Summer Solstice - Newsletter

Hello from the summer solstice

For the past few months I have been slowly gathering ideas and beginning to test new materials and arrangements. The sunlight has been incredible, mostly since April, and the persistent quality of strong contrasts is something that my eye feels drawn to.

Outside of work I spend as much time in the open fields or the woods and one of my favourite qualities is the condition of dappled light. If you can be patient and sit with it, especially on a somewhat cloudy day, you will be rewarded with this pulsing quality where one moment the forest appears flat and the next there appear pockets and pools of pure light, almost as if emerging from below.

At a glance a scene is transformed and becomes its own composition, gloriously ephemeral, existing only within your eye in that shimmering moment. I am reminded of a quote from the Scottish writer and poet, Nan Shepherd

‘Details are no longer part of a grouping in a picture of which I am the focal point. The focal point is everywhere. Nothing has reference to me, the looker. This is how the earth must see itself’

In regards to image making and painting I love the freedom within such a scene because there is no single subject or compositional hierarchy directing one's gaze and thoughts. The eye travels across the image and picks out points of interest and of rest and then moves again, free to explore and discover. There is a feeling of depth and layering and of things both concealed and revealed which may invite further looking. Such a dynamic is something that I have always sought to create within a painting.

In regards to composition within the field of painting, American artist Frank Stella talked about how action painters or abstract expressionists ‘got into trouble in the corners’

It seemed to me that the action painters, and particularly the second generation action painters, adopted an attitude towards painting which was based a lot on the an idea of all over attack, but that they were inconsistent, they didn't really carry it out…they almost all seemed to get in trouble in the corners. They always started out with a big expansive gesture and then they ended up fiddling around or trying to make that one explosive gesture work on the canvas in some kind of way and it seemed to me that basically, in sort of painting and energy terms, they are finally compromised by all of the fixing up that went around the supposedly loose and free explosive images

Reference: 1min mark Frank Stella - 1972

Reflecting more on this quality and condition of dappled light and layering and throwing shadows I began to create studies which attempted to emulate this beautiful aspect of nature. Would it be possible to create a painting that allows equal emphasis across the entire surface area? I wondered if a painting could be more dynamic and responsive, if it could change as the light changed, such as in the woods, and if it could appear different at different times of day

I began by creating gestural marks in single colours using pieces of glass and then layering those to allow a gap between each one. In this way the shadows cast are real, rather than depicted, and the feeling of depth is achieved through this rich play of light.. Similarly areas are concealed and revealed and from adjusting one’s viewing position it is possible to see areas previously hidden.

Something that I really enjoy is the changing character as the sun arcs across the sky and picks out different shapes and colours on multiple levels, one colour pushing up through the next. I have sat with the earliest studies and reflected on how they could be moved forward and if they could be resolved in other ways.

This idea is still very much active and in play and while I work through it I will begin to offer smaller works through the mailing list. Here is a link showing images of the first available works. Drop an email if you would like more information.

Thank you for reading,

Derick Smith