I came into the studio last week after several weeks of feeling under the weather. So I was still physically and emotionally quite low. I had a commission to make a start on and just didn’t feel in the ‘right space’ for it. I’d also been reading a book called ‘Dark Nights of the Soul’ by Thomas Moore and in it he suggested that it can be helpful to articulate a dark night in whatever way seems natural to you – whether that’s through poetry, music or painting, etc. He also suggested selecting materials that are in sympathy with the mood or whatever it is that you’re trying to express.
So I decided to try and draw from that place and chose to work with black pastel/charcoal on a cartridge paper with a bit of tooth. I tried once again to let go of control and to see what wanted to come through. These are the three pieces that came in fairly quick succession. I could try to analyse them in words but I think that part of the beauty of this kind of work is that the images are open to personal interpretation. So I’ll leave the response to you – I hope they ‘speak to you’ on some level.
