Road from Lands End to Cape Cornwall

"Geographically and geologically there is nothing else in the world which resembles this peninsula. Here, through msses of primeval sediment, the crystalline rocks have thrust upward from the fiery heart of the earth. No scenery is more truly sublime, from the dark slaty bulk of Tintagel to the granite wall of Penwith . . ." 

p.11 Unknown Cornwall, Vulliamy

We walked South and back towards Lands End from Brisons Veor.

We call this mansion Sky Fall.

Here's a great view of the Brisons.

You can see the gorse blooming. 

Another mine shaft.

"Looking north, your view is bounded by the conical mass of Cape Cornwall, with an old engine-house chimney pointing from the top of it." p. 19, Unknown Cornwall

 

Brisons Veor - The Celtic Triskele Symbol

“No county in England has a stronger individuality than Cornwall, whether in economic or social conditions, in history, nomenclature, tradition, or even in physical characteristics of the land.” Encyclopedia Brittanica sometime before 1925 quoted in Unknown Cornwall 

Before I came to Cornwall I used the Celtic Triskele symbol to signify water in a piece I made about cotton and middle passage.  

The triskele is not specifically a Cornish symbol but I felt committed to make some coordinates to go with this piece and explore the symbol a bit while I have the time and the space.

I'm trying not to be too serious or product oriented as I work at Brisons Veor. I'm working on newsprint not to be too precious about anything. I don't have a big ruler so I am just folding newsprint to line up the patterns.  I bought 44 sheets in Truro. I am also really giving myself permission to be messy and free and see what I can find in the process.  

Here are some of the sketches I did on tracing paper.

The proportions on this one didn't feel right.

This second drawing felt better proportioned for me.

I carved this block with the soft linoleum I brought from the US. 

This is an experiment using 2 colors and spattering. I love spattering and because I don't have great clean up facilities the paper was getting some finger prints on it.  I decided not to worry and just cover it with spatter and consider it texture.

I like this one a lot.  I think I could play with more of an overlap.

In this piece I incorporated a quote from a book I am reading that I brought from the Los Angeles Public Library called "Unknown Cornwall."  The quote reads - "The sea in storm, with the clamour of falling surges and the whipping of white spray over the boulders, fills you with thoughts which are hard, firm, distinct and cleanly cut, like rock.  In calm weather, the sea invites you to play: in storm challenges you to a tussle  ."  

I am using the quote as a stripe.  Althea McInish has some pieces with great stripes in the backgrounds of her designs.

This piece has the triskele symbol overlapping on itself and rotating.  I think I will develop this a but more with a new carving. I folded the newsprint to give me some rough guidelines.

Here I added a bit of spatter.

As part of the textile collection.

St. Hya or Ia, Riding to Cornwall on a Leaf

I became interested in the story of Ia after I read about her in my Unknown Cornwall book.

"You may have read, or heard, how the daughter of an Irish noble, a Christian girl named Hya or Ia, desired greatly to join the expeditionary force of holy men and women who were setting forth from Ireland to fight heathendom in Wales and Cornwall.  She hoped to find a place in the company of Fingan and Piala, devout missionaries, but they sailed without her.  And one day, as Hya was walking by the waterside, there floated close to her a monstrous large leaf.  She put forth her staff and drew the leaf towards her; it was so broad and so buoyant that she, stepping daintily thereon, was wafted across the sea to the very shpre that she was seeking. St. Ives the scene of her landing, bears her name - St. Hya, or Ies or Ia." pps. 73-74

I went to Ia's church in Saint Ives on the 3rd of January.

One night at Brisons Veor I began doodling about St. Hya a few days before I got to St. Ives.

These are bench ends from Ia’s church in St. Ives. The church is full of interesting bench ends. 

This is a piece I made about Ia.  The text reads the same as the text I used the start this post from the Unknown Cornwall book.

Playing around with these shapes from the top of a bench end from Ia’s church in St. Ives. 

This design is put together with draw shapes in photoshop. 

Here I decided to cut some blocks. 

This print has a washed background and the linoleum prints and some hand painted elements. 

Here is another variation with the same blocks except I didn't used the diamond one.

Here is the design incorporated in my collection about Jamaican Banana Sellers called "Day-O"

Brisons Veor - Sankofa bird

"The Akan people of Ghana use an adinkra symbol to represent the same concept. One version of it is similar to the eastern symbol of a heart, and another is that of a bird with its head turned backwards to symbolically capture an egg depicted above its back. It symbolizes taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress through the benevolent use of knowledge."

I started thinking about the Sankofa bird after I began playing with the swallow inspired by the bench end at St. Just church.

In these studies I am playing with what is the most harmonizing combination of the left-facing and right-facing birds.

Here I am taking some of the ideas from the bench end at St. Just-in-Penwith  (shell, birds and crescent moon) and applying to the Sankofa birds. 

Here I am trying to make some finished pieces using these same elements.