 As I made my journey to North Wales from London Euston I experienced the scenic views from the train in a dramatic storm and arrived already feeling deeply connected to the landscape. After spending a cute evening meeting Scarlett and my paired resident Holly (and how can I forget Toby) I just couldn’t wait to wake up in the magic the estuary has to offer. I’ll never forget waking up and pulling those curtains back and see the glorious view we got to immerse ourselves in everyday. Being connected to nature is so important to my art practice and living in London can make one feel deprived from it so arriving to the beautiful scenery was extremely stimulating and overwhelming. The area has so much to offer and all I wanted to do was explore and immerse myself in nature as much as possible. For the first week the weather was incredible and I just had to get out there with my sketchbook. I particularly enjoyed finding mushrooms and drawing/painting them as there were an abundance of them due to the mast year. With this residency I also wanted to experiment and play with my printmaking practice and use found objects to express what I’ve seen on my walks. I especially enjoyed finding beautiful stone slates that I printed with to represent the stone circle I saw on my walk up to Arthog waterfall. I also combined embossing and printing with leaves with my lino carvings which I’ve always wanted to experiment with. Being in a new space gave me that chance to feel playful and have fun. I’m also really into bird watching and because the weather was so beautiful I was spoilt with amazing bird activities and drew quite a few varieties that I will use as inspiration for future prints. I spent a lot of time reading and researching North Wales folklore and really enjoyed some of the beautiful books Scarlett and Jake had around. I can’t wait to combine the folklore and the birds I saw to create some exciting lino prints in the new year. After being there for two weeks I also finally got the courage to do my first ever landscape lino print. It’s something I’ve always wanted to explore but never felt it suited my style of printing so on the final day when we got hit by a storm I carved and printed a small landscape lino. Being paired up with Holly also added more magic to my stay. We found our worlds parallel in many ways and we had some similarities of interest in nature and folklore. It was a pleasure seeing both our spaces slowly growing each day from us collecting beautiful things to drawings unravelling from similar day trips exploring the beautiful Estuary.
After having a tough year with a strange diagnosis that stopped me from going out to draw and get inspiration, I knew I wanted to have a new experience and this residency gave me that and much more. The whole two weeks has enriched me with so many ideas but also all the drawings and walking has made me feel stronger and proud of how far I have come with my illness. I left in another rainy stormy day that felt like a symbolic full circle to my experience. Aurore Swithenbank website
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
