Stretching Canvases and Working on the 'Scotland Series'.

I have spent my first proper week in my new studio preparing for and beginning work on my series of paintings based on my visit to Scotland in August, two of these paintings will be based on the Isle of Kerrera, and two on a secluded rocky beach in Oban. I made stretchers for these pieces, stretched the canvas then began work on three of the four works: ‘Kerrera 1’, ‘Kerrera 2’ and ‘Oban 1’ as they are currently named.

After stretching these pieces I also processed the rocks and charcoal I collected from the two locations ready to paint with. From Oban I have four hues of brown to brick red to incorporate into those two paintings and from Kerrera, some charcoal sourced from a charred log near Gylen Castle on the south of the island.

The first piece I worked on was ‘Kerrera 1’, with a base of rock frottage in graphite from Little Horseshoe Bay (Kerrera) worked into with a paint made from the crushed charcoal mixed with water and gum arabic then added to by subtly drawing onto the painting with a small stick of the remaining charcoal. The method of using darker tones at the bottom of the piece gradually getting lighter towards the top was intended to represent the mist that befell the island during my time there. However, I am uncertain as to how effectively this comes across; the piece appears slightly unfinished, though at present I am unsure of what finishing touches it needs so I will give this work a break whilst working on some other pieces to give myself a fresh view of it. There are areas I am particularly fond of though, the lighter, even unpainted patches towards the bottom of the piece where the jagged edges of the darker tones meet the light greys and blank canvas, emphasises the layers of the pigment and therefore the layers of the misty landscape of Kerrera on that day.

'Kerrera 1'

Subtle marks drawn onto 'Kerrera 1' with charcoal

Again, so far, I have similar mixed feelings towards ‘Oban 1’. There is a certain motion evident in the splashes of colour on this piece, within some sections one can almost picture the brush strokes being made. This is something I find works well in the piece which is brought to life by this motion – the original scene was not completely stationary so why should its representative painting be so? However, there are other aspects of the piece which I find to appear unfinished or just slightly unrefined. The pigment, and therefore a lot of the emphasis, is focused towards just the central and bottom areas of the piece, making it not quite cohesive as a single entity: the edges need to be incorporated into the main body of the painting slightly more with the use of rock pigment. To do this I will take the time to plan and perhaps make small experiments to test out the most effective composition of colour, in a contrast to the rather expressive and free way that I completed the rest of the painting.

'Oban 1'

I took a different approach to painting ‘Kerrera 2’, one that I have not yet used in my land paintings, which was not to use the base of rock frottage as a background/starting point to my painting. This was not accidental – I intended to explore this method of working from when I set out to complete this miniseries of Scotland works in an attempt to discover which was the more effective composition for these land paintings. The result of such a method is a much more minimal, calmer outcome: without the background ‘noise’ of the rubbings the focus is solely on the charcoal painting and the landscape it represents. However, a potential drawback of this technique is the loss of one of the key ties the original landscape (in this case the Isle of Kerrera) has to the painting: the frottage is a direct impression of the very specific location that the piece represents, the loss of this could cause a slightly lessened sense of place within the piece. Though this is not a major issue as the charcoal that the piece is painted with was directly sourced from Kerrera, keeping the piece authentic.

Another difference is that this piece is much more visually representative of the landscape it is embodying. I took inspiration visually from one of the photographs I took of Kerrera from the Isle of Mull Ferry where the island is reduced to a washed out, grey/green strip across the centre of the pale grey sea and sky. Whereas usually my works are representative of a specific location due to both their literal content (rock pigment, charcoal pigment, frottage etc.) and the process that I followed to create them. After creating a piece through this more literal method I can say that both techniques create an effective impression and sense of place in two differing ways and I intend to follow up both methods in future, starting with the creation of a second Oban painting sans frottage.

'Kerrera 2'

Photograph of Kerrera in Mist from the Isle of Mull Ferry

Even writing this now, the next steps for the three paintings ‘Kerrera 1’, ‘Kerrera 2’ and ‘Oban 1’ feel much clearer, this time of reflection has enabled me to articulate what is positive and what needs improvement in each of them.

A one-to-one tutorial with my tutor this week highlighted some potential areas for development within my practice. A key point was to explore scale and space further, expanding past the edges of the canvas which could in some views appear to cut off some of the image. To do this I could digitally manipulate some of my current works, photocopying and magnifying them to experiment with their scale, or I could simply make some larger works. Though I will consider the photocopier method, I am already planning to create some much larger scale works, perhaps working with my frottage-on-muslin pieces from last year or with new works. Using scale as a tool within my practice will hopefully make my work a more immersive experience for the viewer in a way inspired by Mark Rothko’s immense, overwhelming colour pieces that almost surround a viewer. This will also enable me to more accurately represent a landscape in its entirety.

In this exploration of scale and space I also intend to delve into sculpture as a medium, potentially arranging/displaying my larger scale works in a sculptural manner or briefly installing them within the landscape as a kind of sculpture, perhaps in homage to the Land Art movement.