I have recently decided to shake up my art practice and clarify a few areas.
My first project, WEATHER WATCHING has been a lifelong obsession and it’s far from “new”.
The second, TIME & TIDE has grown out of a project brief that I used to set my students. My own response is below – in essence I will pull together numerous threads to form a cohesive approach.
Project 1. Weather Watching
I am not a photographer. I am an artist who takes photos. The majority are either captured with an iPhone or iPad. For me photography is visual research for drawings, linocuts or paintings .
As part of my LSIAD, three year course in graphic design, I spent a couple of days a week learning the basics of documentary, studio photography and processing. I enjoyed the subject at art college and throughout my life, I have documented the world around me. Since those heady days of the late 60’s and early 70’s photography has changed immeasurably – now it is more sophisticated and with the advent of digital photography and smart phones it has captured the imagination of an entire generation and made photographers of us all.
I draw every day and obsessively take lots of photos.
I have been interested in the weather and cloud formations since I was a child – I was the school meteorologist, going in early every morning and measuring and recording temperatures, rainfall, wind direction and barometric pressure. I wish I had kept those childhood observations . . .
My heroes JMW Turner and John Constable were both prolific documenters of the weather and I have been inspired by their watercolours and sketchbooks .
Short Abstract
Project 2. Time and Tide
Time and Tide is a series of paintings inspired by the coast, the sea, and the shifting edge between land and water. Rooted in the East Coast of England and the Suffolk shoreline, the work explores weather, erosion, tide, light, and movement — the changing conditions that shape both landscape and memory.
I am especially interested in liminal spaces: those moments where a scene feels suspended between calm and force, observation and recollection. Ships, yachts, and maritime forms may appear as occasional motifs, but the series is primarily concerned with the wider atmosphere of sea, sky, and shoreline.
Working in oil and watercolour, I aim to create paintings that balance structure and spontaneity, offering a sense of place that is contemplative, contemporary, and quietly immersive.
chriswoodartist 