One of the Artists in Residence Again!

I am so lucky to be carving out some days to work again at the Ness of Brodgar summer excavation. I am so behind with keeping the information going that I am going to try to relate last year to this year.  So…..here goes.  When coming onto the site after it has been cleared of the black plastic and tyres means hoping to find some piece of earth and stone that is interesting to my eye either by the shapes or the colours.  I start by walking around the trenches peering in and over with watercolours and pencils in hand.  This year, I also have a nice collapsible purple chair to help me pivot my supplies and keep me out of the way of the archaeologists moving in and out of the trenches.

Here is a one of my 12 videos created during this past winter exhibition of the 15 foot “Homage to the Sondage in the Montage with some Debitage on the Side” painting that talks about the preliminary watercolour work. https://youtu.be/Mo9xcsYIkqg

Here are three of the most recent watercolours painted at the Ness the week of July 31, 2019.

This week they have uncovered another standing stone that sits just outside of Structure 12. This is the opposite side from where I painted the same entrance from last summer and figures in large in the “Homage…” painting

New this year is a sort of circular structure with a number of large stones along the inner walls. I have nicknamed it the “round table room” imaging individuals making claim to their place, with niches’ alongside each one.

This is another watercolour from the same position attempting to accent the rectangular shapes next to the right standing stone in the entrance. They are white cards nailed into the dirt to indicate something of interest. I was also fascinated by the planks that criss-crossed just behind that newly discovered standing stone.

You can see the white bits of paper just behind that large entrance stone and the new standing stone is lalong the bottom.

This photo shows my “round table” area. You many also note that I leave things out in my watercolours, like the buckets and bags. My watercolour also has the hearth uncovered from the black plastic. This is artistic license!