WestSide

Conflicting Landscapes

So soon i shall be back in the big bosom of Scotland for a flying eight day visit...and cant wait! I have braved the longest coldest nordic winter of my life and now ready for some rainy westerly wind times... Kintyre/Dundee are most defiantly calling! The natural environment concealed in the urban space of Stockholm has sadly not inspired me, as beautiful and interesting as it is for a city. However i have never seen so much natural space in a city, and its something i really embrace and appreciate being such a country girl at heart.

The top image is one of my favourite and one of the most breathtaking locations in Kintyre. The image bellow it is of Lake Malaren, a 15 minute walk from where i live in a very urban surrounding.

The frozen landscape of Stockholm was particularly enchanting, for me the interest was that frozen water could causing such beauty (and a pain in the arse when trying to walk on it). Some images bellow from different locations which captures its beauty and vairity.

Inspiring!

This is also another favourite TED talk ...

"if you are not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original"

TED

I have recently got back into watching TED films, spent the other morning watching many of them, so many interesting ideas and thoughts to be heard. Espically liked this video on Manufactured Landscapes, as it is relevant for my dissertation.

Morning Pages

A few weeks back i did a sculpture course with a Berlin Based artist Veronica Brovall

www.veronicabrovall.com

At the start of the day she got everyone on the course to write three mindless pages of notes...maybe a silly idea. But i found it got me thinking about maybe not so mindless ideas, but inspirational instead! I guess i need to follow up on this, but maybe in sketchbooks. A drawing/new idea every morning, would benefit me greatly!!!

My morning pages...

Pinhole Photography

Since being in Sweden i have become very interested in exploring different aspects of photography. For me one of the most alluring aspects of it is really the basics of how the light travels and forms an image so simply. The idea of a pinhole camera or camera obscura has been noted about as early as 300 BC in China. Its such a simple technique that one small hole can create images. Artist have been blacking out room with just one single pinhole to create the outside image inside...so many fascinating possibilities with these simple optic techniques. Bellow are two very basic images i took with just a tin can and some light sensitive paper.

Work in progress

There is something nice about recording work in process... i like seeing the progression, so i record it, here are some images of my current incomplete work.

(two image sets bellow) working progress of making latex mould from tree bark. You can see the step by step process of making the mould. The last two images are the casts produced from the mould. The first one of plaster and the second jesmonite (a new material for me).

(two bellow images) these images are of my working progression towards making a pinhole camera, the pictures show the basic seed like structure, continuing on to the bark surface using the above latex mould.