Creating a Sense of Place: Rock Rubbings on Location and Natural Colour.

In order to tie my work more strongly to my source of inspiration (the natural landscape) I began to make rock rubbings with further marks using organic matter. Such matter included seaweed, mud, rocks and sand.

My rubbings were done on location to create a stronger sense of place than previous rubbings done in my studio with rocks taken out of the landscape. The actual experience of being within the natural environment is a key aspect of my practice, like artist Richard Long, the walk itself is part of my work. I visited Swanpool beach then Gylly beach and Castle beach on a walk to Pendennis Point to complete rock rubbings at different points along the walk. The rubbings themselves don’t make the location they were made at easily identifiable, though despite visually not giving a strong sense of place, a rubbing can be more representative than a technically accurate drawing of a location as a rubbing is a direct impression of what is beneath the paper/fabric.

On my visit to Swanpool I experimented with rubbing artificial ‘rock’ – concrete – in order to compare the outcome to that of an organic surface. I found that concrete provided a much more structured and patterned image, where rock is more unpredictable in its detail there is linear pattern in the rubbing of a section of concrete. I am unlikely to follow the idea of rubbing artificial surfaces any further due to the lack of organic-ness provided by such a surface which otherwise is a very prevalent aspect of my practice.

Sparked by my rubbings done at Castle beach where I noticed that, whilst doing my rubbings, some natural pigment was transferring from the rocks onto the back of my fabric, I began to intentionally add colour from nature such as seaweed, mud, sand and rocks by rubbing my fabric over these items. The pigment from doing this was unfortunately not very strong though it did add some colour to my work which was what I had wanted to achieve. I also managed to complete a rock rubbing using a piece of soft rock as the ‘pencil’, though the lines and colour produced was quite subtle, the piece could be my most organic yet; a rock rubbing, done on location, with a piece of rock.