A little while ago a friend of mine and I discussed a collaborative project
for next year as she also works with ash in a way, making stunningly raw and
lovely smoke fired ceramics. This set me thinking about why I like to use it in
my artwork. There is the wonderful colour it has, I have always been very fond
of the numerous shades of grey, but also the intimate connection to home
and place it has. A girl staying with me at the moment returned yesterday from a bonfire, shrouded with the scent of wood smoke. The smell enthusiastically reminded me of my home, the wood burning stove at my mother’s house and the stubble burning in the fields around it. I think this is another reason I like to use it in my paintings, this visceral connection to the subject of my work in my mind and also by physically bringing something from that place into the space of the painting.
A little while ago the wild geese started arriving from more Arctic regions. Barnacle geese are the most common around here an I finally got aroung to making a small painting of them. I'm still toying with a title for this body of work, trying to bring in the
connection to place, mapping and memory. Perhaps something like Home // Land //
Marks. Aesthetically I like the look of Land // Marks better. Hmm, decisions, decisions...
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