Somerset Reacquainted

When lockdown began I felt very grateful for a series of events from Somerset Art Works called 'Get Together'.  A variety of artists giving talks and holding workshops on different aspects of their practice.  I was able to attend all of the sessions which strangely if we hadn't been in lockdown and online I probably wouldn't have been able to.  The very first of these talks was by an artist called Sara Dudman and so followed a project called Somerset Reacquainted which I have been so delighted to take part.  My contribution can be seen below and on the SAW website where all the artworks are being exhibited together.  Please visit www.somersetartworks.org.uk/somersetreacquainted to find out more and see all the other amazing responses to this project.

Taking one day at a time.
Noticing the small things.
Feeling grateful for what I have.
Fragments of time.
Scattered thoughts.

Time has moved so strangely in the last 3 months, sometimes just one day has felt like three different lifetimes.  I look back over photographs from the last few months and see different stages of knowledge and emotions.  The influences and impacts of life from outside our refuge of home and the movement of life within it.

I find solace in taking photographs.  Tiny snaps of creativity when I find myself unable to draw or paint.  Along the ebb and flow of my creativity, working from home and looking after my child during lockdown has meant time painting and drawing is restricted.  I have in some ways found parallels with my maternity leave 4 years ago when creativity also found it’s way through in almost compulsive photography.   I found a fascination with my immediate surroundings and the garden and the seasons happening around us.  I photograph the garden, our walks, our creations, meals, drawings and ourselves.  Compiling and editing and playing digitally in fleeting moments.  Recording, documenting, remembering. 

I find solace in my sketchbooks and mark making, I use watercolour a lot and particularly when I feel the need to work with paint and time is short.  So when I began to review my photographs and compile these collages, thinking in a kind of Instagram language of squares and grids, I saw the images become smaller dashes of colour and I thought of emulating the overall image in watercolour.  This grid that I have produced in small squares of paint has been a kind of meditative process, mind absorbing and relaxing.  I have been able to pick it up whether I have one luxurious hour or five fleeting minutes. It has been a marking of time and reflection.