matter > Matter

I paint with mud and beeswax, mapping landscapes using elements of the landscape itself to create the work.

The paintings in these images are part of a long-term landscape project studying many rivers on both sides of the Atlantic. Most of these images are a part of an exploration of The Stour, a river bordering the Shotley Peninsula in England. I use the various coloured muds and earths found in and along rivers, mud flats and marshes as pigments and work with local beekeepers using wax from the beehives along the same stretches of river and environs. A future part of this project will incorporate sound recordings from the parts of rivers that the mud is drawn from, the various beehives and their surroundings; as well as analysis of the constituents of both the mud, the wax and the water along it's course. (scroll down)

Mud and wax are elemental and yet are a distillation of the environment from which they come. Wax is created and changed by where the bees forage in the landscape and the time of year; the various plants and trees they gather from; the very earth their sustenance grows out of and how that is affected by natural forces or man’s influence. The mud has been formed and changed as it is washed down rivers from the most pristine of sources high on mountains or moors, through fertilized and over-worked fields and down through urban industrial run-offs.

Some of the pieces illustrate a growing interest in the correlation between the geographical landscape and our own internal topography. The contours of the river’s mudflats and marshes not only resemble lungs visually but also in their purpose as filtration systems; the branching patterns of it’s creeks and tributaries share the same visual language as the branching networks of our own nervous systems, arteries and veins. We are connected to the natural world, are a part of the natural world and what we do to it not only affects it incrementally but us also.

I am drawing on what has been drawn out of the earth by the bees and out of the earth and washed into the rivers by the elements and by man. Both capture the essence of a moment in time and place in the landscape.

 Topographical details of the Stour in beeswax and mud
Mud and beeswax on handmade paper
40" x 40"
2010
Topographical contour map of river Stour in beeswax and mud
Mud and beeswax on handmade paper
9" x 9"
2010
Topographical detail of map of the Stour in beeswax and mud on handmade paper
Mud and beeswax on handmade paper
9" x 9"
2010
 Topographical detail of the Stour in local beeswax and mud
Mud and beeswax on handmade paper
9" x 9"
2010
 Topographical detail of the Stour in beeswax and mud
Mud and beeswax on handmade paper
9" x 9"
2010
 Topographical detail of the Stour in beeswax and mud
Mud and beeswax on handmade paper
9" x 9"
2010
 Topographical detail of the Stour in beeswax and mud
Mud and beeswax on handmade paper
9" x 9"
2010
Grove
Tree knot, badger hair, beeswax, sea thread, dry grass
11" x 7" (framed)
2010
Erwarton Bay mud and beeswax on handmade paper with the topographical details of an Ordnance Survey map scale 1:50,000
Erwarton Bay mud and beeswax on handmade paper
27" x 20"
2010
Topographical contour map of river Stour in beeswax and mud on handmade paper
Holbrook Creek mud and beeswax on handmade paper
34" x 27"
2010
Topographical contour map of river Stour in beeswax and mud
Mud and beeswax on handmade paper
34" x 27"
2010
Topographical mapping of the Stour's length etched into local beeswax and mud on handmade paper
Beeswax and mud on handmade paper
34" x 27"
2010
Mulberry paper dipped in various muds and local beeswax and printed with longitude, latitude and elevation of site.
Beeswax, mud and ink on mulberry paper and handmade paper
34" x 27"
2010
Mulberry paper dipped into local muds and beeswax, printed with longitude, latitude and elevation of site
Beeswax, mud and ink on mulberry and handmade paper
34" x 27"
2010
Various coloured muds from the Stour and local beeswax
Various coloured muds from the Stour and local beeswax on paper
8 1/2" x 24"
2010
raw beeswax, river mud, blackberry, seaweed
Beeswax, mud and plant matter on paper
12" x 12"
2010
Beeswax and Mud on paper
Various Stour muds and local beeswax on paper
8 1/2" x 6 1/2" (unframed)
2010
mud, earth, wax, plant matter, vegetation, berries
Mud, beeswax and elder on paper
12" x 12"
2010
raw beeswax, river mud, vegatation
Beeswax and mud on paper
12" x 12"
2010
Dartmoor peat and beeswax on paper
Dartmoor peat, beeswax and plant matter on paper
12" x 12"
2010
Mud and Beeswax on paper
Mud and Beeswax on paper
12" x 17"
2010
Mud and Beeswax on paper
Mud and Beeswax on paper
12" x 17"
2010
beeswax, mud, earth on mulberry paper
Beeswax & mud on mulberry paper
12" x 12"
2010
raw beeswax, river mud on mulberry paper
Beeswax & mud on mulberry paper
12" x 12"
2010
raw beeswax, river mud on mulberry paper
Beeswax & mud on mulberry paper
12" x 12"
2010
beeswax, mud, earth on mulberry paper
Beeswax & mud on mulberry paper
8 1/2" x 6"
2010
raw beeswax, river mud on mulberry paper
Beeswax & mud on mulberry paper
8 1/2" x 6"
2010
raw beeswax, river mud on maps printed onto mulberry paper
Beeswax & mud on mulberry paper
17" x 12"
2010
River mud, local beeswax on handmade papaer
Stour muds and beeswax on mulberry paper
8 1/2" x 6"
2010
Rust, river mud, beeswax, rope mooring, map
Rust, mud, wax, sea thread, map
8" x 16"
2010
Rust, mud, wax and pigment
Rust, mud, wax and pigment
12" x 17"
2010
Rusted chain, beeswax on handmade paper
Rust and beeswax on handmade paper
17" x 12"
2010
rust, beeswax on handmade paper
Rust and beeswax on handmade paper
12" x 17"
2010
rusted chain, beeswax on handmade paper
Rust and beeswax on handmade paper
12" x 12"
2010
rust, beeswax on handmade paper
Rust and beeswax on handmade paper
12" x 12"
2010
beeswax, strands of rope / moorings
9" x 9"
2010
ships ropes, nets, fishing line, moorings mapping
Beeswax, sea threads
12" x 17"
2010
beeswax, strands of rope
beeswax sea threads
9" x 9"
2010
Ships nails from Putney Reach mounted on found wood from Montauk fastened with mooring threads from Holbrook Creek.
Nails, Wood and Sea threads
10" x 12"
2010
Mapping, river mud, beeswax
Mud, beeswax, map, mooring
9" x 9"
2010
mixed media, found objects, map, thread, mud
Mixed media/Found Objects
9" x 9"
2010
River mud, map, seaweed, sea thread on paper
Mixed media
9" x 9"
2010
Mixed media, found objects, thread, beeswax
Mixed media/Found Objects
9" x 9"
2010
beeswax, map, pigment, seaweed
Seaweed, beeswax, maps, pigment
9" x 9"
2010
charcoal, beeswax, mud
Charcoal, mud, beeswax
9" x 9"
2010
Peat and local beeswax on paper
Peat, Beeswax
9" x 9"
2010
mud, beeswax, elderberry
Mud, beeswax and elder
9" x 9"
2010
Mud, earth, beeswax and plant matter
Mud, beeswax, vegetation
9" x 9"
2010
Peat, earth, charcoal and beeswax, mulberry paper
Dartmoor peat, found charcoal and beeswax on paper
9" x 9"
2010
shore line, beeswax, mud, earth pigment
Mud and beeswax on handmade paper
7" x 9 1/2"
2010
Peat, chalk, vegetation and local beeswax on handmade paper
Peat, chalk, vegetation and local beeswax on handmade paper
12" x 16"
2010