A Homecoming in ink and oil pastel

Aug 29

2 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

If you are new to this blog, hello and welcome, I'm Fiona, a contemporary artist from Northern Ireland. I popped on to share some background on the pieces which have been sitting on my home page and socials forever and day. I gave barely any context about them (maybe a good thing?) Anyway, I feel like enough time has passed now for me to delve into them.

My latest series, Where Birds Cast Shadows is inspired by the pull of home. The strong, instinct to return to the people and places that shape us.

I have always been a home-bird. I like familiar roads and familiar sounds. I like knowing where the cups are lol. I like the comfort of every season (even the rain!).

Familiarity is not a small thing

I think familiarity can get a bad name sometimes, as if wanting it means you are not adventurous enough, but there is strength in knowing where you belong.

For as long as I can remember, swifts, swallows and house martins have been nesting in out houses here. Each year, they migrate from South Africa to an old stone barn on the property. Watching them made me think about my own relationship with place.

Three pieces from my series Where The Birds Cast Shadows, painted on burlap. — Three of the six pieces together, carrying the feeling of return and familiar skies.

The first marks began on paper

I began making line sketches of bird wings on paper, but the smooth surface felt a bit too safe. Some materials took the ink, but left the pieces feeling a bit flat. I needed something with more resistance and burlap seemed like an obvious choice.

Burlap made me slow down

Burlap is a challenging material, the weave catches ink and then it doesn't. It soaks up paint and then it doesn't. The ridiculous push and pull was exhausting. I cannot tell you the number of times I gave up, but there is something comforting about this raggedy material... as if it has memory woven into it; barns, gardens and old stored things; all within the rural corners of Ireland and home.

The weave of the burlap became part of the drawing.

Ink and oil pastel brought two different voices

If you are familiar with my work, you'll know I'm obsessed with drawing wavy lines and for this project, ink would provide the right mark making to capture wings and flight.

Oil pastels, on the other hand often pushed against the raised threads, leaving broken colour that felt alive rather than overly finished. They have an embroidered quality to them which I love.

The pieces are not smooth; they have rough edges, caught threads that

resist perfection, but are full of small histories.