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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.
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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.
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This engaged me so much I had to start exploring the idea for a picture and I started drawing rough ideas in my sketchpad.
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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!