I seem to be both revisiting ideas from earlier this year and investigating new ones.
I’m working on two separate strands at the moment and they each present a different challenge. In the first, I’ve gone back to the themes and techniques I worked on for my exhibition in February. There were lots of loose ends – things I wanted to take further – so I’m starting to develop a new series of prints in the Between the Lines and Transience series.
I had to overcome a surprising reluctance to this. Having done so much work before I think there was a sense of going back over the same ground. I didn’t want to repeat myself. But of course it doesn’t work that way and as soon as I actually started working on this again, new things emerged. New marks, new thoughts. It’s like my daily walk – when everything is so familiar I can take it for granted. But when I pay attention, there is often something I hadn’t noticed before or something I hadn’t expected to see.
Drawing desk
The other strand is the work I’m doing on the Wicken Fen project. This is very different. At the moment everything is exploratory. Sally and I have now made two visits to the Fen and I am playing with my photographs, drawings and making collages. I have no idea where I’m going yet. Well, perhaps I do, but it’s too soon to tell whether it will lead somewhere.
I'm reluctant to share too much yet. These images give a flavour of how I'm working but none of them represent a fixed idea at this point. I think what I'm really trying to do is generate lots of interesting beginnings.
Sketchbook page