week seventeen
Just as the ‘big melt’ was rapidly revealing a new world to me, the heavens decided to snow again. This time it was just a light dusting which made the trees gradually transform from maroon, dark greys to lighter greys, then peaked with a gentle fluffy white. They were, simply quite stunning. 
Unfortunately however, I am unable to capture their beauty with my camera. Sometimes perhaps subtlety has to just remain as subtlety, and maybe it’s the privilege of the eyes-only, that can briefly witness it.The snow also gave me the chance to draw the longest line I’ve ever drawn before along the road, which was very enjoyable. 
I have discovered that I see the landscape in layers, layers of textures and colours, layers of exquisiteness on exquisiteness. I see the beauty first, then I see the layers, and then I take the photograph. 
I cannot stop thinking about the building up and development of layers. It’s also a layering of the senses. The natural landscape to me is a sensation of experience, hitting all senses. 
The smell, sound and physical encounter becomes part of the whole experience of seeing. Why did I not know this before??? “A walk is just one more layer, a mark, laid upon the thousands of other layers of human and geographic history on the surface of the land.” Richard Long 
Albeit the brief snow, the melting resumed, and the skies got louder. The birds are chattering and calling to each other at high volume at the moment. There is a particular bird that sits on the top of the turret belonging to the manor, and I must admit, if I were a bird, I would sit there to. It is rather a splendid turret, as turrets go. This particular bird (I’m still trying to work out what it is) has the most piercing call, really intense. I find myself sometimes converting these sounds into music (often strangely ‘techno tracks’) in my head. 
Whilst driving to the village hall for ‘film night’, I witnessed something I have never seen before. Well actually, that’s technically not true, I’ve seen them on television or dead and stuffed in museums….but never alive. I saw my first owl, first in flight then sitting on a post, then in flight again. A truly unforgettable moment. Naturally, I thought it only polite to stop the car and greet such magnificence. My first owl…wow!
I cannot say that I ‘greeted’ the film with equal enthusiasm though! A rather dated western called, ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ starring Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson. I am rather partial to Henry Fonda truth be known, but not when he plays a baddie, and I’m rather impartial to Mr. Bronson. I can see that in its time it maybe considered a masterpiece, but when you’ve just witnessed your first owl…well…need I say more! 
Did you know that Sheep have horizontal slit-shaped pupils, possessing excellent peripheral vision; with visual fields of approximately 270° to 320°, sheep can actually see behind themselves without turning their heads….blimey! Anyhow, I digress, I wanted to say about a recent present given to me, it is sheep related. I was given a rather marvellous sheep’s horn. 
Apparently ‘Keratin’ a fibrous structural protein (…I’m well out of depth here) forms the horn. It is incredibly heavy, and just think, they have two! It is also rather beautiful, I am considering however cutting into it, or heating it up to manipulate the shape (as in the ancient art of shepherds crooks); of course I may just leave it in its natural glory. 
I saw one of my ‘Gods’ on iplayer the other day. A hero to many I know, the considerably scrumptious Brian Eno; and if perchance your reading this Mr. Eno, can I marry you, or at the very least, how about tea and cake together? I enjoyed his statement of living ‘a separate life of discovery’. He really is a ‘less is more’ kinda guy, and I have been thinking of that a lot recently. I am trying to understand that simplicity can hold an identity of its own. I often find my artwork is unnecessarily over complex, or even to literal. He is an advocate of leaving a sense of ‘space’ in his work, a space he suggests, that the audience will fill with their own imagination.
“You don’t need complexity to produce complexity” Brian Eno Therefore the creative process is not only a sense of ‘creation’ it is also a process of elimination too. My new mantra is “leave something out…let space do the work”. 
In my recent creative quandary, I had to shake myself out of that headspace. Do something completely different, lighten up….do something ‘playful’. So on sunnyish day I took my paper outside. Firstly I did some rubbings of the road; I wanted to see if the results would suggest some future potential. I also stretched a rather large sheet of paper on the road in hope that a tractor, a shepherd’s quad bike, or a flock of sheep might trundle over it, leaving their traces of their journey. None of which I regret to say occurred. However I did get two bewildered car drivers, one of course had to be a ‘courier’! Both drivers tried to veer away from such paper, but with a little gentle coercion they became amenable to my wishes. I did get some relatively good muddy tracks though; nevertheless, I did not take into consideration that paper and wind don’t particularly go well together! It was still when I started, but once again the ‘heavens’ were calling the shots here. So after a series of lets play catch with paper, I had to abandon my mission. All the same, I really had fun and it was just what I needed to break my cycle of ‘art angst’, in addition I filmed it all, so at least there is some hilarity for the film. Back in the studio, up a ladder, I really enjoyed drawing on my experiment of the tracks made, the scale was another experiment, which I confess I found very exciting. 
I took a trip to Unison Colour only a few miles away from Highgreen. They make the most beautiful hand made soft pastels there. Artist John Hersey set up unison Colour, it is obvious from the range of 400 colours that his inspiration was all around him in this beautiful landscape. It was an inspiring jolt of colour being shown around the business, even the blotting paper used for the hand rolling of the pastels looked exciting. My eyes were like a child’s in a sweet shop! I was set before the range with a pile a paper and allowed to test them, the quality and responsiveness is excellent and I would really recommend them (www.uinsoncolour.co.uk). I left with a new sense of stimulation and was really energized by the visit, not a bad way to leave a place hey. Horns, owls, road-paper and colours galore…it has been a really inspiring and uplifting week. Week seventeen done!