Making 'The Raising'
'THE RAISING'
We heat and feed ourselves using wood gleaned locally and needed a small barn to store it in so we had a 'raising' party to put in the rough hewn oak uprights. The sense of collective endeavour was so literally uplifting that it made it a playful, festive experience for everyone and the best party ever!
Afterwards I was very struck by the transformation of the space between the uprights. Suddenly the enclosed yet open space had acquired a kind of sacred feel.
We had taken some photos and one of them particularly made me think of other structures that we raise in landscapes like the timber framed roundhouses on Dartmoor.
This engaged me so much I had to start exploring the idea for a picture and I started drawing rough ideas in my sketchpad.
These led to a large drawing and a colour sketch. In the drawing I am trying to pull together the different ideas of the pleasure of people working together in a hands-on way and the creation of a potent space. As I worked I began to get a sense of a mediaeval feel of arches, stained glass windows and the very lively yet stylised figures and I wanted to get the feeling of looking through an opening into another time using colours that will bring a real sense of two different kinds of light, the darker light in the present into a luminous past.
This done I felt I had enough to move on to a large canvas.
A Mistake!
As you could probably see I hadn't at all resolved the design and several agonising days later and large quantities of expensive paint I realised I did not have a strong enough basic abstract drawing, which is what underpins all my work...when I remember!
So back to the sketchpads!
...which results in a much more resolved drawing. Now I am trepidatiously about to return to the canvas, hoping that the strength of the idea will see me through.
Wish me luck!
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