Word of Mouse

The Impermanence Series

25/10/2015

When I last updated in August, I mentioned that I had been working on some drawings exploring impermanence as a deeper investigation into themes inspired by Buddhism and Buddhist imagery. I felt quite drawn to these principles, especially as I had been encountering a great deal of uncertainty and change in my personal life. It seems somehow poetic then, that the result of these developments, culminating in a series of five digital collages titled Impermanence Series, should be receiving an airing as my final exhibition of work before I leave Manchester for pastures new. Even more so as the images contain drawings made in and around the area I'm moving to! The new work will be in display at the Manchester Buddhist Centre's Arts and Imagination Festival show 'Touched by the Dharma' throughout November 2015.

I have always found my work driven by responding to the environment I find myself in and so it's no surprise that place and my movement from one to another should be featured in my work. I can only imagine what inspirations I will find following my relocation to the Essex coastal town of Leigh-on-Sea but as it has already found form in my work I think it's a fairly educated guess that it will affect the future of my creative practice, whatever that may be!

Impermanence Series 3 - October 2015

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Everything is Changing

17/8/2015

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Having taken a laid back and flexible approach to producing work for The Serenity Series, (as would only be appropriate for the subject matter!) I didn’t set out with a goal in terms of how many pieces I expected to produce.

This is especially true as I didn’t really feel there was a very clear aesthetic link beyond a general idea and that the whole thing had happened quite accidentally. Since recognising how influential Buddhist iconography had been and then choosing to learn more about it however, it feels right that perhaps having reached a better level of understanding it would be time to move on. Upon completion of a seventh canvas in May, I was able to collate the images and realised that actually, the little ‘family’ of apparently hotchpotch pieces did have quite an identifiable visual link and didn’t just rely upon the conceptual to unite them at all.

Driving on in a conceptual vein, I have decided to begin exploring notions of impermanence, a key principal I have discovered in Buddhism, and personally very relevant to some of my recent experiences. Whilst I very much enjoyed reconnecting with painting and mixed media, in moving forward I have again reverted to drawing and sketching. This has seemed especially appropriate as the theme I have now chosen to explore encourages recognition of our desire to ‘capture’ moments in time which are necessarily fleeting. Photography is an obvious tool for attempting this, recording a fraction of a second with the highest shutter speeds, however drawing, and the time required to sit, observe and translate the three dimensional and dynamic world around us into a static two dimensional form brings with it an interesting dichotomy of process and goal. Interestingly, it also embodies another Buddhist ideal; that of mindfulness and integration of ones experience with the present moment.

I’m not yet certain where these new sketches will take me though I’ve titled the book ‘Everything is Changing’ and I’ve enjoyed their creation so far, which can only be a good sign! I’ve now added some them to the Sketchbook pages of this site and have recently published two new poems, (linked below and also on the More Words of Mouse page) which instead engage with the concept of impermanence from a literary perspective.
In writing this update, I have also just noticed the title of my last posting; how right I was!

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A Gentle January

13/1/2015

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Heart Sutra, Acrylic on Canvas Board, 2015

It is then with a quiet simplicity that my first post for 2015 shares just one piece; the newly completed Heart Sutra; Go Beyond. This painting is a development from a Peaceful Places photograph of the entrance arch at the 'Big Bell' Buddhist temple in Tamana, Japan, in the summer of 2013. The text on the arch refers (I am reliably told) to the Heart Sutra, one of the most important Buddhist mantras. It is translated by the 14th Dali Lama as “go, go, go beyond, go thoroughly beyond, and establish yourself in enlightenment.”
The painting also includes visual references to designs that feature frequently in surface pattern on Persian textile and ceramic pieces, themselves inspired by Chinese representations of lotus blossoms.

The winter months are, for just about every species of life on planet Earth except humans, months of rest, recovery and rejuvenation; an important opportunity to build strength and resources in order to make the most of the more naturally bountiful seasons. I have been trying to learn from this observation and have attempted to keep my usual expectation to be continuously and both-feet-first into multiple projects in check. This is certainly in keeping with the essence of the Serenity Series, which has become, from apparently nowhere, the main thread of my recent creative practice.

Entrance Arch, Big Bell Temple, Tamana, July 2013

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The Impermanence Series

Everything is Changing﻿

A Gentle January

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Everything is Changing