Semester 1

New semester, new direction - based on the old. The fragments of pottery and glass and other assorted items have come into their own. I have drawn them; isolated detail and colour; looked at shape and investigated in part how they came to be where they were found. The area of discovery is at Lower Largo, on the beach between the village and the old salt works at Viewforth. Along the way I made an amazing discovery - one for nostalgia - cowrie shells. I have not found them for years and thought it was just another childhood pastime. Not the case.

Symbolism and surrealism have informed the way I paint in order to marry surrealism with representation. Why have to go down just one route? The fragments are now treated as metaphors for humanity in the battle with nature centred on the coastline. Where the sea meets the land is a constant tumult of change. Over time these fragments lose all facets of individuality and being anonymous like the multiple grains of sand they nestle in.

The main sourses of inspiration have come from the work of Max Ernst, in his frottage and grattage pieces. Also the work of Rosamond Purcell. These have given me technical direction and also a scientific slant respectively. I was gratified to find in the work of David Martin, my painting tutor at Leith, a similar preoccupation with the passing of time and the effect we have on our landscape. At last I can see myself in the ranks of the contemporary.