Sketching at Dunwich heath again. I made several sketches in pencils and pastels and also took photographs.
I’ve been walking The Gorse Walk at Dunwich Heath too and am inspired by the tapesties of colour, shape and texture all around. Saw a herd of red deer on Bunker Hill. Joined the National Trust. I guess (hope) that the deer are safe on National Trust land. Such a shame that animal protection and a natural environment has to be institutionalised yet at least it is still there.
I think that I am preconditioned to want to look at the sea, the land, the bits of the planet remaining from the incessant concreting-over. I want to get away from the plastic. I am concerned about conservation. The planet doesn’t care. It simply “is”. But we should, for ourselves and future generations.
So how does that translate into painting, for me?
1) Sense of place – for me, it’s a celebration of what’s left and something about respect for the planet. Nature now depends on us as much as we depend on it. This is increasingly relegated to the places at the edges of things. Hence I’m wandering around a nature sanctuary adjacent to a power station. How ironic.
2) Perception – Perception is a strange beast – it is both inside and outside ourselves (depending on your philosophical standpoint). Painting is an expression of this. The landscape has elements of something “other” – the non-human world outside ourselves.
3) The enjoyment and pain of the act of painting – exploring colour and texture. I have little time for isms but at times get very concerned about what and why I am painting anyway.
My favourite artists right now in no particular order are Turner, Kiefer, Richter, Shaw, O’Donoghue, Price, Rae, Jackson, Fieler, Lanyon and Eardley.
