After a long break away from the drawing board, I decided to spend the month of August exploring movement as a way to spark some new work for later this year. My intention was to examine movement in the figure, in wood, water and other elements, in order to feed that fluidity into new tree inspired pieces.
Many people have commented that my work reminds them of dancers, or human or animal figures, so I felt it was a good time to explore this more deeply and in a more intentional way. When I’m drawing trees I’m always looking for movement, even though the trees move too slowly for me to see I know they are always in motion.
A framework for studies in movement
To give this idea some structure, I created a studio project for myself with quite definite boundaries. I know from my experience of sustaining a studio practice that this is a helpful way to get back into the flow of making after a break.
Ever since I found this strange tree in Aberdeenshire last summer, I’ve been longing to get back to Aden Country Park to spend more time documenting it.
What a joy is was last week to be back in a big room talking to people in person about my exhibition and journey towards it as an artist. There were some thought-provoking questions at the Burgh halls event, like ‘How do you feel about the effects of recent storms on trees?’ and ‘Have you ever refused to sell a work to someone you didn’t like?’ (that was a first!)
The exhibition will be at the historic 
Drawing on location in Langholm