'Leave the camera at home' day

It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday so I took the opportunity to take a long walk starting with a 'latte' at one of my favorite places, the Cliff Top Cafe at  Whitsand Bay -  and walking along to Cawsand. I made a conscious decision to leave the camera at home in spite of my intention to take a photograph a day - I find that I look at things differently without the camera - I took my little sketchbook so instead of quickly snapping away my looking was more focused and recording much slower - time slowed down!

As luck would have it the tide was out and the first part of the walk was along the beach - I collected some sea washed fragments of shell and plastic - the plastic fragments must be very old and who knows what journey they have been on - I hate seeing rubbish on the beach (now there are a few less pieces) but I have to say they make intriguing images..........

so even though I didn't take the camera I still took photographs when I got home - how different they are from ones I would have taken on the beach! I'm quite intrigued to see how they look in monochrome.

The shell fragments I collected are quite small, some really tiny, and have a softness and warmth - they are almost pearlized from the constant washing of the sea - I have collected sea glass since moving down here 18 months ago and these are just as beautiful.

Because I have become engaged with grids again through following Liz Davidson's blog I have been working on creating a grid of details from 'man in a boat' painting which will be used as 'fragment investigation' for my degree project

my collection from the beach yesterday seemed an ideal way to lay them out - so many changes can be made - this is the first layout..............

I have a photograph selected for the drawing exhibition on the theme of SPEED at Plymouth University - it opens next week for 3 weeks in ArtSpace 101  

'Experimenting with a digital camera at night the image was drawn with light using a long exposure. The camera captures the movement of light reducing it to a still image, which reflects my efforts to keep up with the speed of technology and the way I can use digital tools to push the boundaries of traditional drawing. The river and surrounding landscape represents a calmer and more measured way of working, flowing and expansive. The enlargement of the photograph to 45 x 60cms causes a further blur to the image, which is intended as a metaphor for the transitory and fragmentary nature of existence.'