The 'Ashes to Ashes' series was started in 2019 and features a series of single pigment sketch paintings that are usually made in situ in woodlands. The paint is hand made from Apple tree charcoal, (or where stated, other vegetation / muds). The paintings are painted on old laptop screens using nearby twigs, leaves, fingers and brushes. The works are a meditation on the Gothic, with obvious references to sustainability, ecology, the landscape tradition, growth and observation.
The transparent screens and use of a single pigment highlight the paint, elevating it to the point where it carries just as much meaning as the images. With the use of mundane earthy materials linking to the idea of puritan ethics, life cycles and growth among other things. The use of the screens provide an interesting contrast to the messy, natural paint with the clear and regular shape and their history in digital imagery. The technique used allows the paint to sit somewhere between expressing its own material qualities and its function as a representational medium.
The transparent screens and use of a single pigment highlight the paint, elevating it to the point where it carries just as much meaning as the images. With the use of mundane earthy materials linking to the idea of puritan ethics, life cycles and growth among other things. The use of the screens provide an interesting contrast to the messy, natural paint with the clear and regular shape and their history in digital imagery. The technique used allows the paint to sit somewhere between expressing its own material qualities and its function as a representational medium.
