Titles

The beginning of term has been strange. My contact time with my tutors has greatly diminished which has left more time for self directed development and contemplation. I have quite a clear view of how I am going to tackle the degree show as far as the paintings are concerned. However there is one matter that I am not yet settled on which is the titles of my paintings. I have historically been uninterested in the names of my paintings. I think this could well be to do with being prolific. I am quicker to come up with artwork than I am names. I also like the painting to speak for itself if possible. So it just hasn’t got done so far. I thought it would be relevant to return to the geology of my home town and surrounding countryside. Anglesey has a unique geological history with fascinating details. I have said many a time that the area surrounding Church Island in the Menai Straits holds a life time of enquiry, each visit instead of ruling out compositions and ideas, creates 7 fold. Tranquil scenes bustling with all sorts of avian life forms competing for space on over crowded rocks socialising and bickering. I am able to feel just like one of them, catching the first chill of a summers evening just before sunset while sketching in the shade. I would like to say I am going on to bigger and better things but realistically I cannot think of anything better. Am I today for the first time in my whole university experience feeling homesick? I feel at the very least I shall return periodically to recharge my love for the area. In all this world which has been so greatly touched by man, there nestled in an ice-cut, flooded valley remains a fragile creature. It is in this picturesque landscape that a boy was once broken and later pieced back together.  

The addition of titles to my paintings has drawn me to research the geology of the Menai Straits, looking into human anatomy, and the origin of place names. My goal is to unearth the methods that people have used in the past to invent newly formed words for things. Porthaethwy, the Welsh word for Menai Bridge, broken down translates to Portal, Went. I really like what is inspired by the word Portal. From my geological studies I looked into roots of names, and these roots have some relevance to the human anatomy also. For instance many place names are derived from features of the landscape, just as names of muscle groups are often in relation to the shape, size of orientation of such group. The word Deltoid is the name for the triangular muscle on the side of the shoulder. It’s name comes from the Greek letter Delta which is a triangle. Many of my paintings at present feature triangles for some reason so it was nice to discover the letter.