I decided to show with a group of people this year and as I had been focussing on environmental issues more earlier this year, I thought of the Hornbeam Environmental Centre and cafe. After getting in touch with them I've joined a great group of artists showing work there this year.
Our joint exhibition is called Common Grounds, my pieces are Natures Clock, Natures Clock Evening and Landscape by Design.
Natures Clock is based on a close up photograph I took of a Dandelion seed head, or Dandelion clock, I have painted on the photograph which is on canvas, exploring the patterns and design of the seed head. I had planned to do more with the image exploring notions of time in Nature and use more mediums, but as is often the way when working, work evolves in different directions to what you might have planned.
The Dandelion clock seemed to work just as it was with the painting added and so I went on to explore the nature of time in Nature on another small canvas, Natures Clock Evening. This piece explores some of the names given to the moon, the moon being one of the important aspects of measuring time particularly in the past.
By chance the circles and part circles I ended up drawing on the canvas were 12 in number and some of them have been painted with colours and symbols associated with the moon from various traditions. These include Wolf Moon, Harvest Moon, Nut Moon and Full Flower Moon.
Landscape by Design is a photographic interactive work, that is made up of cubes with photographs inside. The photographs are of the local and wider London landscapes and can be turned over and/or stacked up to make an ever changing landscape.
On one face of the cube are texts about the landscape or environment.
2. How many times have you taken part in the Trail?
I have been showing work for 4 years on the trail and am also taking part in the Visitors exhibition at Vestry House Museum, the E17 Designers market at the Asian Centre and will be putting some free work up on the trees by Walthamstow Bus Station on the 2 Saturdays of the Art Trail.
3. What kind of things inspire you to create art?
I am inspired by a variety of things. As a Buddhist, aspects of spirituality inspire me, not just from a Buddhist perspective, but spirituality as it is found in nature and in other forms of human expression.
Living in London inspires me as I travel around and I have a more directly political aspect to some of my work which is often made as a result of something I read about or see in the world around me.
4. What challenges (if any) do you face in preparing yourself and your work for the Trail?
I think all art work is a challange in some ways and this is something that makes art or creativity so exciting and challanging at the same time. When we make a piece there are choices to be made all the time, from the medium to use, materials etc.to the actual process of physically creating the work. Work goes through many phases all of which might require changes or even scrapping the work, emotionally your mood can change regularly according to what is happening as you work. Letting go of a piece of work can be challanging as can be showing work. As an artist you are so involved in the work it can be hard to see it as others might, and you have to trust that someone might respond to your work.
5. Who are your favourite artists?
There are a great many artists who inspire me and who I like from more spiritual artists like Blake, Samuel Palmer, Stanley Spencer and Cecil Collins to Alan Davie, Picasso and Corbet. Contemporary artists include Bill Viola, Martin Sexton, Rachel Whiteread, Gilbert and George and David Hockney.
6. Please tell us two things you really like about Walthamstow?
It's probably the open spaces that I appreciate the most in Walthamstow, from the parks and museums to the churchyards.
7. Please tell us one thing you wish Walthamstow had?
I really wish Walthamstow had a great Arts Centre
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