One of Megan (Margaret) Watts Hughes voice paintings on an A4 size glass plate I photographed on the light box. With thanks to Carfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery.

A Welsh Treasure

July 16, 2023 in United Kingdom, Sound

A treasure hunt for sound vibrational art led me to Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery in southern Wales to view the works of Megan (Margaret) Watts Hughes. Her extraordinary pictures were created by singing into paint on a glass plate, revealing what the artist believed was the invisible “voice of God”.

On the Road

July 09, 2023 in United Kingdom, Artist Residencies

Sometimes it takes radical trust to believe that things will work out OK. After last minute repairs to the van, we are back on the road travelling through the Cotswolds and encountering more of the Roman history of Britain.

Documenting Process

July 02, 2023 in United Kingdom, Artist Residencies

It’s so important to document not only your finished work, but also the process of its creation. This means you exhibit your final findings as strong images, yet the process of how you came to make them, your ‘compost’ of ideas and creative process is a valuable part of the work as well and should be valued as such.

Putting two folded paper sculptures together

Dimensional Thinking

June 25, 2023 in United Kingdom, Artist Books

Creating sculptural book structures was a challenge I set myself this weekend. I have been influenced by observing the new and proposed housing developments in the city and how to portray the tension between housing and green spaces.

Piet Mondrian’s exploration of space and neo-plasticism as a stage set model, Tate Modern.

Art, Space & Time →

June 18, 2023 in Art, Soul purpose

Art is never created in a vacuum. It is always a product of its time, taking its influences from politics, society and the artist’s experiences of life. Art challenges and disrupts, it expands our thinking as I discovered this week at the Tate Modern in London.

A beanie and socks for yoga, but the sun is shining!

Milestones

June 11, 2023 in United Kingdom, Creativity

Stretching yourself is important in art as it is in life. What is also important is to acknowledge and celebrate each milestone, big or small. Like finishing a project or even touching my nose with my knee!

Field notes in preparation for exposing a cyanotype

Field Experiments

June 04, 2023 in Resilience, Artist Residencies

I have always been drawn to travellers’ tales, both adventure travel tales as well as stories of the Roma people and travellers who were once a common sight camped in the English countryside. Thinking about travelling and finding shelter these past two weeks has led me to experiment with cyanotype prints out in the field with what materials I had to hand.

History Walking

May 28, 2023 in history

History wraps itself around you when walking anywhere in England. I’ve just discovered a town with a museum named King John’s Hunting Lodge. Although King John died well before this building was erected, it is a nod to him and the town in Somerset which features plenty of historical references and old buildings.

coffee.wine.print. - cyanotype print with coffee and wine spills.

Eat, drink, print

May 21, 2023 in United Kingdom, Photography

I have always thought of site specific art as part of an external landscape, something ‘outside’. This changed when I started making art on flattened out cardboard boxes from things I had eaten, drunk or ingested. Adding actual coffee and wine to the mix has yielded surprising results.

In the print studio, getting ready to create a cyanotype outside in the sun

May Days

May 14, 2023 in United Kingdom

Permission to play is a ticket to freedom. Being immersed in nature at Dartington has been about allowing myself to notice what I’m interested in, which in turn has become the focus of experimental and playful art making.