I am very pleased to have been invited to have a solo exhibition titled Drawn To Mind at Chappel Galleries, expertly curated by Edna Battye and Waj Mirecki.
February 4 – 26 2023
PV 4 February 12-5pm all welcome
Chappel Galleries, 15 Colchester Road, Chappel, Essex CO6 2DE
Included are 19 framed landscape drawings from 2019-2022 of the immediate vista on my doorstep but also unfamiliar, exotic locations depicting extreme weather events. These latter drawings fed into the idea for my climate project You And I Are Earth of 2022.
When drawing I have a sense of complete freedom which I don’t quite get when painting. I’m able to really let go and experiment with materials and tools and the drawings are more gestural as a result. As there are no technical barriers nor pressure to succeed drawings tend flow from me in rapid succession, I have been known to make 20 in one day. Charcoal is my favourite medium as it is easily manipulated, rubbed back, washed, smudged, moved and darkened so I can make dynamic expressive drawings quickly. Utilising ghost images of previous failed drawings is something I do a lot as the thick paper become so worked it is almost leathery and takes new marks in a different way to a fresh page. Pastels also work well in this way.
The exhibition consists of landscape drawings; some of these have casually referenced my own photos, which are quickly discarded, but many are straight from the imagination. The Ash Cloud and Stiffkey drawings are imagined from two perspectives; the fantastical volcanic eruptions I am experimenting with and, obversely, the North Norfolk salt marshes I know like the back of my hand. Made in layers the drawings refer to the ancient history, our imprint on the landscape and its impression on us.
The drawings are charcoal, pencil and pastel drawings on paper, framed in aluminium.