Drawing - Page 22 of 41 - a-n The Artists Information Company

As this is a long term project, it can feel overwhelming in its scale and complexity (like the dig itself). Despite the fact that archaeology is rooted in the past, my residency is about bearing witness to the human activity […]

Porthole — We murder — Friday 11th August 2017 Uxbridge – Grand Union Canal – chalk marker pen on glass

There are some pieces of stone which have been uncovered and now the parts with iron layers are rusting. They are difficult to draw and paint because I’m not interested in just rocks and prefer people. My project is about […]

One of the supervisors is feeling that he hasn’t accomplished much in his trench, because it is not only complex but confusing. There is a balance to be achieved between working fast through the midden, to get to the structure of […]

Yesterday persistent rain and mud making an abstract painting on the floor of the supervisors’ hut. Today, bright sunlight creating sharp shadows and the ever present wind blowing clouds into many shapes.

I murder my own drawings. I don’t mean to do it but I can’t help myself. I either work them to death or I lose faith in them and they die of neglect. Either way, most of my time seems […]

Today I discovered micromorphology. Samples of soil on site are cut and put carefully into small tin boxes or, if larger, wrapped in clingfilm. These are then sent away to be suspended in resin, from which very fine slices are […]

My involvement with, The Museum of Object Research, is giving me the chance to explore how an object works within my own art practice. I wanted an object that would relate to previous work, and fit in with the idea […]

The boulder has been taken out of the entrance to Structure 8, and they are removing stones and roof tiles that fell in – to get down to the main slab.  Apparently, interesting things are found in doorways. It has […]

Yesterday, halfway through my painting, the sky on the horizon went black with rain and a small twister. It was too late to alter the sky, but I think it may show in the way the foreground picked up the […]

Yesterday, halfway through my painting, the sky on the horizon went black with rain and a small twister. It was too late to alter the sky, but I think it may show in the way the foreground picked up the […]

Changeable weather again – so what’s new? Chris, who makes carved stone balls using neolithic tools, has suggested composing a still life of them. Why does Chardin come to mind first, when I empathise with Cézanne’s approach. Chris agrees we […]

An amazingly still day – hardly any wind, which is so unusual. Voices carry across the trench. Huge cotton wool clouds moving very slowly. Some rain on the far horizon. The sky is so big. The trench is huge when […]

Trench tour for the many specialists working with the Ness of Brodgar makes me feel in awe of the complexity of the dig. Put in parallel with my project as Artist in Residence, it shows up the bewildering nature of […]

Porthole — I hate – Friday 28th July 2017 Rickmansworth – Grand Union Canal – chalk marker pen on glass

Hugo talked most interestingly about how Structure 14 may have been built – what was probably established first and how, bit by bit, the (non architect based) structure gradually appeared over time. Stones straight on to earth. (Our early C19 […]

Re excavation. Revisiting an eight year old trench. Yesterday they excavated the black plastic. Today brushing, weeding and gentle spade work, dragging off earth settled on top of previously exposed stone. Like working with a big trowel. Not on their […]

Porthole — Tuesday 25th July 2017 Rickmansworth – Grand Union Canal – chalk marker pen on glass

Something orange showing in the mud – a piece of oxidised pottery. Another piece slowly appears as the trowel gently scrapes away the earth crumb by crumb. Trying to draw the undulating stones like wafers, which I wrote about on […]