paintinginscotland

DEEP IN THE LOCHAN

Acrylic and linen on a deep cradled panel, 40 x 40 x 5.5 cm, 2022

This one has the Gaelic words for waterlily scratched into the paint, and a patch of linen underneath. Duilleag-bhaite which means drowned leaf, and bhan is white. I am fascinated by the idea of a wilderness full of lily ponds. Of the hummocky glaciated ground and the Lewisian Gneiss under it riddled with dyke swarms in straight lines, lochans and small hills and pockets of bog. I am also trying to make brush marks which fly over the surface, using the brush taped to a cane much more lightly than I have before.

LABYRINTH

Acrylic paint, gold powder, charcoal and collage on canvas, 100 x 120 x 4 cm

In January I had a frightening experience in a blown down plantation of Corsican pine – the further I got into it the more difficult it became to get out again, and this has something to do with that.

the labyrinth listens in the dark
what coat I wear to lie down
in the fern bed
& the needle leaves –

ORANGE LIKE A LEAF THAT HAS FALLEN, PINK LIKE CHERRY BLOSSOM, LIKE A SWEET OFFERING, LIKE RASHES AND RASPBERRIES, LIKE UNFOLDED, FALLEN CHERRY LEAVES

Acrylic on deep-sided collaged canvas, 100 x 100 x 4 cm, 2021

I picked up two fallen cherry leaves, one pink-red, the other orange, and this painting echoes both the idea of cherry blossom and the fallen leaves.