Solent Sketches

I have recently been making a lot of ferry journeys on the Yarmouth-Lymington car ferry route. This is probably the most scenic of the six main ferry routes by which the Island can be accessed. I have had my sketchbook with me on these journeys, and have been rediscovering the simple pleasure of drawing from nature. Here are some of the sketches I have produced, which I might perhaps use as the basis for digital paintings at some point, or perhaps leave to stand on their own.

In Vectis I concentrated very much on the idea of the coast as a boundary, beyond which the whole concept of the Isle of Wight broke down; however, I have since come to see the Island as more connected, with roots and tendrils that extend out into other parts of the South of England. Mapping the exits and entrances of the Island and incorporating them into the broader understanding of the nature of coastline and of 'island-ness' (insularity?) is a key area of enquiry that must be explored further in the future.

Welcome to the Archive

Over the course of a recently completed MA in illustration, one of my most successful pieces of work, and the piece of work I most enjoyed working on, was the Artist's Book Vectis, the creation of which is documented online here. Vectis is a work that I have very much come to view not so much as a finished body of work, but rather as the opening of a more prolonged investigation. Vectis was constrained by the fact that, as an MA project, there was a very definite deadline for the production of the book, and also the end form of the work had to be decided fairly early on. Although I think Vectis was a strong piece of work, there were a lot of areas that were left unexplored for these reasons.

Thus, with a view towards developing the groundwork I have already laid down, I am beginning a new project, the Vectis Psychogeographical Research Archive. This project will involve the creation of a body of primary and secondary research into the history, geography, sociology and so forth of the Isle of Wight, with no particular end-goal in mind. It will also involve the creation of a diverse body of work reacting to and building off this research; again, there will be no particular end-goal in mind. Further books, exhibitions or other works will emerge in a more organic way. This methodology will allow me to be a lot more experimental with the work I produce, and I am expecting to return to neglected areas of my practice such as sound art, physical print-making and handmade books, as well as continuing to develop my skills in digital painting, book design and so on.

The results shall be documented here.