transmutation

Elements and minerals have different melting points and temperatures at which they become solid, so combining them is tricky. But weaknesses and stress fractures induced by unusual pairings can, in their incompatibility, produce intriguing results.

Undertaking explorations using metals, silicas and salts is originating some surprising transmutations. Disintegration from one form and subsequent re-formation into another is thus proving to be decidedly thought-provoking. Utilising chance initiates exciting and unpredictable outcomes, which definitely encourages my desire to embrace further possibility through continuing experimentation.

fresh air, sunshine and curiosity

Crisp, calm mornings are beautiful, they provide a perfect opportunity to get outside and up close with my local coastal geology. I return here again and again, there is always something new to discover and space to ponder the vast timescales on display all around.

In this picture I’m once more drawing amongst a raised Patella Beach, next to a wave-cut platform. Both of these date from the Eemian period 120,000 years ago and sit some 5m above the current sea level.

moments in time

Time is an intriguing concept to work with, creatively speaking, although it is a vast and complex area to explore. It poses challenging questions and is difficult to articulate but I remind myself that the only limiting factor in its expression is me…..

‘Moments in Time’ is a geological and experiential record of Three Cliffs Bay.

in contact with the glaciomarine sediment

touched by Patella beach of the Eemian

carrying imprints

dried traces of a past I didn’t know

immersed in the same sea it knew

layered with ancient sand in the present

‘Moments in Time’, a past embodied. Sand, sea and glaciomarine sediment, paper.

revelation

Stormy seas and turbulent winds frequently strip sand from around Gower’s coast. Winter storms exacerbate a constant cycle of wearing away and putting back, allowing buried rock to be unmasked for a short while before being engulfed by sand once more.

Barnacle-free and pale in colour this ‘clean’ rock stands out from that which sits above it. Such exposure provides much to explore and a brief opportunity to connect momentarily with unusual and intriguing finds….

These fossil shells embedded in the limestone at Pobbles bay, probably coloured by iron, look remarkably like cave paintings.