(in progress)’St Anthony’s Chapel II’. Mixed media on 24×16 inch wood panel. Rose Strang, 2018

(in progress)’Tree Grove (Arthur’s Seat)’. Mixed media on 10×10 inch wood panel. Rose Strang, 2018

(in progress)’Spring (Arthur’s Seat)’. Mixed media on 10×10 inch wood panel. Rose Strang, 2018

(in progress)’Green Spring (Arthur’s Seat)’. Mixed media on 10×8 inch wood panel. Rose Strang, 2018

Today’s paintings for the Arthur’s Seat exhibition and project, all info Here

More experimentation today, which got quite messy. I’ll have a look at these tomorrow and decide what to do with them. They’re loosely based on views of St Anthony’s Chapel, springs that run through the valleys of Arthur’s Seat and a grove of trees in Hunter’s Bog. I definitely want to progress in a more expressive direction, to convey atmosphere rather than a mimetic approach. It’s a bit of a return to previous styles which will suit this project.

The bits that work for me are the energy expressed in looser brushwork and more primal colours, and the sense of feeling a place as opposed to seeing it simply as it’s observed. I like the connection between clouds and spring-water through drips in ‘Green Spring’ (which needs a bit more work). I’m also trying to get a sense of flow between elements of sky, land and water.

Atzi, Alan and I were discussing ideas – the concept of ‘in-between’ or liminal spaces and places. In the last post I described rituals that would have taken place at these wells hundreds of years ago, and the way that people perceived water in certain places as possessing a magical property between the everyday and the sacred, also the idea of rituals that create a space in time, and a safe place in which to heal.

I’m not quite there with the atmosphere or ideas I want to capture, but with a month and a half to go I’ll hopefully get there!