun and new for me. Other than that life alternates from being crazy out of control to being bored and not knowing what to do with myself. Well, adios my dear amigos for now. Hope your life is going sweetly and the sun is shining for you!

Snow shelter

This is a photo I took of my final interactive Shelter sculpture, with some photo tweaking by my sister (thank you!). While there was some idea of photographing it at Portobello beach, I thought the snow would also make a good setting due to the white outer of my sculpture and the contrast of the smooth shell to the crunchy snow. I've now started a new project based around the last verse of a hymn and Christian symbolism. It's at the baby stage, but I'm thinking one of the hard things will be to try to pull it all together in an original, fresh, unstilted way. I'm planning to do a painting or print this time, so it should be less blood as no planned use of sharp implements, but I am sure there will still be sweat and tears! Will keep you updated.