Ive been taking oil pastels and carving them with a toothed stone tool called a drag then, in the pics below, attempting a response to the fires in SF, USA. Why did I carve the pastel? it was an instinctive gesture – a connection to my usual way of working – removing material to leave behind a mark. Also it enables me to suggest sediment – depth –  layers – representing Psyche but also perspective.  Used same drag to tear paper for horizon – destruction and creation.

Now im working on the next phase of the experiment combining my project of making Plinths for found objects (in this case half a copper tie i cut from old masonry on some forgotten job and some brass ties I cut from some stone steps in a monastery that held rods to keep a carpet in place) that have been sitting, neglected for years in my found object collection. I plan to set these into stone using sandblasting but in the meantime I am studying them in the basement, turning off the light and rendering them blind onto paper with minimal gesture. Why? Alexa Cox talked about ‘authenticity of line’ and here I am attempting to find such a thing. But also im playing with the Dali/Breton idea that all found objects have been waiting in the unconscious.