For this creation, we went back to acrylics, and also back to the theme of landscapes. A theme that hadn’t been the focus of a creation for a while.
Summer 2022 has been busy. It has been the first summer where there have been no public health restrictions. In 2021, summer was deemed as “opening up” as the world came out of lockdowns and life was driven by social distancing whenever people left their homes. It was a summer spent getting back to what normal life was known to be. A summer that was taken easy and with some reservation. However, summer 2022 has been busier and occupying.
So, where did the landscape of turbines come from? Why choose to do a sunset landscape?
Well, a free weekend was on the horizon and it seemed just to spend it painting. Moreso, on a personal level, my mental health had taken a decline. I was riddled with anxiety. It wasn’t a pleasant period at all. I isolated the cause and then turned to how I could improve my mental health, looking out for myself. The decline reminded me of why I took to artwork in progress in the first place: escapism and self-care. Helping my mental health from the challenges of lockdown, though this time had a different root cause.
So, back to the artwork. Why the sunset landscape?
It felt a positive move to reflect on the countryside, the tranquilness of nature, as well as having the aspect of renewable energy, at a time when the nation is facing a cost of living mainly being driven by the pressures within the energy market. Further, the infrastructure we now see in some parts of the landscapes across the UK will provide clean and sustainable energy to help meet the demands of future generations.
The setting of this creation was that it had just past sunset with the sky still holding the rich red that is observed at sunset. The moon was high in the sky and shining bright. The reason the moon is bright and bold in this creation was at the time of undertaking the creation, in August 2022, there was a lunar phenomenon known as a super-moon, which is where the moon is at the closest point to the earth making it appear larger and brighter than it would usually appear.
The process video is shown below:
So, whilst this creation was undertaken at a time of poor mental health, it provided calm and collectiveness to the situation and certainly had a positive impact.
This blog post is available in audio as a podcast and can be found here: Turbines on the Horizon audio
Artwork in Progress 