wood and plaster

Tectonic plates are very much in the news at the moment, and mostly for all the chaos their sudden and cataclysmic movement causes. My work looks at the effects of these shifts, and forces, and celebrates the amazing results’ for example, the fabulous folds of rocks in the Himalayas, the amazing contortions in the Grand Canyon, the birth of islands from volcano’s. The Earth is very much a dynamic and ever changing planet, and the forces of nature, make me feel humble in comparison.

Gesso sphere’s

comIt’s hard to come down from working on your creative vision, to having to think about, bank accounts and all the other stuff that goes with being self employed, and trying to find a balance. I tend to think of this “books and Bills” time as a kind of Hell that I have to survive before I can get on with the good stuff, at present I am resigned to having a miserable Monday, so bring it on, lets open the bank stuff and look at money out and money in(what money in?). OK that’s moan of the day, on a more positive note, I have reached the half way point in my current work, and of a hundred micro panels that I am making, I have completed 50. A really good thing about working small, is that if I get too crabby with admin, I can just pick up a panel and start work without to much trouble. I will show you a couple of my most recent pieces.

gesso micro panel

micro gesso panel

One of the most fascinating things about working on these earth scapes, is the understanding of how these amazing formations occur, wondering how on earth mountains can crease and wrinkle, how  fabulous patterns, such as folds in saline rocks, moraine bands on glaciers, and ripples on dunes happen. Huge cataclysmic forces of nature, some explosive, as in eruptions from the core of the earth, others over millions of years, as in the forces of erosion. It may be that it will be the combination of forces that carves out a landscape, such as wind and glaciation, intense heat and freezing cold, cause cracking and melting. I digress, but my work as an artist is thinking about these things whilst working, some could call it meditation, or getting into the work, but it is at these times that I feel a connection to the subject, deeply involved wih the forms I am creating. The patterns of the earth are I am convinced a deeply internalised part of our psyche, and speak to me on many levels.

5″x5″ tile with gesso relief acrylic and wax

My hands are constantly dirty, and covered with paint, but there is a satisfaction in this, it is the mark of work in progress.

gesso and acrylic on tile