Be Something (Fine) - Mixed Media on Canvas - 900 x 900
Recently sold, this painting explores themes that are becoming more and more a part of my creative output. There are obvious references to coastal landscape running across the top part of the composition, a harbour wall (perhaps) seen from above and in profile. the curving birds-eye harbour motif is something I frequently use in compositions. I think of the harbour as a protective hug, something both human and industrial. A caring arm around a shoulder, a warm embrace or a place of refuge for boats and sailors. A place to shelter from the storm.
Pages from sketchbook - July 2019 - S
St Agnes (north Cornwall) Trevaunance Cove (page from sketchbook 2019)
I am also intrigued by the erosion and devastation evident in coastal landscapes. Cornwall is generous in its provision of awe inspiring landscapes. Conversely, the Cornish coast shows signs almost wherever you look of a ravaged, scarred and eroded landscape. The Cornish landscape has been exploited for many generation. Minerals extracted. Industrial waste discarded. Cliffs battered by storms. The persistent erosion of the tide. Geology and archeology revealed. What I get from observing all of this is the amazing beauty that remains. The landscape adapts and nature enhances. This provides me with a rich vocabulary of marks, gestures and motifs to explore.
Trevaunance Cove
The painting Be Something (Fine) explores the notion that it is possible to find beauty in that which is broken or damaged. Referencing landscape and drawing on memory the marks, patterns and images used are about being in the landscape. A particular landscape at a particular moment and more generally it's about a life time living by the coast and walking through and experiencing being in the landscape. Being Something.
It is also about trying to tread lightly through the landscape, trying to explore and enjoy without exploiting it. about Being Something ( Fine ).
It also references (in the title) a line from a song by Richard Thompson (a musical hero of mine). From the 2003 album Old Kit Bag the opening track is called Gethsemane.
Bedruthen Steps - Sunset
コメント