Blog

Could I invent dioramas, not based on real landscape views, but based on memory, and inventing my own landscapes from things I’ve seen and am interested in in the landscape. Let’s try! Drawing. Today I made this cardboard sculpture of Zennor Quoit. This is the site I have based this sculpture on: Making the sculpture…… Continue reading St Ives 12.3

Leon and I did a 17.5 mile hike yesterday! We did part of the Tinners Way, and went to see Zennor Quoit, a bronze age rock arrangement thing. It was grey and rained all day!!! I kept saying the word theatrical – Leon made fun of me for it. We walked inland, along the moors…… Continue reading St Ives 11.3

The theatre/stage is an exciting metaphor to think about the sea because these words have connotations of being enacted by humans. We humans necessarily make pictures in our minds of our places and our world. But we can only do this by selection, putting some things into the picture and leaving the rest out. And…… Continue reading St Ives 10.3

Thinking about dioramas and staging today. I’ve started these two canvases of views from Porthmeor beach. I’m doing them because I’m interested in making the landscape seem like a stage. But how do I do that? I think I need to research stages, stage sets. What makes a stage? Do I want to overthink it…… Continue reading St Ives 8.3

I went outside and drew on Porthmeor Beach this afternoon. I did some very observation drawings for the first while and then I did some very expressive, gestural marks of the sky – like I used to paint! I felt something in my shifting when I did this. A feeling of right-ness? But then that…… Continue reading St Ives 9.3

Yesterday was a sick day, today was a semi sick day, bleh. This meant no outdoor walking or drawing/painting!! Lame!! I am dying to get outside. I think tomorrow I will be well enough. I was in the studio for a couple of hours today, painting little paintings, trying to find something to do that…… Continue reading St Ives 6/3

Bit of an iffy day so far. I think because I didn’t find my jam, nothing to grip onto and focus on. I sort of did stuff and then here I am. No big revelations or big new things! In the morning I was outside drawing for a few hours. I went to St Nicholas…… Continue reading St Ives 4.3

I went on a walk today, I set off West from Porthmeor beach, towards Lands End (28 miles away). It was blue skies but getting greyer as the day went on. I planned to walk for a few hours, doing a loop inland to get back, but on a headland just before losing St Ives…… Continue reading St Ives 3.3.23

I’m here! I think I want to do a hike tomorrow. It’s supposed to be grey for the next few days, boo! I think I’ll set off West around the SW Coast Path towards Lands End, and see how far I get, perhaps to around Zennor. I also want to look into doing a yoga…… Continue reading St Ives 2.3.23

Artist Nuria Rovira and I have an on-going ‘Writing Exchange’ that started when we were running the artist collective The GAP Studio. We take it in turn to write an essay to each other, in an on-going conversation on place-based making. This essay is my most recent response. Readers don’t need to have read the…… Continue reading Essay: Making In Place