a few workbook pages filled while invigilating my recent solo exhibition in King’s Lynn.
The first three are inspired by exploration of the Penwith mining area in west Cornwall; the last two by recent walks along the north Norfolk saltmarsh.
Food for thought here I think …
workbook 2. Mari French 2014
A safer distance. Mari French 2014
Workbook, Brison’s Veor, Mari French 2014
… following on from my previous post (a wilder sea… a Cornish art residency), here are some more images, sketches etc specifically on the mining area around St Just that I produced during those two weeks at Brison’s Veor. (Sorry, some photos rather low quality).
Bottallack and Levant mine areas are National Trust and are easily accessible from the SW coastal path and Geevor mine is open to the public with guided tours (you can go inside a real mine!).
Eventually I’m hoping these spark off a body of artwork, especially the abstract elements.
Detail, the Mill, Geevor Mine. M French 2014
Calciner, the Mill, Geevor Mine. M French 2014
Inside the Mill, Geevor Mine. M French 2014
Mine abstract, Mari French 2014
Detail, Geevor Mine. Mari French 2014
Detail, Geevor Mine. Mari French 2014
Detail the Mill, Geevor Mine. M French 2014
studies on paper. Mari French 2014
Sketching near Levant. Mari French 2014
Regular followers of this blog may remember my previous posts describing visits to the tin mining area of Penwith, near Lands End in Cornwall and the almost alien industrial archaeology there. If not, you can check them out here, here and here.
Below are the two most recent mixed media artworks I’ve produced on this theme. Again I’m exploring my response to the red iron oxide covered ground, the bright turquoise verdigris leaching from the copper adits where they emerge from the sea cliffs below the mines, the stark finger-like stacks pointing skywards.
Acrylic paint, tissue, acrylic ink and inktense blocks have all been used. The support was Daler watercolour board, which will take quite a lot of wet media if adequately taped down.
It’s an absolute joy to be an abstract artist and come across such rich source material…
I have to go back …
Mari French RI : contemporary artworks 