I have been instructed to dismantle the sculptures I have made on Clougha and to not create any more artworks anywhere on the Abbeystead Estate. Which pretty much rules out the whole of inland Northern Lancashire! It's a real shame but it is their land and they can do what they like with it. Thanks for everyone's interest in my sculptures, it has been a very rewarding experience for me but all good things come to an end. There'll be no more artwork from me in the Forest of Bowland and I think I will have to rethink my whole approach to what I love to do. I will probably stop publishing what I have done and where I have done it.
Unfortunately it is not required of land owners in England to have to publish what land belongs to whom, unlike in Scotland. This makes it very difficult, if not impossible when an estate is so large, to work out who the land owner is. As such it is quite a task to seek permission for the creation of ephemeral sculptures in natural locations. So what to do? I don't know.
Farewell Clougha it has been fun while it lasted! :-(
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
No More Land Art on Clougha
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Balance Towers in Ambient Light
The trials and tribulations of crappy winter weather. I wanted to get out after work to practice an idea before having a proper go at the weekend. Without much daylight it had got pretty dark before I had even finished collecting the stone. I had to build them in the dark without a torch so they are a little tatty. It was pretty windy and constantly raining too. I had worn holes in the fingers of my gloves and got sand in both the remote shutter release and the shutter button on the camera meaning they were both stuck on. This meant it kept taking pictures, wouldn't meter properly and wouldn't let me review anything. I couldn't see enough to adjust the focus and had to guess. Still I managed to get a couple of useable shots although they are blurry and noisy. But I expected to get nothing so anything was a bonus.Finally I sloped off to the car wet and cold to try and get the water and sand out of my camera. Do I need my head read?
I like the colours in this one (this is as taken) though and it gives me ideas for more night time land art.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Pebble Colour Bars
What's the artistic version of writer's block? Went out today to Clougha and tried several different things with several types of material - sticks, dead wood, balanced rocks, boulders, leaves, moss, wool. Nothing worked and I was getting very frustrated! So I went home and headed to the beach instead. I made a really nice rock balance with a great bit of driftwood but it fell down and the wood snapped in two. It was just not happening today!
As the tide went out this nice little rock pool appeared so at last I settled on something to do and this was the result.
Frost Slab Circle
I only had a very short time to make anything this weekend and I went up to Clougha thinking arches. But when I got there I found a couple of slabs of rock which only had frost on some of their surface, perfect for a frosty circle I thought. Do you ever start something you wish you hadn't! There weren't very many stones with frost on at all as the wind had gotten up and I was having a great deal of trouble finding any more slabs with partial forst on them at all! So I had to search and search and it took ages. And the small pieces in the middle were even harder to find. Anyway I persisted while the frost on the first slabs I had found started to melt. So it doesn't really look how I wanted it to, its not white enough and there isn't enough contrast between the rock and the frost. I like bold and this doesn't quite do it. Fingers crossed that this winter will bring more opportunities to make something more striking.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Icicle Sunset 2 days later
Went back today to find the icicles intact but perhaps a little melted. But where they had melted some interesting textures had appeared. Also was treated to a very nice sunset. So instead of making something new I watched the sun set and took more photos. For some reason this picture reminds me of the cover of Animals by Pink Floyd. Animals Cover
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Goldsworthy's Clougha Sculpture
Took a visit to Goldsworthy's installation on Clougha on New Years Day.
