I’ve always had a fascination with layers, hinting at hidden stories from the past and nowhere is this more visually pertinent than on the Jurassic Coast of Dorset, UK.
So last May (2023) I took myself on a two week, self-imposed residency/ retreat on the Isle of Portland.
The island, tied to the mainland near Weymouth, is tiny but full of monumental wonders - giant cliffs; quarries of white Portland Stone; lighthouses, ‘pirate’ gravestones, fossils, shipwrecks and (it being May) a plethora of wild flowers.
Sea Thrift covered the shoreline and coastpath like a shimmering pink carpet. ‘Thrift’ is a response to the ubiquitous pattern dotted against the Oolite ( Portland stone).
Unbelievably, every day was one of blue skies and warm sunshine which added to a feeling of ease and freedom – long stretched out days filled with fresh, flourishing beauty.
I had decided to take only my small sketchbook; related sketching materials and watercolours. I was keen to rediscover the qualities of these portable mediums. One or two of these sketches, minimal in nature, intrigued me the most and kick-started a spark back in the studio on my return.
I wanted to retain a quality of these sketches so some of the paintings have a more fluid quality in parts and show a new-found delight in the colour green.
The paintings are a homage to the wide open skies, the vastness of the sea where often the horizon line seemed like a mirage and played tricks on my eyes; and lush greens and pinks of the landscape. I wanted to convey that sense of luxurious privilege in experiencing so much space.
Memory is a step removed from the physical presence of experience. For me, there is an other-worldly approach to my paintings. Yes, they are landscapes but adjusted and reconfigured to become a heightened visual sensation of the essential parts, intending to convey an overall mood of nostalgia and longing.
Feelings of peace, joy and melancholy intermingle too. Sometimes all three are present in the spirit of ‘bittersweetness’ - often I think this is where the beauty is to be found, at the very edge of these poles.