For the 'Practicing Landscape' exhibition in the Lighthouse I propose a single A0 charcoal drawing as an addition to the extended series of works I have been working on since 2005. These are long-duration observational drawings of tree bodies—specifically, detailed close-up views of the stocky load-bearing trunk section. My aim is to develop both an immersive contemplative practice of being in the environment, while acknowledging the structural and intellectual knowledge fostered in Western traditions of drawing such as in the life room. I aim to be faithful both to the surface of the exterior skin of these living bodies, while also showing the enduring interior structures and tensions involved in staying upright, in catching light and water, and in getting along with one’s peers.
Every species, every individual, twists and shifts in a different way. The slow cautious process of drawing and adding new leaves to my series is in part an attempt to get in tune with the xylo-time scale, but it’s also an admission that time often passes too quickly for the contemplative life. The image here, example of a previous work, is a larch tree—a native species. For the exhibition I intend to draw in a foreign introduction brought here by Victorian imperial plant hunters, the monkey-puzzling araucaria, indeed a particular specimen standing over the ancient Egyptian-style tomb of one of Glasgow’s more successful merchants. My landscape observations are also carried out in words—in parallel investigations of the interactions between landscape representation, notions of national and regional identity and the cultural politics of design and landscape shaping in Scotland.