Assemblages

RAY BALKWILL lives and paints on the banks of the Exe Estuary. He found inspiration for his latest project quite literally under his feet

- Ray Balkwill

Edgar Degas once said: “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Such is the gift of the artist, where every nuance is observed and considered; taking something often seen, or commonplace and drawing out of it some extraordinary element, thus to enable us to view it with a new pair of eyes. Creativity takes courage and one of the biggest challenges facing an artist is keeping the creative juices flowing and not to settle into a groove.

With this in mind, I set myself a new project each year and take time to experiment in order to find ways to keep my work fresh. It may be simply tackling a new subject, or perhaps choosing a different medium to work in. Last year was no exception and the inspiration struck after I happened upon a piece of weathered driftwood on the foreshore.

Quite remarkably the relentless and continuing effects of time and weathering had created the view of the scene of the estuary in front of me. Although in the past I’ve created assemblages using various found objects, this natural phenomenon planted the seed for a new direction based on interpreting the landscape from elements actually found within the found object.