I struggled to place the items back in the landscape. The process of collecting and painting had become a ‘thing’ in itself, and so when it came to placing such jarring colours into this site which had provided me with a calm respite from the constant stream of visitors, (which is wonderful but sometimes some space alone with your thoughts is needed!!) I think I was startled into doubting whether this was actually an appropriate thing to be doing. No matter where I placed the stones it just didn’t seem to feel right or make any sense at all. It felt like I was placing with no real consideration for why.
Why was I doing this really? I had placed the stones in piles of mixed colour, I had scattered them along the banks on both sides of the stream, but it was starting to feel like I was creating a strange cartoon-like scene, (which I really wasn’t). I sat for a while and allowed my thoughts to settle. The thought of man attempting to create order and control in the landscape came back to me. This was a concept that started my explorations within the landscape and so it seemed appropriate to use this when placing the stones. I decided to order the stones by size. Laying them out in a straight line, the two colours separated. As soon as I did this they seemed to have strength that was missing when they were piled or scattered. They commanded the space and stood out for their unnatural placement as well as unnatural colour. I like how they direct the eye to the boundary of the farm, marked by an electric fence. They lay alongside the edge of the stream, a waterway- which is often regarded as markers andboundaries within the landscape. There is a stillness to the stones when placed in a line, they cut through the view. They don’t overpower the view, but they are not engulfed in the immenseness of the land. I wonder whether they would look better if they were a single colour, but I like that there is a duality. It seems to highlight the notion of a boundary. The here and there, mine and yours. A boundary implied by difference.
