Researching Scotland’s Landscapes and a Visit to Snowdon.

After a break from my work over Summer I have been able to reflect further upon my previous work and decide on the route that I will take with my next body of work. A visit to Scotland (Oban and Edinburgh) this August allowed me to research a new environment, being 600 miles away from the Cornish landscapes I had previously been exploring it was intriguing to note both the differences and, more surprisingly, the similarities of the two locations – even the capital of Scotland housed details reminiscent of Cornwall.

My first and main stop was Oban on the West coast where I collected research in many forms including frottage of rocks and textured surfaces, photographs, lichen, pieces of rock, sketches and charcoal from a charred piece of driftwood. I documented textures from Little Horseshoe Bay on the Isle of Kerrera both in a small sketchbook and on a large piece of calico fabric using graphite, also replicating this process on a small rocky beach near Dunollie Castle, Oban. I aim to stretch these two frottage pieces on my return to Falmouth, before adding pigment derived from some rock pieces I collected on location as well as charcoal drawings/markings to create abstract, yet representative, images of both Oban and the Isle of Kerrera.

It was interesting to notice that whilst I was creating imagery of the rock texture beneath the calico, remnants of pigment from mud and the rock itself began to make marks on the back of the fabric. This also occurred on the rubbings done in my sketchbook, the most intriguing example of this was from a frottage piece on a rock covered in barnacles, which created a similar pattern on both the front and back of the sheet of paper; the markings on the back were therefore more natural than those on the front. This sparked the inspiration to create ‘rubbings’ by applying pressure to the top of a piece of fabric/paper (potentially using another small rock in the same way I use graphite) whilst laid over a rock without marking the top side. The sketches and frottage I collected in my sketchbook will potentially be used in making print work based on the location they were completed and/or as inspiration for drawings added to my stretched pieces.

In Edinburgh on a walk up to Arthur’s Seat I took photographs which inspired my colour palette of earthy greens, browns and yellows, textures found in close ups of rocks as well as photographs of the landscape as a whole. The weather on this day was very misty which disguised the urban landscape of the city in the distance, giving the impression that I was in a very remote rural location, similar to those found on the West Coast of Scotland earlier in the week.

I aim to incorporate the suggestion of mist in some of my future works inspired by the trip, fading out the pigment towards the top of my pieces. Mist was also a major feature of the photographs I took of the Isle of Kerrera from the ferry to the Isle of Mull – I captured some beautifully minimal landscapes created by the fog which framed a strip of washed out green across the middle of an almost white sky above and sea below. This may form some new, much more minimal, works focusing on horizon and the strip of land across an image, absent of much colour and absent of frottage.

I also visited Snowdon in an attempt to climb to the summit, collecting rubbings and photos on the way, however very heavy rain, wind and mist meant that I only climbed halfway before turning back. Despite this setback I did manage to capture a few photographs in the vein of those I captured in Scotland the week prior, with mist rolling over the peaks and washing out any colour from the distant hills, creating gradually fading layers of land. This fading layered effect is something that I would love to capture in an abstract manner in one of my future paintings – as I did not manage to collect any frottage pieces from this trip I will create some works based on Snowdon using drawing and painting inspired by the photos I collected, as well as potentially creating some photo etchings. I also collected a few plant samples as a physical token of the location to use in my work somehow, be that in making drawings of them, rubbing them onto my Snowdon works to try and make marks with any pigment that may rub off.

As my work is centred around representing a specific location through process and material rather than visuals, it is important to me to use, where possible, objects and samples that are directly taken from the landscape that I am working to embody.