This is my first residency, first blog and the first time I will be working within the genre of Landscape.
The residency is a virtual one, so I expect to be spending more time photographing the scenery in Derbyshire than being in Lincoln. I have just 12 weeks and 23 locations to visit before the finished work is presented. It will be a challenge !
The work is inspired by the 18thC teasets made by Derby Porcelain in the Charles Norman Collection at the Usher Gallery in Lincoln. There are 2 teasets. Both show idylic landscape scenes. The pink one is painted by the artist Thomas ‘Jockey’ Hill and the yellow one by George Robertson. All of the locations are listed and many are in Derbyshire. My aim is to visit as many places as possible, photograph them as they are today and document what I see there. In other words, walk in the shoes of the original artists.
My first port of call was Dale Abbey in Derbyshire. A place I hadn’t visited in 20 years. The surprise was that it’s in someones garden ! On the garden side it had been renovated and on the footpath side it had been left to crumble. It’s still an impressive example of an Abbey window from the 12th or 13thC. Unfortunately it was not the right time for photographs. The setting sun was shining right at me through the Abbey window. Returning the next morning at 6am got me some satisfying shots. I’m sure this will happen a lot, going to a place to juge the best time for a photo then going back later.
On closer inspection of the stone window some faint graffitti could be seen and deep shadows were cast from the nettles and wild flowers.
