Marginal
Recent work has focused on ephemeral wetlands and marginal spaces between loch and land, habitats which are subject to constant seasonal change, water levels dropping and rising, the rhythm of growth forming and re-forming. Rushes and grasses steadily fill in from the water margins; jumbles of emergent vegetation and half-submerged plants span the surface; channels of deeper water part mats of floating weed competing for space; and where shadows fall they offer wonderful glimpses through the water to what lies beneath. The water surface is interesting to consider, built up of these shapes and textures to form a kind of patina of its own mixed with reflections from sky, trees and scrub.
I began with an ambition to simplify detail, and move towards abstraction of waterscapes and woodlands to make more ambiguous works that left room for interpretation to give a sense and feel of place; a closeness or ‘within-ness’. I started with a sketchbook of small collages, using just a few shapes to describe a loch edge, water surface or woodland fringe, utilizing texture from the paper’s pattern.
I then translated what I learnt from these explorations back into paint, making a series of gouache paintings that aimed to capture the feeling of watery spaces and what they evoke in us, breaking them down into simpler forms, until they were more abstract paintings with a feel of nature or landscape about them.
