| Project Title: Green Light |
| Venue: WI Hall, Polruan, Cornwall PL23 1QA |
| Date: Saturday October 5th 2024 |
Artist Statement
I draw inspiration from my coastal surroundings where I walk every day with my dog. I delight in the detail of the wild undergrowth on the footpath as much as the sight of the ever changing views of the sea. I take numerous photos in order to find shapes and compositions.
I am developing as an intuitive painter of abstracted landscapes. My inspiration is taken from daily walks along the Cornish Coast Path where I live. By restricting myself to using my immediate locality I am learning to see more. The detail of the undergrowth and the surface upon which I walk – in addition to the sight of the ever-changing light on the sea, provide me with a bank of ideas.
I work in acrylics and have been using numerous techniques for creating vibrant intuitive paintings inspired by my local landscape. Using a diverse range of tools and techniques for mark making, I create subtle textures in my paintings. I use numerous transparent glazes to build up an intensity of colour in order to increase its intensity. Apart from being quick drying, acrylics offer the possibility of building other effects by layering, stencilling and the removal of paint. Working intuitively, I allow the paintings to develop slowly.
Contextual Statement
Living on the coast of South East Cornwall my local landscape is very diverse. Temperate rainforest lines the River Fowey, large untouched areas of bracken, brambles and gorse line the Coast Path – and a few miles inland there is desolate moorland. It provides a home for a variety of rare flora, lichens, mosses and fungi – and so the preservation of this place is important.
The visual concept of my final project, Green Light, centres around my excited reactions to the intensely bright, verdant foliage of early spring in the woodland as I drive down a steep wooded hill near my home. I sought to encourage my viewers’ engagement with the psychological and environmental significance of their local woodland. By celebrating the colour green I aimed, in addition, to contribute to broader discussions amongst the viewers about its effect on our mental health.
I created a series of nine large-scale paintings, each measuring 90 x 90 cms, and I used a deliberately restricted palette of Lemon Yellow, Paynes Grey, and occasional touches of Titanium White. By limiting my palette, I immersed myself in a focused exploration of colour mixing and tonal variation, which ensured that the series was cohesive visually. I used many layers of glazing to intensify the colours, building depth and interest.
I challenged and expanded my practice as a painter, pushing my technical boundaries to find a way of representing my reaction to the sight and colour of this woodland. I set the paintings amongst ferns and leafy branches, forming a large installation from within which my soundscape played. Made with the intention of disrupting the viewers’ experience by including the sounds of traffic, a jet plane overhead and a chainsaw, its gentle sounds were interrupted to remind us of man’s destructive effects on our planet.
The Installation of paintings was set amongst leafy branches and ferns
Click for the soundscape which played from within the installation.
I used a gelli plate and the same limited palette to create these prints.