St Ives, in Cornwall, is a place I find myself continuously referring to throughout my practice, due to a connection I hold with the landscape in childhood memories. In reference to phenomenology, this is identifiable as an integrated or embodied experience. Through paint I attempt to create an original visual language, to open up a refreshing and sentient perspective of the landscape.
Phenomenology allows us to explore our relationship to the world using all our senses. Central to this is the argument that the body is a form of consciousness underpinning all action, Merleau-Ponty argues that “there is not in the normal subject a tactile experience and also a visual one, but an integrated experience to which it is impossible to gauge the contribution of each sense” (Merleau-Ponty: 1945). My practice considers phenomenological experience as a way to translate and visualise an engagement and exploration of the natural landscape.
My process is intuitive, working instinctively with no preconceived notion of the end image. I begin by layering brush marks, building up the surface until the combination of gestures successfully translates these embodied experiences. I then introduce graphic line, and occasional colour blocks, as a way of breaking up the brush marks to create a pathway for visual exploration. With a basis in colour theory and aesthetics, I use colour in a playful manner as an extension of the landscape, with the aim of creating a visual energy and dynamic surface suggesting my relationship to the landscape of St. Ives.
Mae St Ives, yng Nghernyw, yn lle rwy’n cyfeirio ato’n barhaus yn fy ngwaith, oherwydd cysylltiad sydd gennyf â’r dirwedd drwy atgofion plentyndod. Gan gyfeirio at ffenomenoleg, gellir adnabod hyn fel profiad integredig neu ymgorfforedig. Drwy baent, rwy’n ceisio creu iaith weledol wreiddiol, i gyflwyno persbectif newydd ac ymdeimladol o’r dirwedd.
Mae ffenomenoleg yn ein galluogi i archwilio ein cydberthynas â’r byd gan ddefnyddio ein holl synhwyrau. Yn ganolog i’r ddadl hon mae’r ffaith bod y corff yn ffurf ar ymwybod sy’n ategu pob gweithred. Mae Merleau-Ponty yn dadlau “there is not in the normal subject a tactile experience and also a visual one, but an integrated experience to which it is impossible to gauge the contribution of each sense” (Merleau-Ponty: 1945). Mae fy ngwaith yn ystyried profiad ffenomenolegol fel ffordd o drosi a delweddu ymgysylltiad ac archwiliad o’r dirwedd naturiol.
Mae fy mhroses yn sythweledol, gan weithio’n reddfol heb unrhyw ragamcan o’r ddelwedd derfynol. Rwy’n dechrau drwy haenu marciau brwsh, gan ychwanegu at yr arwyneb nes i’r cyfuniad o arwyddion drosi’r profiadau sydd wedi’u hymgorffori yn llwyddiannus. Yna, rwy’n cyflwyno llinell graffigol, a blociau lliw achlysurol, fel ffordd o dorri ar draws y marciau brwsh i greu llwybr ar gyfer archwiliad gweledol. Gyda sylfaen mewn damcaniaeth lliw ac aestheteg, rwy’n defnyddio lliw mewn ffordd chwareus fel estyniad o’r dirwedd, gyda’r nod o greu egni gweledol ac arwyneb dynamig sy’n awgrymu beth yw fy nghydberthynas â thirwedd St. Ives.
