Something happened this week in my process that I want to try and pin down for a while. I’ve been doing digital etchings. Or that’s what I’m calling them. Sometimes I literally just erase parts of a photograph I’ve taken,… Removing the House, Brick by Brick
I came back from a week in London and stopped at a tree I’ve cycled past a hundred times. Not because I’d never seen it, but because there was always going to be more to see.
In Dingwall, there’s a bakery that offers a diy café service. You can buy a macaroni pie and retreat to the seating area in the back to eat it in an antisocial manner. Drinking your latte from a designated latte… Sugar Coated Words
In the lead up to the interim show, conversations with my twin sister Kirsty have become far more than a supportive discussion around the work. We’re collaborating both as artists for the first time in many years. Our conversations have… The Anatomy of Collaboration
Something That Grew From Nothing (Studio note: drawings made with digital encaustic brushes built from beeswax + stone textures) I live on a farm in the Scottish Highlands. My sister lives in a little wooden cabin close by. Sometimes, as… Growing Something From Nothing
This piece was a real journey from start to finish. In my practice, the process can often be a long, winding road. The Rain Piece This piece began with a photograph taken through a rain-covered car window on a surf… The Rain Piece: Digital Failure, Material Return.
This post documents a period of intense scanning and iteration of digital images during in term 1. It began with an exploration of materials. Ash, shells, foraged pieces from local shorelines. Indexical records of these finds resulted. The scanner recording… Scanography Portraiture
My enquiry into embodied mark making required a process that could hold tonal depth, physical making and subtle surface variation. Photogravure is a way for me to bridge the gap between digital images and tactile, intaglio surfaces. Rather than traditional… Technical Framework: Photopolymer Photogravure
Recent discussion during a weekly MA meeting introduced me to the writing of psychiatrist and writer Iain Mc Gilchrist. His direct clinical experience underpins his idea that perception doesn’t just receive information from the outside world like a helpless consumer.… Attention, Tacit Knowledge and Making From the Space Between
Study Statement Unit 1 (Working Document) Unit 1 Assessment Page (Learning Outcomes & Evidence)
A daily ritual. Lighting the wood stove and watching the little flames grow. From a glow of last nights embers to ragged flames. From the fireside I think about how this year I rekindled a little fire. It was just… A Daily Ritual
At art school, many years ago, they used to say draw what you see, not what you think you see. I’ve been thinking about that a tonne recently but it turns out it isn’t really just about drawing. It’s about… When Blind Spots Align
I wondered if this was too dark to write about. Everyone likes looking at old photographs. But there’s much more to an era in your life than old photographs. They were kept in an old album. Heavy and blue. A… Empty Shells are beautiful
Last year I travelled up to the far north of Scotland with my family. My partner surfs and charts were looking good so we headed on a spontaneous road trip with our kids. Some other surfers we know joined us… Rain on the Window of a Peugeot 1.06 1.1 Zest
I used to think that writing was just about arranging words in neat little rows…my thoughts tamed and lined up on a page like stuck little traffic jams. Just string the words together, or so I thought. Like a glorified… Scrabbling for Words
When I was a kid growing up in Sutherland, I spent a lot of time crab fishing. A wee wild gang of us roaming the rocky, seaweed-covered shorelines with the bare minimum equipment. We’d kick limpets off the rocks for… Crab Fishing
