From the depths

 Last night I was sorting through my bag and found these in the front pocket. I'd forgotten that I'd picked them up. There was also some pebbles and sea glass, a large seed that looks kind of like a tightly closed pine cone, some driftwood and some broken ceramic that had also been picked up at the beach. I had been thinking my bag had been getting heavy again....it was all the treasure waiting to be rediscovered.

 The sketches are done in watercolour, pencil and ink (sepia Edding profipen) In the large drawing I was playing with line, pattern and shape.
I've not really drawn shells for a long time, they were the subject of my degree exhibition and a major project. I painted small sections of them up to a metre square in oils focusing on the surface patterns and textures with heavy mark making. I made the paintings on really thick, heavy MDF panels and was trying to communicate how heavy, protective and tough these tiny, delicate (to us) objects were to the animals that had previously lived in them. I was influenced by Georgia O'Keeffe and  Therese Oulton whose work I admire greatly.

I recall many discussions as to whether the paintings were abstract pieces or not. I didn't see them as abstractions - more as observations. Below is a photo of two drawings around A1 in size that I did at college, in charcoal, chalk and ink,  they were exhibited at the Millais Gallery in Southampton in 1997. The photo is a digital photo of an old style photo (-no digital camera back then) so apologies if it isn't very sharp.

I've been thinking a lot about mark making and feel I should take time out to do these kind of exercises. Exhibitions are coming up and the dilemma is how much time can I afford to take out from painting for those, on the other hand can I afford not too? I've a feeling I'm having one of those days....