After a busy November, I'm finally able to turn back to Wales and that ancient mountain range, once as high as the Himalayas, that dominates my imagination.
Below is a wobbly handheld video of the 12' long drawing I made in a concertina sketchbook over a few days on Anglesey in October. This is the second of two such drawings, the other having been made in Pembrokeshire this past May. I am also reposting the earlier one, for comparison.
The outcrops on Whitesands Bay are a giant's cornucopia of thousands of rocks of all shapes and every orientation! That landscape is a feast for eyes such as mine.
Here is a still of the Anglesey rock deformations, which are calmer, more markedly horizontal, but still breathtaking to my eyes:
These drawings are made on site, frequently with strong winds whipping my hair across my eyes, my hands struggling to hold a very long, folded (and unfolding at the wrong moments) sketchbook, working fast while the conditions are right.
There weren't huge problems in Pembrokeshire, other than frequentish rain, because the beach was very deep and I didn't have to pay attention to tide times. But on Anglesey, it was quite a different story. Finding time when it wasn't raining AND when it was low tide was difficult.
I post this photo of myself having just THEN completed the drawing, in spite of the challenges of weather, tide, and limited time. My relief and happiness are evident! This was our very last day on Anglesey, thus my very last chance to finish the drawing. The weather had been forecast to be rainy, but, look, it was perfect!
Next stop on the Caledonian trail is northern Norway. Near Bodø is the dramatic outcrop pictured below, part of our mountain building event that spanned a couple of millions of years and great distances.
Big thanks to Battleboy on Flickr, who gave me permission to use his stunning photo, taken from a boat.
Brilliant Norwegian photographer Reidar Hernes lives in Bodø and is helping me research possibilities for me to be able to stand on land and draw these deformations. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
This time I will use a different drawing surface: still a concertina sketchbook, but one not as long and with bigger pages, I think.
I leave this post with two images of the two books: different, connected. We will see what awaits us in Norway.
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