Video: bell ringing in an empty sky

bell ringing in an empty sky, a meditation video, 2012

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This was made using time-lapse photography, photographed at 1 frame per second, played back at variable frame rates. Shot using a tripod; the pan effects were made by turning the tripod slowly as the camera clicked through frames. The only lightsource was the candles in frame.

Another experiment in using tools to make style. We learn by doing. Sometimes the tools themselves give you a clue towards what the subject matter is, and the tone and style in which to present it. Artists need to listen to their tools, usually more than they do. There's a wisdom in the hands that often supersedes the egocentric directions of the head.

Light A Candle

Two drawings from the 1970s, in other words from my teens. Experiments with pen on paper. Lots of dark cross-hatching technique. The aesthetic of chiarascuro.

I found these again in a box of old paintings and drawings from my teens and twenties, the 1970s and 80s. Mostly bad stuff, but interesting to look back on, technically, and thematically. Both of these are early representations of life-long themes in my art: the candle in the darkness; the cave lit from within. The latter a visionary moment that dates back to much earlier in my life than I thought; the vision of the candle in the cave was something I wrote about later, in a longer poem. I had forgotten that there was an artistic precursor.

I had a pretty bad day today. Lots of emotion emerging from the trauma around the recent surgery. it was major, high-risk surgery, after all, so some feelings are bound to percolate up, sooner or later.

So this is to light a candle against that outer darkness. A little remembrance, a little solace.