‘Cockenzie Power Station, 26th September 2015’. Mixed media on 17×11″ wood panel

‘Watchers (Cockenzie)’. Mixed media on 17×11″ wood panel

These are the two finished works in response to Cockenzie Power Station which was demolished at 12 noon on the 26th of September this year.

It was a coal fired power station launched in 1967, run by the nationalised Scottish electricity board then by privatised Scottish Power, classed as inefficient in 2013 then decomissioned.

People lined the east coast shores on the 26th to watch it come down, and luckily I got a call from a friend who was driving out there. I knew it would be a good photo opportunity but only decided to paint it later.

Watching my video afterwards, I realised I’d captured the sound of waves, as I was just a few feet away from the shore, and I liked the way the sounds of explosion along with ‘oohs’ and ‘aah’s from the crowd faded into peaceful, lapping waves.

This is my video of the event…

The towers, reflected in the water, then vanished, seemed like seismographic recorders. The waves like time-markers or markers of disruption, lapsing into peaceful silence. I wanted to reflect these ideas, and played around with effects on a wood panel until it felt right. I liked the way the reflection of the towers began to resemble a seismograph, which is why I made the towers appear less real, more like graph needles or markers of time.

Lastly here are a few photos of people watching on the shore or from the sea..