photographing my work

i've told many many people that photos of the 100 birds would be appearing on my blog. that's still my intention.... and although i've been very busy it's not because i've been lying on the beach soaking in the autumn rays (though that is very tempting)....... it's more that the photos are terrible and don't do the work justice and i can't quite bring myself to put them up. i've tried a bit of tweaking on photoshop- just to try and bring them back to as close to the original as possible. it sort of works but i do like them to be on a white background and just to do that to the one above took well over an hour. as the colours and textures are very subtle i think they are probably tricky to photograph accurately. i will take some of the ones yet to fly the nest to a professional photographer, compare my attempts and give you an update. i've always been happy with my own photographs and like to do things myself but spending hours fiddling around with photoshop feels like a massive waste of time.... especially when i could be on the beach!

the funkin' art radio show

the weekend before my exhibition i was invited to be interviewed on source fm's 'the funkin' art radio show'. every saturday sarah-jane marsden has a chat with a local artist about their life, work and favourite things. there's a round up of the week's art events and exhibitions in cornwall and roving reporter, lizzie waddling is out interviewing from a mystery location! all in all it's a great show.

i was very nervous and never having been on radio before i wasn't sure if i'd go all quiet and monosyllabic or be quite chatty. fortunately it turned out to be the latter.... and the show actually over ran by half an hour. but this was ok as the following programme was pre-recorded music so luckily it didn't mess up the schedule for the day.....phew!

having found the portacabin that houses source fm tucked away outside the local adult education centre i ventured inside and made a cup of tea. the recording room with it's egg box style decor is home to an alarming array of buttons and switches. it was a huge relief to find that i didn't have to wear any of the big head phones or be wired up to any switch boards! 

sarah-jane is a great interviewer which made things easy from the outset. very soon i relaxed into it and there was no stopping me. i'd been asked to choose two tracks (exciting- a bit like desert island discs....) and i think i was really concerned about trying to provide enough background information to put these music choices into context. so much so that i nearly forgot to mention my exhibition dates!

i admitted to liking to sniff my old singer sewing machine live on air!! (my favourite smell). and whilst trying to describe my porcupine quill (my favourite object) i amused myself by holding it up to the microphone to 'show' it to the listeners! 

it was a really fun experience- next stop tv. well, i am going to the antiques roadshow in falmouth this week so you never know......

you can follow this link and listen to the show HERE

the poly members show

going back in time to mid july i was busy painting away in my studio. all members of 'the royal cornwall polytechnic society' (locally referred to as 'the poly') were invited to exhibit up to four pieces in the annual members show. i'd painted my first twenty or so pictures which i really wasn't happy with. i had started '100 birds' intending to work my way through 100 different species of sea and coastal birds spotted and recorded in cornwall since the 1950s. i painted 19 different species of gull! here they are for the record......

1- sabine's gull, 2- kittiwake, 3- bonaparte's gull, 4- black-headed gull, 5- little gull, 6- laughing gull, 7- franklin's gull, 8- mediterranean gull, 9- audouin's gull, 10- common gull, 11- ring-billed gull, 12- lesser black backed gull, 13- herring gull, 14- yellow-legged gull, 15- caspian gull, 16- american herring gull, 17- iceland gull, 18- glaucous gull, 19- great black-backed gull.

that's a lot of gulls! although i thought my paintings were terrible i definitely learnt a lot about gulls. i also looked up their eggs and included those in the pieces. i moved on to an oyster catcher and a chough. i'm not really sure if you can count the chough as a seabird but it seemed crazy not to include the national symbol of cornwall in the 100.

it's strange how things turn out. i would never really have considered painting a chough as pictures of them are found frequently down here and i think i felt that it would be a bit obvious, something for tourists, not quite as bad as pasties and piskies but edging towards that terrain. they are however stunning birds and in painting the chough i made a bit of a break through.

i really didn't consciously think of the title '100 birds' or know how the exhibition would evolve. every time i thought about what to do i came up with many ideas which all seemed ok. every time i went out walking, not thinking about the exhibition at all, the phrase '100 birds' kept repeatedly coming into my mind. i have no idea where it came from but each time it grew louder and louder until finally i listened, and adopted it as my title. my instinct was just to start painting birds and see where it went. but i guess i thought about it a little too much and came up with the idea of the 100 different cornish seabirds. that seemed like a good idea and so i set about my research. however, things weren't going well and i couldn't tell if it was because i hadn't painted properly for about 15 years or something else. i persevered and moved on to the chough. finally things started falling into place. the poly show came round and the only piece i felt happy with showing was the chough . i hastily dropped it off and walking past the building the following evening i was both surprised and happy to see it in the window. almost immediately i was getting inquiries from people wanting to buy it. this was encouraging. after much thought i realised what had happened differently with this painting. i had a strong image of a chough in my mind so didn't have to refer to photographs as with the previous gulls. this gave the painting a spontaneity, an immediacy and it was all coming through me, from me. i felt a huge sense of relief as i scrapped all the lists, all the photos and all the research and returned to my original instinct to paint birds- any birds, just birds.

pictures to come soon!

my poor blog has been sadly neglected and is also sadly pictureless at the moment..... never have i had more i'd like to write but absolutely no time in which to do it. there is one more day of my exhibition to go (monday) and tomorrow is my first proper day off for the last 3 months. all week there has been a mixed forecast for falmouth but sunday has consistently had a reassuring yellow sun..... until this evening when it became a grey cloud....

i feel as if nature has been with me throughout this exhibition. i wrote earlier about finding the dead blue tit outside my studio the week i started painting. well, just half an hour after hanging the show i found a dead but perfect kingfisher near my studio-  dazzling turquoise feathers with exquisite markings and a pair of vivid orange feet. i don't know if finding dead blue birds is exactly fortunate but i've certainly never found any in cornwall before so it's all a little strange. i've been lacking a blue pigment so maybe there is some clue to something here.

and while it feels that nature has been with me, i feel that technology has conspired against me! my internet connection is only half working and won't upload any photos, and strangely none of my text messages had been coming through. after turning my phone off to watch a play when i turned it on again about 30 messages that must have been stuck out there in the ether came through all at once! many lovely messages from far flung friends wishing me well for my private view and others from people trying to organise payment for my work.......all so frustating wondering why people hadn't got back to me when actually they had.....

once the exhibition is down i will be able to sort these things out, finish photographing the pictures and finally get them up online.....and then i will be happy! i don't like to write posts without pictures.....

(technological break through! so here are some pictures....)

'100 birds' synopsis

“100 birds” is an exhibition of one hundred small paintings of birds, using pigments sourced from local beaches. It captures my emotional response to my walks, observations and interactions with the Falmouth coastline.

I'm drawn to the fragile beauty found in the tiny details of the beach; the subtle colours of the rocks, shells, sand and earth; the delicate patterns and markings on a crab shell; flaking paint layered on driftwood and the salt encrusted rust on discarded metal. 

Some of these colours are used literally as I take pieces of shale, slate, clay and earth from the cliffs and grind them into coloured dust. Others form collections of carefully selected objects; driftwood, seaweed and pebbles, which are brought back to the studio for reference. All of these natural materials are changed by the sea; worn, smoothed, faded and graded over time. The colour of the water, the light in the sky and the feel of the day are carried back as memories.

For me these objects represent a frail beauty, the embodiment of passing time and impermanence. Tiny pebbles are fragments of larger rocks worn smaller and smoother with every tide, empty shells are reminders of their long gone inhabitants, and the sea erodes the land exposing layers of colour and time once hidden deep.

I love watching flocks of birds wading, diving and gliding around me; flashes of white as the sun dapples their backs, or misty shapes barely discernible. I've always felt that birds symbolise a freedom of spirit. They are often experienced as a flash of colour or form, fleeting and transient. Few of the sea and coastal birds I see live here permanently but visit for a season or pass through on their migratory route. They are our feathered tourists. Over 100 different species have been spotted in Cornwall since 1950. Some travel many thousands of miles and in doing so connect Cornwall to the wider world. Many of them are increasingly rare and rely on a delicately balanced environment for their survival. 

Observing these things brings me into myself and to a place of serenity. It reminds me who I am; both absorbed in the present and connected to the past.

“For whatever we lose (a you or a me)

its always ourselves we find in the sea”.

(E.E. Cummings)

exhibition poster

100 birds- progress!

i've been so busy painting that i haven't had time to update this blog (or other important things like go to the beach or port eliot festival...)

there's just too much i'd like to write but i'm just going to have to post a few pictures, keep on avoiding the temptations of the sea and carry on painting. and in true 'carry on' style i've been so hot in my studio i've resorted to painting in my underwear with my hair pinned up with a porcupine quill! thankfully it's very private and if i hadn't mentioned it here, nobody would know!

playing with ideas for the window display......

.......it included an exciting use of sea urchins (though now it looks like they're all sold out- disappointing...)

hooray for new paint brushes- i wear them out pretty quickly!

falmouth colours

for the last couple of years i've been collecting shale, soft slate and coloured earths from the coast around falmouth and grinding them into powder in a pestle and mortar. some colours are precious and i only have tiny amounts like the veins of salmon pink i scraped off a piece of shale with the tip of a knife. i'd love to learn more about these substances, what exactly they are and if they have names. the ones i'm giving them is the colour and where they were found. at present it's not a very scientific process but one that leads me on adventures of discovery. unfortunately i don't think i'll have enough for all 100 paintings so i'll have to supplement my palette with the coloured earths i brought back from florence- can't wait to use them!

coloured shale collected by a friend

sorting, grinding and sieving

some of the colours

100 birds

'100 birds' is the title of the exhibition i'm working on at the moment. it's made up of one hundred small paintings of seabirds using natural pigments, most of which i've collected from the local coast. there's a huge amount of work to do in not a lot of time! it opens at the poly in falmouth on august 21st. the week i started working i had two encounters with birds. on the spiral staircase leading to my studio i found a dead baby blue tit - it didn't feel like a good omen. later in the week i came across a friend trying to free a coal tit. it was hanging upside down from a very bloody leg caught in the chain of a bird feeder. after an unsuccessful attempt to cut the chain or prise it apart i had a go at releasing the tension and miraculously the bird flew free. this felt a little more positive. and now i'm hoping for an experience with a fully healthy happy bird!

sanding and sunburn....

after an epic sanding stint (all 100 boards in a day) i felt so tired and as if my right arm was longer than my left. the next day i showed a friend and the scary thing is that it actually is- by about an inch! i'm hoping that it will gradually shrink back again and i won't feel so out of balance. i also got very sunburnt shoulders....

white hands

white leaves

white webs - sorry mr spider!

white toes

white bricks

gesso

after 4 to 5 coats of gesso the boards are drying on every available surface in my studio.

hammering....

so there's been hammering and snipping and hammering and trimming and hammering and pinning followed by more hammering..... for quite a few days now. and i still haven't got round to explaining  what this is all for but i'm sticking to a rough timetable and i'm in the 'board phase'.  i'm 73 down, my arm is aching and there's more hammering to go.

lead bound boards

1st coat of gesso

the beginnings of a tower and wishing i was ambidextrous

27 more to go.....

adventures on a bike laden with lead

this week has been spent mostly in diy shops and metal scrap yards and thanks to the amazing people i've met along the way it's been lots of fun. i'm preparing for my exhibition in august (which i'll write more on later).

first stage was buying a couple of sheets of 8' x 4' mdf from julians in penryn. i cut them up there so i could carry them across the road to a friend's workshop on a barge. now, for the record, i can saw in a straight line but for these pieces i want a more organic hand cut feel. the guys working there were great, asked if i needed any help and then left me to it. when they came back to see how i was doing they couldn't help laughing at my wonky cutting. they were nice but when i said it was meant to be like that, they were having none of it, said they wouldn't employ me and no amount of protesting would convince them otherwise!

next job was to cut the boards down into small panels ready to be lead bound and gessoed. amidst long lengths of wood being planed for re-decking a boat i got sawing and sanding. i ended up with about 140 small pieces.

panels that were sized and soon drying on every available horizontal surface

i used up my entire stock of lead. it has travelled with me from a scrap yard in yorkshire via bristol (but i'm glad i kept it as the price has now rocketed) and set about finding some more locally. along with flea markets, car boot sales, auctions, skips and searching for driftwood there's nothing that i find more exciting than a non-ferrous metals scrap yard! yes- i'm easily pleased. a good friend once said 'it's great, you can get jo to go anywhere if you tell her there's a skip on the way'! my absolute favourite scrap yard was (and hopefully still is) in halifax. huge towering piles of copper, lead, brass and aluminium rose from oily concrete. there were metals crushed into huge cubes, vast crates of coiled wire as well as pots and coal skuttles and taps. but what was best was that once you were known to be an artist the man in the small raised box/office gave you a smile and a nod - silent licence to clamber over and rummage through it all whilst dodging the big grabber heaving great clawfuls of metal from one container to another. i'd gather together my hoard, put it on the vast weighing plate, it wouldn't even register on the scales and he'd say, 'oh, just give me three quid'. perfect. 

i wasn't feeling altogether optimistic as i started to ring round scrap yards locally. the one in hayle had just had all their lead collected the day before and a couple of others said they didn't have much in. so i thought the best plan of action was to get the train to perranwell and cycle to united downs where i knew they're were a few on one road.

the first yard i came across was small with just one pallet of lead. there were some nice old pieces and i was so over-joyed to find anything that i bought as much as i had money for and could fit into my bike basket. they were really friendly and said if they got any of the thin pieces with white oxidization i was looking for they'd put them to one side for me. i then went next door just to see what it was like. again not much lead but i caught sight of the end of what looked like an amazing piece poking out. there was no one around so i borrowed a pair of gigantic oily leather gloves and after much effort i wrestled it free. i know it's stating the obvious but lead really is so heavy. it was totally worth it though as the patina is beautiful with bands of flaky white speckled with a deep terracotta pink. i was beginning to  regret my hastiness at having spent all my money next door when i suddenly realised that maybe i could sell some of the lead i'd just bought to buy this piece instead. while i waited for someone to appear a man came along with some metal to sell and we got chatting. he told me he was a gardener and that his brother had studied fine art. i described what i was making and with a cursory glance over his shoulder he dug down into a bucket and handed me his roll of lead. i swapped some of my lead for the patinated piece and paid the woman in the office. she said i must be sure to bring in photos of my work so they could put them up on the wall. i looked at the wall- a kind of corrugated iron shed warehouse, and i promised i would.

the third yard at the end of the road was pretty exciting and more like the one in halifax. there is a big sign saying 'enter at your own risk' and vast heaps of every type of metal imaginable. it was loud, had an air of danger and the big grabber claw was busily at work. a huge lorry was reversing down the ramp, clouds of dust and fumes filled the air. in a big shed a short man was methodically snipping lengths of lead pipe into a wire crate. i inquired about lead and he showed me a giant steel cylinder as tall as a small cottage. he said there'd be plenty of what i was after but that it was all dropped into the depths of this tank. he was also really interested in what i was doing and offered to save me any white pieces in the future.

and so to cycling back. i had about 15kg of lead in my basket but fortunately most of the way was down hill. it was a little scary, corners had to be taken wide, stopping had me back in barge navigating mode but most of all, it looked like i'd robbed a church. i'd love to know where all this lead has come from. 

back safe and sound 

detail of my favourite piece (which is actually quite large now it's been hammered out)

beginning to hammer out the lead

bark-glass-stone-sea-pebble

birch bark canoe found at enys
fused glass panel in my kitchen
gravestone in jewish cemetery in falmouth
sea at penzance
lines worn into a pebble from prisk cove