contact: E: info@franceshatch.co.uk M: 07946903930
VISITING ARTIST: Gatehouse Gallery, Guernsey. March 2016
Exhibition and Artist Talk at The Gatehouse Gallery in November 2016.
DURLSTON COUNTRY PARK: 24 May- 8 June 2014
About the Residency:
Based at Durlston Country Park National Nature Reserve at the invitation of Dorset Visual Arts and supported by Humphries Kirk (solicitors). 2 artists, Robin Mackenzie (wood engraver) and myself, were offered an exhibition opportunity over the two weeks of Dorset Art Weeks. We spent our days engaging with visitors and enjoyed the use of a dedicated studio space at other times.
Accompanying the Rangers on the morning patrol was central to my experience there...and waking up to this view every morning (see drawing immediately below of the chalk stacks of Old Harry framed by lush green of the foreground).
Other important factors:
Finding a fragment of a Guillemot egg on the first morning: 'Guillemot egg blue' with its calligraphic markings found its way into all the work you will see below...
I was given a copy of The Restless Earth: its title, cover and text turned out to be 'spot on' and so it too was embedded in the work.
The abundant May blossom and scent that met me when I got out of the car upon arrival.
Wind-pruned trees.
Based at Durlston Country Park National Nature Reserve at the invitation of Dorset Visual Arts and supported by Humphries Kirk (solicitors). 2 artists, Robin Mackenzie (wood engraver) and myself, were offered an exhibition opportunity over the two weeks of Dorset Art Weeks. We spent our days engaging with visitors and enjoyed the use of a dedicated studio space at other times.
Accompanying the Rangers on the morning patrol was central to my experience there...and waking up to this view every morning (see drawing immediately below of the chalk stacks of Old Harry framed by lush green of the foreground).
Other important factors:
Finding a fragment of a Guillemot egg on the first morning: 'Guillemot egg blue' with its calligraphic markings found its way into all the work you will see below...
I was given a copy of The Restless Earth: its title, cover and text turned out to be 'spot on' and so it too was embedded in the work.
The abundant May blossom and scent that met me when I got out of the car upon arrival.
Wind-pruned trees.
Katie's View: sketchbook study
Durlston earths with biro
Guillemot egg
THE RESTLESS EARTH
Dust cover and text of The Restless Earth by R.Gheyselinck: Geology for Everyman 1939. Scientific Book Club.
Cover and text buried in the work.
Eppur si muove! said Galileo
The restless earth.
Cover and text buried in the work.
Eppur si muove! said Galileo
The restless earth.
SQUALL WITH BLOSSOM. gouache, blossom, earth, Purbeck Limestone dust, collage with acrylic medium on dark card. 20x16cm
MAY BLOSSOM
Blossom- laden bushes, dense fragrance in the still evening.
May blossom falling on the work.
May Blossom in the work- birds coming and birds leaving.
The silhouette of The Isle of Wight behind.
Guillemot blue.
May blossom falling on the work.
May Blossom in the work- birds coming and birds leaving.
The silhouette of The Isle of Wight behind.
Guillemot blue.
SEA'S EDGE
Location: SUBLIMINAL ROCKS: Herring Gulls, Sea Beet, Thrift.
TILLY WHIM LEDGES: evening fishing.
TILLY WHIM LEDGES: evening fishing.
WIND PRUNED
WIND FORMED HAWTHORN ABOVE LIGHTHOUSE. Purbeck Limestone dust, Durlston earths with acrylic on ply wood. 122x38cm
Hawthorn and Blackthorn bushes give the impression of running up the hillside. The Blackthorn emerges as an early bloom from black leafless branches...the Hawthorn (May blossom) was blooming extravagantly amidst new green leaves when we arrived. David Hockeny had a whole room dedicated to May blossom in his RA show- I can quite see why he gets so excited by it. Over the two weeks the flowers faded and the new leaves with a pink tinge contributed a warm bias amongst the sharp new greens. The bushes are shaped by their orientation (South facing side of the bush receives more light and therefore grows more readily) and their exposure to the prevailing winds. The forms as wind and light-shaped and I just love looking at them and 'reading' them. The image below on ply wood describes a hedge (rather like a frozen wave). It also has a wash of the 'Guillemot blue' and a couple of swallows skimming the hedge.
OX EYE MEADOW HEDGE WITH TWO SWALLOWS.
Purbeck Limestone dust, Durlston earths with acrylic on ply wood. 104x22cm
