Found Art

As part of the Open Studio event at the end of the month I've decided to create some work using all the detritus I picked up on the beach while we were on holiday in Scotland over the summer. Here's my materials:



There's a host of things from sea worn glass to driftwood and bottle caps to fishing line. This was just selective collecting as well, it's a fraction of the garbage to be found on our coastline. You can also see, in the photo, the two big oil cans that Kari procured for me from the local Chinese takeaway while we were there ordering dinner!

I will use other materials but I'm aiming to use as much of the beach finds as I possibly can in the artwork I create. This evening I made an assemblage piece using the paintbrush which you can see just to the left of the oil cans in the photo. It's quite a simple piece, I feel alot of the work may well be. I have conflicting emotions over the use of these materials, some of the objects have a raw beauty which I want to enhance and celebrate but at the same time I feel so sad that my tiny collection is representative of the terrible way we treat the world's oceans.