Thanks to all who came to the Belsize Show, it was a great success!
I am currently experimenting with pyrography on Silver Birch Bark Panels. Please see the new photos (click on the thumbnail to see full view).
These pieces are a natural progression from The ‘Silver Birch Series’ of paintings which took inspiration from visits to Finland.
Having studied the Silver Birch Grove at Anglesey Abbey earlier in the year, I have become fascinated with the bark and birch paper and its so many uses as a material in canoe making and crafts in general. The layers of constantly peeling paper remind me of layers of skin and like skin, shed to reveal new skin beneath in different tones.
I have sourced some Silver Birch Bark from the US, fascinating specimens in themselves, mostly covered in moss, telling their own story of growth, dictating their own landscape. By drawing into the bark by burning, I am re-positioning the Birch tree back into its own landscape - a kind of Tattoo of itself in it's own skin. It is the subject, the interpretation, the work and the materials.
I am hoping to make even larger pyrographic drawings on Silver Birch Bark and to create a 'Forest Vista' in a gallery space soon.
