Waterfall green

Cornish Mines Project 2

 This is the second image exploration for the Cornish Mines Project. This is the original photograph taken near Levant Mine in West Penwith, Cornwall.

 Here is the first collage exploration of that image

collage and acrylic 5"x5"

 This is a sketchbook response to the image and collage

Acrylic
4"x4"

 Asemic writing response to the original photo

Acrylic, watercolour pencils, calligraphy ink

each page A5

Acrylic and collage

8"x10" approx

First completed image

Cornish Mines Project

I went out to Levant Mine on Tuesday and walked along towards Geevor. A stretch of the Cornish coastline littered with the remains of mining, it holds a real fascination for me. I drew a quick sketch of the coastline but it was far too cold to stay still, so I took loads of photographs.

These little collages (about 5"x5") are a first step response to some of the little details that I looked at. I'm not trying to represent the mines, or the landscape for that matter, I'm just seeing what happens when I look at some of the photos again.

I have a LOT of images I want to work from, so this is a long term project. I've been wanting to do something based on this particular bit of coastline for ages.

I don't know, or really want to know what the buildings did, the mystery of not knowing creates a place which lives entirely in my imagination.

One of the buildings with the sky and the sea behind

My sketch...the little dots are the sea spray !

It's an amazing mixture of wild natural beauty and strange industrial remnants.

The Alchemy of Mining

Levant Mine










I'm fascinated by all the old mine works around in the landscape where I live. There's something very basic about the alchemical transformation of earth elements into metals. It's also quite frightening to see where the guts of the Earth have been ripped out and left out on the surface for us to watch. And now, since the mining is now almost extinct, the Earth is reclaiming the land again, making it whole, greening up what was once an intense industrial landscape.

Here is a painting showing something of what this landscape evokes for me.


Levant Alembic