Frances Gynn

 

Kingsbridge
Devon
United Kingdom

The majority of my work to date has been about something I refer to as 'Beach Conversations’. In this series of paintings and drawings, I respond to the transformation of quotidian flotsam on the tideline.The softening and etching of surfaces wrought by sea and shore on manufactured objects embodies a dynamic dialogue between man and nature. Drawing out and on usability of  'waste' in the natural environment: discarded, reclaimed, colonised by nature to be washed up, reclaimed and transformed again.

One 'conversation' has been about 'strange attractors'. Items that catch your eye, often because they are either not organic or appear so. It is from these strange attractors that I build a narrative in my work. I am interested in suggestions of human presence within nature and convey the inspiration through representation or abstraction, or both.

A particular walk I make most days along the sea front washes up a collection of images; a reflection of my thoughts, my mood, a physical presence. 

Beach jetsam and flotsam might suggest a conversation, an event, a sensation. 

The process is an important part of my work. I layer diluted oil paint and beach tar, rub away paint with sandpaper to mimic the sea's wearing away of objects and take paint castings of found objects which I incorporate into my paintings.

In contrast to the coast, I gather inspiration of a similar theme from the countryside inland.