CapallGlas

I took a short hiatus from projects for a while. It has been very hard to start up something new in the middle of the summer, so after some input from friends and other artists, I decided to reset my project clock to the Fall and Spring. I am much more energetic at those times of the year. For those of you new to my “project clock,” I usually start six-month projects in January and June, focusing on different themes in order to keep myself organized and moving forward.

So, the new project actually started on 22 September, 2010 and runs until 21 March, 2011. The Derrybawn Project was successful in some ways but not so successful in others. I created more new pieces in the span of the project than I have ever done at one time before, but they are neither ready for sale nor headed to the printers yet.

But with a new project comes new goals. I will revisit the Derrybawn artwork soon, and document the t-shirts and prints when they are available.

The Horizons Project is primarily a collection of landscapes. They are part of my study of the concept of a “Place of Resurrection” as described in early Christian writings. A place the soul goes to, a place so part of you that you will wake up there at the sounding of the horn on the Day of Judgment. Each place I have selected for this project is important to me for many reasons. They are “Thin Places” or places where the veil between the visible and invisible worlds is thin. They are places with strong memories for me. I hope to bring out more than just lines in the distance as I create these works of art.

I’ll address aspects of each place as I go. I selected these places using some rather arbitrary criteria, so while all these places are special in some way, they are not the only places I find special. I also selected places in which the landscape was a large part of the experience. Thus Dysert O’Dea is not yet on my drawing board, as my reference photos are targeted towards the serenity of the carved faces in the church structure, and less about the surrounding countryside.

Another reason I did not include Dysert O’Dea is that I plan to complete an entire project solely on sites in the Burren later. I am also saving the sites of Glendalough for a full project. So, in general, I also was looking for places where my own, personal reference photos reflected interesting landscape opportunities.

I started with a list of places that mean something to me, whether through the beauty or history of a place, or because something happened to me there that brings the place to mind. I sifted through those sites to find appropriate landscape photos, sketches and impressions from my writing, to bring together as much as I could for each place. In the case of Knocknarae, my photos are quite poor, but my writings and sketches are very powerful, so I am not sure what the final result will be.

My six selections, some of which may possibly change as I go along, are the following:

The hilltop tombs of Loch Craobh, or Loughcrew in Co. Meath.
The entryway of the passage tomb Brynn Celli Ddu, on Angelsey in Wales.
The ruined temple to Poseidon at Sounion in Greece.
The view of the strand below Maeve’s Tomb from Knocknarae in Co. Sligo.
The view of the countryside from the caves of Kesh Corran, also in Co. Sligo.
The Wicklow Mountains near Bray, Co. Wicklow.

I will be posting my preliminary work for Loch Craobh soon.

I’ll post what I can of sketches and my own reference photos as I work. This Project is also about improving my skills in landscapes, and learning how to render distance and atmospheric effects. It is primarily a Project of drawing, with a bit of painting thrown in. I hope to use pencil, ink, silverpoint and watercolor in this six-month span. Perhaps some colored pencil.

I hope you stay with me, this should be fun.

KJN