Glencairn

Glencairn, Dumfriesshire and Galloway Landscapes
This body of work was developed in 2015 – 2017 and looks at ways of seeing landscape. On several occasions I have witnessed flocks of whooper swans flying over the valley I live in en route from Scotland to Iceland, and imagined how they are navigating and what they see as they fly over us. I researched this at Historic Environments Scotland using historic air photos and a stereoscope to look at the landscape from the air and in 3D. I used these images to inform my landscape artworks, in many ways drawing together my past career as an earth scientist with my current life as an artist. I want to use different ways of seeing landscape to explore landscape and land use change through time and look at the impact of climate change. I particularly love the light and changeable nature of the skies here in Dumfries and Galloway. The weather of SW Scotland seems to generate storm skies combined with bright shafts of sunlight which pick out the detail of walls landmarks and landscape. This is very much a theme in this body of work. The landscape and wildlife probably contributes to the thriving community of artists to be found here and which I am glad to be a part of.