Catriona Taylor: Coastal Waters

My current work has been determined by several factors. At the moment I am commuting to Dundee from my home south of Edinburgh. I decided to use this as a positive force to determine and enforce a stricture on what I do. As I usually make installations my work is often big and a logistical problem to transport, so it was a challenge for me to make portable work that’s easy to move around. I decided it was an opportunity to develop and expand my 2 dimensional work. As I am naturally drawn to thinking conceptually and making installations that I never develop this aspect of my practice.

The themes that inspire me tend to be centered on Scotland; it’s landscape, history and literature. A strong theme in my work has been Scots emigrating, which of course until recently involved a long journey by sea. The sea therefore has been a constant in my work.

I decided I really wanted to explore painting; it’s process and possibilities. I took the sea as my subject. - the seas around Scotland and the Scottish coastline. However I wanted to represent the sea in a non-realistic way but using a method that is dynamic and gives the sense of movement, power and water. I have experimented with pouring paint, water and the element of chance or “happy accidents”.  I have tried to establish vibrant surfaces using a dynamic approach and trying to remove the element of control.  To aid all of this I use water based mediums as a necessity for working at speed and to depict liquid. I am also experimenting with methods to apply paint in a vigorous and dynamic way such as scraped on with pieces of card, hankies, rollers and pouring from cartons. I am considering everything as potential material so as well as paint I am using papers, poring mediums, sand, glitter, glue, seawater.

At the same time as applying the materials in this way I wanted to consider the human tendency to make our relationships with the sea safer: the powerful force of the sea and our attempt to try and chart it and make it more navigable.

I see the painting’s surface as the geological aspect of landscape and sea and the formal lines of maps, charts, and text as the human intervention.