Echoing branches Painting is that other freedom, for it can put us in touch with that somewhere else.” Frank Gehry My current practice explores the reminders of landscape, in a romanticised and cherishing approach. I am interested in creating landscape oil paintings that act as an open window into the past and remind the viewer of feelings and memories by capturing the intimate moments of the wilderness. I am attached to nature as it has a significant impact on my identity. In my childhood I used to escape into nature, as it gave me a feeling of freedom. This body of work is inspired by The Kiltonga Wildlife Reservation, Newtownards. This place holds similarities and nostalgic reminders of my childhood garden and environment. It connects me with the place that there once was in my presence. Reoccurring elements such as the light shining through the trees, the wind blowing through the branches and the birds chirping always bring me such joy and sadness simultaneously. These are sacred moments in nature that I hold feelings and value for. The selection of three primary colours in my palette helps to create a sense of a place. It set me free, and it allows me to get a sense of me losing myself in the painting. I use oil paint like watercolour, fluid and fast on the wooden board surfaces. I am interested in re-creating chemical reactions by applying different mediums and thinners with oil paint to create bubble “error” effects, like polaroid photographs would create, but by using experimental approach. It builds up organic marks on the wooden board surface. Those Errors seem to correspond as a symbolic connection between the memory and the actual true image. Using Polaroid photography helps me to gather material sources that makes me see different elements each time I visit. Looking up from within the tree branches unlocks a contrasting presence in the landscape. As Paul Nash said, he turned to landscape not for the landscape's sake, but for the things behind. Through landscape painting I recovered a sense of myself and memories that I am hoping to retain.
