Stillness and Silence

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Editing my Sound Pieces over earlier video pieces

The two films below illustrate how a sound track can add an extra dimension to the visuals. In the first film certain sections of the first element, such as the arched church windows, linger over the second element for longer than the rest (because it's the lightest part). This is echoed in the singular high note sung across two phrases. In the sung piece, Northern Lights, the high note is part of the first musical phrase, then all the other parts stop singing and take a breath (apart from this one note) and come in on a new chord, with this note bridging the gap from one musical phrase to the next which is reflected in the visuals.

My second video piece consists of two very subtly moving videos of a bed frame with sunlight streaming in through the window. I found it interesting to put such an obviously church based choral piece (religious words, noticeably recorded in a church acoustic) in a clearly domestic setting. I am making the point that prayer and religious practices are not limited to, for example, going to church on a Sunday. It does not feel like something that should be restricted by time or place. At the same time we are watching light move across the wall in real time, something we wouldn't usually stop to watch, or more probably have time to do, if it wasn't presented as an 'art' piece.

Click on any image to see the complete film on YouTube.

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Film Work from Lockdown

The first video is a take on the traditional self portrait. Sitting in the sun, I am reflected in a painting of me done by my Dad when I was three years old. The reflection is almost unnoticeable until I move. The second is the view from the window reflected in a painting. I like the surreal overlaying of the two images and the uncertainty of what you are looking at. The abstract marks are echoed by the movement of shadows and leaves outside. The third video is a close up of a bunch of tulips we received when my Grandmother died. The dappled light of the sun on the blind and the petals dances with such life that makes me feel her presence more than ever. The final film shows the sun moving relatively quickly across the wall, casting shadows as it goes. The film appears black and white at first, but as the light moves it reveals the deep red of the petals and the green leaves. The light gradually reduces to almost nothing.

Click on any image to see the complete film on YouTube.

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Still films

I often take videos quite spontaneously when something happens that I feel conveys a sense of stillness, not necessarily thinking about the subject matter, however looking at the videos I have made, I see clear connections throughout. Light is an important factor, and I often portray the subtleties in the changing sunlight, along with the shadows that appear. The wind is often the cause of such subtle changes, rippling the surface of a puddle, or moving trees and leaves outside, which in turn create beautiful shadows on the wall.

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Very small watercolours

In 2020 I made a series of very small watercolours related to a series of films I had made of shadows on a wall. I was trying to capture in a series of still images some of the fleeting movement and subtle change from moment to moment.

Click on any picture to see a slide show of the complete set.

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Visual Silence

Barnett Newman realised that a simple horizontal line automatically indicated a horizon and, as an extension, the landscape. He actively fought against this, with many of his abstract paintings only containing vertical lines. In a similar way I feel that five horizontal lines grouped together indicate music. This is perhaps less universal, with not everyone being able to read music, but I think it is interesting that we try to place meaning on everything, even just a line. In my sound works where I improvised from elemental paintings, I added five-line staves to some of them in order to shift the meaning from an abstract composition to a sound work or music score. Here I have used a similar idea, but this time have kept just the repeated lines. Drawing out the lines on such large paper, it became a mindfulness exercise, making calm, repeated patterns using my whole body. But it became more than that, by simply choosing to use five lines in groups. To me it has become a visual representation of silence. The sheet music to John Cage's 4'33" perhaps.

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Haikus

I have been writing haikus and exploring the presentation of them, whether they should be audible, written minimally or combined with images. Here are a selection of haikus combined with watercolour paintings. I find they echo the uncontrolled, elemental quality of my rain and wind paintings.

Click on any picture to see a slide show of the complete set. See the caption on each image for complete text.

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