Janette Kerr: Extreme Wave Theory Project

Oceanographic imagery

2012-01-22T18:03:00.027Z

I have a small show - Extremes and Instabilities - showing some of the Shetland work in February (18th - 24th) at the RWA in Bristol, and will also be giving a talk about the project there on the 21st February at 6.30pm.

I have been continuing to work on the extreme wave project and have a small show - Extremes and Instabilities - showing some of the Shetland work in February (18th - 24th) at the RWA in Bristol, and will also be giving a talk about the project on the 21st February at 6.30pm. Below are a series of small works on paper in which I have been referencing oceanography using equations provided by Harald Krogstad (Dept. Mathematical Sciences, Trondheim), and other imagery collected when visiting the Norwegian Meteorological Institute in Bergen. Playing with the idea of mapping/fixing the uncontrollable by combining some of these elements, along with photographic imagery of equipment and tables of bottom water observations with paint, pastels and graphite.

Hoping to be able to work at the Bergen Meteorological Institution, Norway later this year if they can find me somewhere to work (please…). My intention is to spend some time there and to develop further dialogue between oceanographers/meteorologists and my work. I want to make a series of large drawings that respond to this oceanographic world and language, and have begun to explore ways in which to incorporate diagrams, mathematical formulae/calculations of wave theory and ocean motion, instruments/equipment both historical and contemporary), satellite imagery etc.

I've also been looking at some beautiful early 1900's hand-drawn maps which show the cyclonic circulation system of the northern Norwegian Sea, shown here juxtaposed with some recently made large paintings on canvas of the sea.

RWA President

2012-01-21T17:48:00.017Z

Happy New Year! I hope that you will all have a very creative and productive year.

New President for Bristol’s first art gallery

Press release: Dr Janette Kerr has been elected to the role of President of the Royal West of England Academy.

Janette is the fourth female President to have been elected at the RWA – the previous three being Dame Janet Stancombe Wills (1911-32), Yda Richardson (1932-36) and Mary Fedden OBE RA (1984-89).

I now have my very own President’s Blog:

http://rwapresident.blogspot.com/

This has been set up for my posts about my Royal West of England Academy activities, so please visit it and leave me your comments.

On the Far Edge

2011-11-26T05:42:00.002Z

Extreme Sea conference

2011-11-26T04:44:00.010Z

At the World Meteorological Organisation, Geneva

New work

2011-10-12T16:45:00.022+01:00

Returned from Geneva with a head full of calculations. And having met people from all aspect of extreme waves study - from mathematicians and scientists, meteorologists to boat designers and people who play (probably not the correct term) with model boats in wave tanks, and from all over the world.

My recent drawings are incorporating algebraic formulae; drawing and redrawing, marks obscuring and echoing others, contours describing surface of the sea, lines echoing oceanographic diagrams. The surfaces are also quite fragile and unstable – even transitory, as is a wave. They suggest a journey, movement, passage of time, past merging with present. They encompass those other connections - discussions with oceanographers, narratives of Shetland, and the dynamism of the sea.

Probability of incidence, circular drawing, oil, graphite and charcoal on cartridge paper, 100x100cm

The circular format references instruments on board boats, as well as the horizon seen from a boat in the middle of the sea.

detail of above

I am in process of developing these further - making more works - to incorporate oceanographic instruments and data.

Latest paintings:

Untitled, oil on canvas 122x152cm

Untitled painting incorporating oceanographic calculations, oil on canvas, 80x80cm

I will be showing this work at the Sir Terry Frost Gallery attached to the Kings School in Worcester in November. Hoping that the students will be collecting my sea water whilst they are on a trip to Cornwall. Whilst it will not be Shetland seawater, the sea flows where it will and so perhaps has made the journey around the coast...

Conferences

2011-10-01T23:17:00.002+01:00

Off to Geneva to talk about all this wave-stuff and present my own work (and theories..) at an oceanography Extreme Wave conference - will definitely be out of my depth...

More new images soon.

Catalogue: In Search of Extreme Waves

2011-08-18T13:01:00.006+01:00

Catalogues of the work in the Bonhoga Show are now available - either from the Bonhoga Gallery, Shetland, or direct from me: 7"x7" 20 pages, colour, soft-back. Price £10 (For UK addresses this includes P&P. If posting abroad P&P will be added to this price). Please email me at: root@janettekerr.co.uk

Primary School artwork

2011-08-18T12:52:00.003+01:00

This is a drawing by John Andrews, a primary school pupil at Hamnavoe Primary School, Burra, Shetland. The class have been making work using charcoal and chalk, and using images seen on my Blog as inspiration for their own artwork. I think it's a great piece of work - very expressive. Well done John!

Bonhoga Gallery

2011-07-22T16:55:00.033+01:00

Janette Kerr: Extreme Wave Theory, Bonhoga Gallery, Weisdale Mill, Shetland

June 25^th - August 14^th 2011, (neatly coinciding with the Tall Ships Race in Lerwick)

Preparation for the show

The exhibition represents the end of the first stage of an Arts Council funded research project on the interface between art and science.
On show in the top gallery are large-scale drawings and canvases, together with a series of small en-plein-air paintings, drawings, and sketchbooks, plus transparent boxes of sea water
containing 18^th century documents relating to the fishing trade. The room resonates with images of dramatic waves and wild sea.

I have uploaded images of the work currently on show, for those of you who cannot get to Shetland to see the show.

Bound for the Skerries, chalk, charcoal & graphite on canvas, 116x200cm (46"x80")

Brimfooster ll oil on canvas, 152x122cm 48"x60"

During my visits to Shetland I’ve wandered into the Archives at Lerwick Museum to read 18^th & 19thC documents relating to the fishing trade, and first-hand accounts by survivors of 19thC fishing disasters, and then visited sites where such tragedies occurred. I’ve learnt about mussel farming, discussed fish with Scalloway fishmongers, and the lure of the sea whilst buying turps in Lerwick’s DIY store. talked to boat-builders, net-makers, historians, archivists, scientists, story-tellers, artists and poets. I’ve been out on the sea - amongst the voes with a Scalloway creel fisherman, travelled with the pilot boat from Sullom Voe oil terminal to meet a tanker from India, I’ve clung to the sides of a tiny ferry on route to the Outer Skerries, waves washing over the deck as we pitched and rolled in a force 8 while I attempted to draw. I’ve sat in snow painting and drawing until my fingers froze, been blown by gusts of wind, drenched by spray and sleet, returning home with salt-encrusted skin.

It all gets inside your head, and now I’m lost in the world of Shetland and the sea. I have so much material it’s terrifying looking at it all; difficult to know where to start and when to stop.

Where black meets grey and in-between, charcoal/chalk/graphite/acrylic on cartridge paper, 59x147cm 23”x 58”

Section of drawing with poem by Laura Freidlander

Private view

Hold fast the sheet, oil on canvas with photographic element, 100x100cm 40"x40"

Mixed media on board, each 30x30cm 12”x12”

Battling with the Villains of Ure, charcoal/chalk/graphite and gesso on canvas, 120x190cm 47"x75"

Gallery talk

White light, red light, oil & coloured pencil with photographic element on canvas,122x152cm 48"x60"

En-plein-air paintings: oil on canvas & board each 295x295mm 11½”x11½”

Pillier, Da Skerries V, oil on board, 295x295mm 11½”x11½”

I’ve realized how different it is to make drawings and paintings from the experience of being on the sea as opposed to drawings and paintings made from the rocks, and this has affected the work I’ve been making. Some of the documents and artifacts I found in the museum have crept into my paintings, along with oceanographic imagery from the Bergen Meteorological office.

Convergence zone (triptych), oil & graphite with photographic element on canvas, 80x165cm 31½”x65”

The science/art aspect is the most challenging area of my research. It too has been having an affect on my work, and the second part of the project will focus more upon oceanographers’ research on extreme waves, and will be shown in Norway hopefully in 2012. The very precise and scientific procedures that mathematicians and scientists employ in studying the sea seems such a contrast with the way I, as an artist work, but in fact we both seek the same ends: to come to an understanding with and of nature.

Every seventh wave, charcoal/chalk/graphite on cartridge paper, 112x 150cm 44”x 59”

Brimfooster l oil on canvas, 122x152cm 48"x60"

Collecting sea water

Stories from the sea, 18th&19thC facsimile documents under seawater

I would like to thank Trevor Jamieson who made me four beautiful 18^th & 19^th century facsimile documents that I have installed under sea-water in the gallery. Together these documents tell a story – from the fishermen’s agreements, and the delivery of a sixareen boat, to the receipt for barrels of ling and herring, and note about a fisherman still being in debt to the laird at the end of fishing season and having to promise him half a horse and foal.

Gallery views

A heavy sea running, charcoal/chalk/graphite on cartridge paper, 113x180cm 43”x70”

A benker and a burrik, charcoal/chalk/graphite on cartridge paper, 58x112cm, 23”x47”

Work can also be seen on board the MV Hrossey, Aberdeen – Lerwick, Northlink ferry

Work on board NorthLink ferry

A catalogue of the work on show at the Bonhoga Gallery will be available.

I will be giving a paper as part of a panel - Meteorological Imaginations - at the Royal Geographical Society Annual Conference in London, Aug 31^st – Sept 2nd.

I will also be presenting my research at the international oceanographic Extreme Wave Theory conference in Geneva in October (scary!). I hope to be showing some of my drawings at these conferences.

Bonhoga Gallery show

2011-06-14T20:17:00.002+01:00

Private view - Friday 24th June 5pm-7pm - hope to see some of you there..

The show on Shetland represents the end of stage one of the research.... there is more planned which, I hope, will focus more on the science aspect of the project.

I will be posting some of the work that will be on show, and commenting about the progress of the project.

Frustration

2011-03-05T19:39:00.008Z

Voyage to the Outer Skerries charcoal, chalk & graphite on canvas

Having spent the last few months in my studio drawing and making paintings I have to get back to the sea - am feeling frustrated with being cooped up inside - I need to walk along the cliffs and feel the wind and taste the salt and watch those waves.... so I'm going back for a fleeting visit.... to become re-invigorated. Am not going to take my drawing stuff, although I will probably regret this decision, but it will be a good discipline just to look and remember.

Have been working on another large drawing (72"x48") they take so long to make and I emerge from the studio as though I've been down a coal mine, I've also been battling with some paintings that merge historical images into the painted surface (not quite there yet). Have made a couple of paintings of waves, which I think have worked...

Shetland waves oil on canvas 60"x48"

Shetland waves oil on canvas 36"x36"

These will all be going to my show in June at the Bonhoga Gallery, Shetland.

But I really really really need to make some larger paintings -

Feeling very excited about getting back to Shetland next week!!!!!

Charcoal and grey

2011-02-16T09:07:00.011Z

On route to the Outer Skerries, charcoal, chalk and graphite on

cartridge paper, 48"x60"approx

The large drawings I’m now making are based on experiences of travelling in various small boats and ferries in force 8 - even force 9 winds. Drawing whilst clinging onto the side of a boat in the middle of a heavy sea, and feeling sick, is a very different proposition to being on cliffs and rocks looking at the sea, even if it is blowing a gale. Surrounded by a living mass of water – by movement and sound; the horizon disappearing and reappearing, fear and exhilaration are simultaneously experienced. This is an experience of the sublime. And I realize that such experiences have affected the way I’m now making drawings and paintings. So too have the discussions oceanographers – to play with computer satellite weather programmes looking down through layers of cloud and wind to animated sea surfaces, to encounter terms such as ‘fetch’, and ‘confused sea’ and begin to understand the formation of waves, and their impact on ships and oil rigs – has made me far more aware of the dynamics and complexity of sea. In the course of making the drawings I realize that my attention has been drawn to the complexity of the surface of the sea; there’s a greater concern to draw the movement and flow of waves against each other.

These drawings will be shown at the Bonhoga Gallery on Shetland from June 25th – August 9th.

The poet Laura Friedlander who accompanied me on a wild ferry trip to the Outer Skerries, wrote this poem as a response to my drawing. She has kindly agreed to let me publish it on my blog.

CHARCOAL AND GREY
I will draw a line here
like charcoal
where black sky
meets grey sea
or a reverse
blended with oil sticks
and messy memories
fingers curled into the waves
I see the sea
coming at me
the shore tugging at my feet
And fathoms
that I fight against
never to go under
I am waiting for time
While times waits for me
before I draw the line
and wash the sea across this page

Laura Friedlander (Scalloway/Skerries, October 2010)

Solar wind stream

2011-02-13T22:10:00.008Z

This was the night sky in Norway on the 4th February - A solar wind stream hit Earth’s magnetic field late on Feb. 4th, sparking a G2-class (Kp=6) geomagnetic storm. In Gimsøy, Norway, the whole world seemed to turn green.
check out the link to see a solar flare that was the cause of the northern lights on the 4th. http://spaceweather.com/swpod2011/12feb11/plasmabullet_color.mov

Extreme winds- 4th February

2011-02-13T21:29:00.025Z

.....the biggest seas seen for a while pounding on the west coast…. winds of over 100 mph on late Thursday night, Friday morning and it was scary….

Many thanks to Debbie, and to Alistair (both on Shetland) for keeping me up to date with the extreme winds that Shetland caught on February 4th.

and to Ann Karin (Bergen Met Office and on extreme weather alert) re the high wind that the east coast of Norway was experiencing last weekend:

Models give waves from west up to 9-11 m Hs on the coast from Haugesund to Stad. At 12 UTC.
That is quite high, and when from west... probably devastating.....watch out for extremes! There will be a combination of swell and windwaves, and some interaction between the two can give high, extremely high waves in between.

It’s great to know that you all think of me when the weather turns rough!

Thanks for the photos and wave height chart Alistair – I’m pasting one of the photos and the chart here.

wave height chart, morning of 4 Feb

the sea from Burra, 4th Feb (Alistair Goodlad)

2011-01-19T09:05:00.013Z

LAND2 Art and Geography Symposium Saturday 12th February 2011

This one-day symposium explores a diverse range of place and landscape related research by academics, curators, and artists:

Professor Stephen Daniels
Cultural Geographer at the University of Nottingham, ‘Map-work’: art and cartography in Georgian Britain.

Professor David Crouch
Cultural Geographer at the University of Derby and exhibiting artist,
Flirting with space: thinking landscape and art relationally.

Claire Doherty
Director, Situations and Senior Research Fellow at the University of the West of England, Situations – from site to situation.

Dr Janette Kerr
RWA and Fine Art Research Fellow at the University of the West of England, Extremes and Instabilities: a dialogue between artist, place and making.

10.30 - 16.30, Room 0A2
School of Creative Arts & Design, Bower Ashton
Campus, The University of the West of England,
Kennel Lodge Rd, Bristol, BS3 2JT.

PLaCE LAND2

£10.00 Symposium fee (to include lunch)

Please book online before 3rd February 2011

For information on booking please contact Mel Shearsmith, PLaCE Research
Centre: melshearsmith@hotmail.com

LAND2 Art and Geography Symposium
Saturday 12th February 2011

10.30-16.30 at the School of Creative Arts, Bower Ashton Campus,
The University of the West of England, Kennel Lodge Rd, Bristol, BS3 2JT

Stephen Daniels, Professor of Cultural Geography, University of Nottingham:'Map-work’: art and cartography in Georgian Britain
‘Map-work’ became a key term in the critique of landscape art in Britain from the late eighteenth century, a period when both the commercial power and social esteem of cartography escalated. Daniels’ paper will explore the implications of mapping, and the culture of cartography more broadly, for the visual arts of the period. It will focus on the revision of topography as a genre, and a form of cultural practice as well as style of representation.

David Crouch, Professor of Cultural Geography, University of Derby: Flirting with space: thinking landscape and art relationally
This paper considers landscape as the performative expressive poetics of flirting with space in a way that makes possible an always emergent dynamic relationality between representations, practices and identities. Landscape as practice or art practice is forwarded into process, as dynamic rather than either ‘outside’ experience or only focused on the physical character of encounters. Crouch seeks to articulate the dynamic and complex character of landscape in process, working away from the particularly fixed character familiarly associated with landscape in and as its ‘representation’. For more information see www.davidcrouch-art.co.uk.

Claire Doherty, Director of Situations: Situations – from site to situation
Claire Doherty is the Founder and Director of Situations, a commissioning and research programme based at the University of the West of England in Bristol (www.situations.org.uk). Situations commissions artists’ projects outside conventional gallery or museum settings with an emphasis on new forms of public engagement. Locally embedded, but internationally active, Situations has in recent years spanned the range of potential temporal configurations of public art and has been dedicated to exploring the unsettling of place memory and place identity through practice and critical reflection. Claire Doherty will consider how, under the cloud of an imminent public funding storm, a fundamental shift has taken place in the consideration of site as situation in public art commissioning and how, in turn, this might have considerable impact on a progressive notion of place.

Dr Janette Kerr, RWA and Fine Art Research Fellow at the University of the West of England: Extremes and Instabilities: a dialogue between artist, place and making
Kerr will focus on the process of research in the course of an on-going project on Shetland and the North Sea that seeks to make direct visual associations between observational, experiential fieldwork, archival and oral research, and oceanographic measurement. Dr Kerr RWA is a painter and Visiting Research Fellow in Fine Art at UWE. Awarded an Arts Council grant, she is currently working on a research and development project concerning the interface between art and science, related to history and narratives of the sea surrounding Shetland.

£10.00 Symposium fee, includes lunch. Please book online before 3rd February 2011:

https://store.uwe.ac.uk/browse/product.asp?catid=837&modid=1&compid=1

For further information please contact Mel Shearsmith, PLaCE Research Centre: melshearsmith@hotmail.com
Directions to Bower Ashton can be found at: http://www.uwe.ac.uk/aboutUWE/campus/bower-ashton-directions.shtml

Back home in Somerset

2010-11-24T10:00:00.022Z

I think I'm suffering from withdrawal symptoms from Shetland. I miss the sound of the wind and the sea, and being able to just get out and walk along the cliffs. Having returned to Somerset at the beginning of November, and a week too early to have been on the NorthLink ferry Hjaltland that spent over 30 hours at sea in “atrocious” weather, marooned outside Aberdeen harbour (given my project, I really should have been there!), to cap it all I then catch the flu/cold bug that has been traveling around Somerset at the rates of knots. I was far healthier in Shetland with all that sea air to blow away any germs. So resumption of work has been delayed.

Finally back in my studio I am engaged in my own battles on canvas with the weather and sea. Having been working on a large canvas for over a week now I am still no-where nearer to resolving the image, which has gone through various manifestations. Trying to analyse the problem I think that it has something to do with confusing my making the large-scale drawings, which have been more literal, with the making of large paintings, which, as with the fluctuating tides and weather, my own fluctuating moods and observations allowing images to emerge, their topography continuously changing, as I work in a more intuitive way, responding to mark and colour. I usually use a drawing or section of one, or small painted en-plein-air study as a starting point, but for some strange reason I began to work from a photograph of heaving seas, taken whilst on board the little mainland ferry to Outer Skerries. This has been disastrous; the emergent image lacks any sense of movement and feeling for paint. Having put the photograph away, I spent a morning scraping off paint, and repainting using some of the drawings and small studies as a catalyst.

Drawings from boat trip to Hildasay

Sea voyages

2010-10-30T22:48:00.025+01:00

Thursday, October 28th
Having received a sudden invitation from Alistair Goodlad to go out in his boat, I rapidly altered my day's itinerary and drove off to Trondra. Having clambered aboard, sketch book and charcoal to the ready, I found myself hanging on to the side of a small boat as we hurtled out to sea. "It's only about Force 2", he remarked, as we banged down over the incoming waves before the boat launched itself at the next. Although Alastair was impressed at my ability to draw without looking down at my sketchbook, my attempts were curtailed by waves of nausea. But landing on the small island of Hildasay, and strolling around in the sun, watching seals and small birds (now can't remember their 'proper' names), helped to settle my stomach (or was it the large quantity of rum you poured into my coffee, Alistair). So I managed another couple of drawings before we embarked on the return journey - and I didn't feel sick at all! Thank you Alistair.

Janette sketching cumulo nimbus (photo Alistair Goodlad)

Friday October 29th
Gale warnings - Issued: 0933 UTC Fri 29 Oct
Southerly gale force 8 increasing severe gale force 9 imminent, veering southwesterly later
Shipping Forecast - Issued: 1725 UTC Fri 29 Oct
Wind: Mainly southerly veering southwesterly 6 to gale 8, occasionally severe gale 9.
Sea State: Very rough or high.
Weather: Rain or squally showers.
Visibility: Moderate or poor

Friday morning, accompanied by the equally intrepid writer Laura Freidlander, now living in Scalloway, we drove north to Vidlin to take the ferry to Outer Skerries, casting an anxious eye at the weather. Arriving at the first landing pier to find no boat, Laura assured me that it would probably be going - if indeed it was going - from the other terminal further along the coast (how would I have known that this is what happens when the weather is a bit dodgy?). Sure enough there it was, and despite being told we might not get back that night since the weather was set to worsen, throwing caution to the wind, I drove to on board. Having, earlier in the week, abandoned my planned trip to Faire Isle due to dire warnings of bad weather and of getting stuck there, I wasn't going to miss this last opportunity to travel to an island. Watching the crew lashing down the cars, one had small nagging doubts, but ho-hey… and we took off out into the open sea, with one other fellow seasoned passenger, who in the course of the journey remarked, as we passed Easter Skerries with waves and spray breaking over their tops, that he'd never seen them like that before. And it was rough and fantastic, and for about an hour we ploughed on against the wind, with spray washing over the deck, and spin-thrift flying through the air, and I hung on and drew until a lump of water drenched my sketchbook.

Seeing the jagged rocks of the Skerries emerge and watching the ferry's navigation into the harbour is something else. From the small shop - that wouldna sell Laura a paper because 'there's only enough for the locals', to the telephone kiosk that probably hadn't worked for years, and the small stretch of road to drive up and down and back again all within a couple of minutes, and its sixty-seven or so population, Skerries is an intriguing place. Walking up a track behind one of the houses I immediately found a fantastic location to sit and paint massive waves rolling and thundering against black rocks, vast plumes of spray shooting into the air. Everything tasted of salt - my face was gritty with it, and my head was full of the sound of the wind and sea.

Heartfelt thanks to the hospitable Bertha Anderson, who inviting us in, provided soup and home-made bannocks that warmed me up after I'd spent several hours crouched on the rocks getting cold (not sure if the inhabitants of the Skerries could see me dancing to the sea in an attempt to get the circulation going). It was a wonderful and remarkable day, and I only wished we could have stayed longer. The fast wind-driven return journey was just as memorable; paying no heed to the instruction that passengers must remain in the salon, we spent the journey out on deck, being buffeted and drenched by waves breaking on the deck, as the ferry rolled and pitched and me trying to draw. I'd finally achieved my wild sea trip. 'You'll be back again' promised the skipper. Definitely!

Having spent two of the last three days traveling on the high sea when I now close my eyes all I can see is waves and I'm sure I'm still swaying, and definitely still smitten by the energy of the sea. I hope that I can put all this experience into the subsequent drawings and paintings I am planning to make.

Outside the wind is still beating against The Booth. Tomorrow night I leave - depending on the weather - so mebbe not.

So there we were, standing in a draughty car-park in the dark drawing on the ground with a bit of broken chalk...

2010-10-27T23:20:00.016+01:00

(or)
The phenomenon of the Moder Dy - In Conversation with Shetland inhabitants:

Charles Simpson (Cunningsborough): It’s a reverberation; a back echo or reflection of a wave hitting an immoveable object (the land).

Davey Smith (retired fisherman, Scalloway): Well to navigate you need something fixed that can be seen, and I don't see how you can navigate from something that you can't see.

George Duncan (fisherman, Burra): It’s something that has now been lost – old fishermen could read the surface of the water – the pattern – the way the current was running. It was an experience handed down in the same way they could read the weather 24 hours ahead. Used ‘meids’ as well – fixed positions on the land by which to navigate. I remember my faither taking me out in a boat when I was a 'perrie' boy and pointing into the sea and saying to me 'there’s the moder dy'. I couldn't see anything. It was also used by Polonesian fishermen. It was a back wave, and I was shown a diagram showing the direction of the waves. (George drew this using a bit of chalk that we found on the road).

Hazel Hughson (Shetland Arts Officer): ...currents far underneath - from deep underwater; Fishermen could feel it in their feet; it's not on the surface.

Alister Goodlad (Tronda): It was a way of steering. Can be seen from a plane – wave always comes in the same direction; SW it will always come from WSWesterly??? (not sure I wrote this down correctly). If the wind stays in same direction you can gauge where you are. Think that it is mainly a phenomena of the west side of Shetland. There is the Wyville Thomson Ridge between Shetland and Faroe; the ridge affects the flow of water due to the changes in depth and temperature. It’s possible that as a result, a ripple effect may be created in the water. (The ridge separates the Faroe-Shetland Channel to the north from the Rockall Trough to the south. Its significance lies in the fact that it forms part of the barrier between the colder bottom waters of the Arctic and the warmer waters of the North Atlantic`). Does this phenomena only occur on this side of Shetland?

Dodo Watts (retired fisherman, Scalloway): Well, it’s far-fetched!. We used radar and charts - taking longitude/latitude readings.

Ian Napier (Senior Policy Advisor, NAFC Marine Centre: Re. the Moder Dy): My suspicion is that it is more likely liked to be the deep ocean swell coming in from the open Atlantic. The currents past Shetland are pretty much one way - I am not aware of any significant counter-flows. The long Atlantic swell wave-length waves will probably start to 'feel' the bottom as they cross the continental shelf, causing them to turn towards the shore. The result is that the direction of the Moder Dy would probably be relatively constant, regardless of the local wind / sea conditions. This would presumably give those with the necessary skills / experience a fixed (more or less) reference to judge directions. Sailing 'with' the Moder Dy should take you back to land. There are interesting parallels with the ability of Polynesian sailors to use swell patterns to navigate between oceanic islands in the Pacific.

Addendum: It is likely that the Moder Dy would work best on the west side of Shetland if - as I suspect - it depends on long-wavelength waves coming in over long distances from the open Atlantic Ocean and encountering the (relatively) shallow waters of the continental shelf. We could be talking here about waves with wavelengths of several hundred metres that may have travelled for 1000s of miles. Such waves could have periods of 15 seconds, or more. Waves generally start to 'feel' the sea-bed when the water depth is less than half their wavelength.

To the south and east of Shetland (in the North Sea) there is not the space or water depth for such long waves to form. That said, waves always tend to turn towards the shore (or at least shallower water) so I would not entirely rule out the possibility of some sort of usable phenomenon occurring anywhere around Shetland. But in the relatively enclosed and shallow North Sea the wave regime is always likely to be more 'messy' (confused) and thus more difficult to interpret. I suspect the relatively 'clean', long, open-ocean swells from the Atlantic would be a better guide (and easier to separate from the more local waves, which be running in a different direction).

Other thoughts from boat-builders, an artist, fishermen in Lerwick / Scalloway:
- Ground sea swell – a back swell – used in fog to navigate. Now forgotten.
- A swell running into shore.
- I’ve never seen it – but the old fishermen could see an indication towards shore.
- It’s a whole experience of the sea – auditory… seen… and felt.

The Moder Dy (the mother wave)
(Extract from poem by Jessie ME Saxby written around1880/90’s)

..…. Gray, gray was the lift. And the mist lay low
Like a shroud ower the weary sea;
It heaved its breeest wi’ a lang-drawn breath,
Like a body that’s going ta dee

We could see no meedes, nor glimpse o’ the laund –
Nae guide was the guidelss wave;
“We’ll never see hame,” said Ned o’ the Knowes –
I wheshted the fule wi’ me nave.

Then Mauncie he stimed weel into the lift,
And then upon the sea;
“Noo, boys look oot for the Moder Dy
And mark hoo she rins,” said he.

“The eight peerie dys that geng afore
Rin this way an’ that, ye keen;
But she flowes straight wi’ a lang, free sweep
That ‘ill lighten wir herts an ‘een.

“We need na compass, or glim frae the lift,
There’s light in her fleecy kame;
She maks for the laund, that’s as true as deth,
And she’ll guide wiz safely hame”……..

Image and description found on www.foulaheritage.org.uk: The Moder Dye, used by Shetlanders before the days of compasses to find the land in times of fog. The radar photograph above shows how this was done. The photo was taken the day after the night hurricane Flossie passed through Shetland in September 1978. The heavy westerly sea swells were about 250 yards apart and show up well on this photograph. The swells reflect around the north and south ends of Foula (left centre) to produce an overlapping pattern which continuously broadens out until it reaches the Mainland of Shetland (top right). Any line drawn through the points of overlap, where the two swells peak, leads from the Mainland to Foula.

Grenades in Scalloway - houses evacuated

2010-10-24T00:55:00.001+01:00

Police have advised anyone discovering explosive devices like grenades not to handle them and to get in touch immediately. The warning came after an incident last night when scallop fisherman Morgan Pitt took two rusty grenades back to a shed at his home in Scalloway after dredging them up near Wadbister.
The police leapt into action at about 8.30pm after Mr Pitt called them about his find. As a precaution four neighbours had to be evacuated from their homes at Gibblestone Court until nearly midnight while the danger was dealt with.
Sergeant Gordon Feather said digital photographs of the grenades were taken and sent to the army for expert analysis. It turned out they were already inert and harmless with no pins or bases. They are to be handed over to the military for storage and eventual destruction.
He said such finds should be reported promptly although care should be taken not to use a mobile phone close by due to the danger of its signal triggering an explosion.
“If you find something like that just set it down in a safe place, walk away and alert us immediately,” he said.
Article printed from ShetlandTimes.co.uk 22/10/10

It all happens in Scalloway..

Friday 23rd October

2010-10-24T00:07:00.041+01:00

Forgot to check the weather forecast!

Having assumed that I had the whole day to prepare for my open studios, I received a text message, and suddenly my trip on a pilot boat was finally on. So having rapidly made an apple crumble and thrown my show together, I drove north to Sullom Voe and found myself on the high sea. Traveling fast in a power boat with a crew of four, the receding land was lost in the blur of spray whipping past the windows of the cabin, as we hurtled out into the sea to rendezvous 12 miles off the coast with a large oil tanker from India (which arrived late). A truly memorable experience, and one that I wouldn't have wanted to miss despite being sick in a bucket as we rolled around and up and down, awaiting the arrival of the oil tanker. In fact it was so rough that the tanker was instructed to come in closer as it wasn't safe for the small pilot boat to go further out into open sea.

Being tossed around by the waves, I definitely saw walls of water coming towards us as any sign and hope of land disappeared. Even the crew said it was rough, and I don't think that they were just being kind… and the pilot having to make the crossing from the boat and climb the ladder was certainly not very happy about the sea state. As we finally drew alongside the pilot scrambled from our sea-tossed boat up a rope ladder and onto an equally unsafe-looking metal gangway lowered from the top deck.

Not having been in such a small boat in such a sea before, the whole escapade (and it was certainly felt like one for me) was just amazing, although I guess it was ‘all in a days work’ for the lads. So I made drawings (until I was sick) and took photos, and just felt the power of those waves beneath us. And I am still trying to assimilate it all.

So thank you to David Smith for setting this up for me and enabling me to go with you and to all the crew for looking after me. The whole thing is a bit of a blur now.

‘Fetch’, means the duration of the wave, from its generation to the point where it crashes on the beach.

Thursday 21st October

2010-10-21T19:07:00.024+01:00

THURSDAY 21st: A bright day with a mixture of sunshine and occasional showers, these still wintry at times over Shetland. A less-cold day, but not feeling so, as W to NW’ly winds increase - F6-7 and locally gale F8.   Sea state – Overnight increasing rough, with a 3 to 4 metre NW’ly wind-swell. Later increasing very rough, with a 4 to 5 metre NW’ly wind-swell, and perhaps 6 metres around the north of Shetland. Maximum temperature 8 °C.

Spent Monday out on the rocks beyond Hamnavoe, battling against high wind and drifting rain and spray whilst trying to paint the magnificent turquoise-filled waves rolling in and breaking on the rocks beneath me before retreating to the studio to dry out and drink tea. I felt completely overwhelmed by the sight of these huge waves – impossible to capture their impact (and to paint in such conditions). The resulting paintings and photographs simply do not do justice to the experience. Returning to the same place late afternoon the following day, although less dramatic, found a spot down low to the water, and managed to do some drawing as I huddled against rocks trying to keep out of the numbing wind. I didn’t last long before my hands were so cold they hurt.

Another satellite picture from Anne Karin showing weather over Norway and Shetland
Anne Karin Magnusson met.no

....and an explanation: the pink lines are lines of equal atmospheric air pressure. Deepest air pressure is about over Oslo. Arrows are showing wind speed. Some observations are also included (black circles, with numbers around). The colours are added: dark blue over ocean with clear sky above, but shaded where there are clouds; land is green, also shaded when there are clouds. Colours in clouds are coded so that yellow is low cloud. The air to the left of the low centre is typically cold with dots (showers).

Weather certainly predominates here; talking to the archivists in the museum, many of the old diaries they are transcribing, daily record the weather.

During the last few days (when not talking to fishermen and photographing their hands, or watching the sea), I have been working in the studio on a couple of paintings that are about the colour and the movement of the sea. They are ‘in-progress’ and I am not sure how they will resolve themselves.

paintings-in-progress
...and drawings to go with them

It is so frustrating trying to paint the experience of what is there before me because it’s more than sight – it’s the whole thing - noise filling the air, taste and smell of salt, the movement, being buffeted, the light - the rain coming and going, freezing air, freezing fingers; I find myself swaying with the waves, even talking to the sea. (It’s okay I’m not going mad. And yes Anne Karin I will be careful on those rocks).

This morning there was snow lying in patches on the ground, and the ‘sea state’ is definitely getting rougher. The sound of the wind is relentless. Having booked my passage on the Good Shepherd IV to Fair Isle for next Tuesday, in order to experience the sea crossing – where two seas meet - I am wondering if I’ll actually get there – and more to the point, get back.

Observations from The Booth:

- solitary seal that frequents the neighbourhood, catching a large fish, then in annoyance at the mobbing gulls, launching its body out of the water

– grey-hooded crow, beak-full of mussel, landing on the slope beside the Booth; laying it on the grass before making a hole in the bank, then carefully placing the mussel inside, picking and tucking in a small switch of dry grass to cover the hiding place before flying off

- heron flying across the harbour, turning in a slow arc just outside the windows of the Booth

Considering combining historical photograph with drawings and paintings

2010-10-18T23:30:00.012+01:00

Is selecting a photograph and imbedding it into a painting ‘too easy’ an option? Do these images become ‘mere’ ‘illustrations’? Does using archival photographic images and historical texts in an artwork convey/suggest narrative that would not otherwise be there? Does it add or amplify an idea or narrative?
Where does it take the viewer? Does it lead to speculation about the relationship between image and artist? Between image and place? Between time – the flow between then and now?
I think that I am trying to imbed my own memories, feelings, experiences of the sea with my growing awareness of the Shetlanders’ own deep relationship with and dependency upon the sea – frailty, courage, stoicism, foolishness – our attempts to understand and control something beyond our control.

How do my paintings/drawings inform the viewer? Some of the images I have been making work better than others. Concentrating upon a single object is perhaps more effective than combining several. The image of the Oskerry an essential bailing tool to a fisherman in the middle of a heaving ocean, is the simplest, and perhaps a more powerful and evocative motif.

The image of a bandaged hand (see last posting), that I discovered in one of the Archive photographs brings questions, suggests narratives, directly referencing the dangers of work on the sea.

Engaged not only in walking the Shetland coastline and making drawings and paintings, working from historical research in the Shetland Archives, museums, and meeting/talking to people living on Shetland, who know the place intimately, fishermen and boat-buliders, story-tellers, artists, historians and so on, impacts upon my work. Reading first-hand accounts by survivors of 19thC fishing community disasters evoke rich imagery. The Norwegian angle - the work of the Oceanographers to understand the sea is another aspect of the project; it has been suggested to me that these are two separate aspects of the project, yet I see them as intertwined – just as Nordic culture and language is in evidence on Shetland, their histories are also linked by a shared stretch of sea.

Collecting these stories, accounts of disasters, images from the 19th century, and placing these within the context of my own work is a form of being ‘polyvocal’ (the telling of the situation from a variety of perspectives; use of multiple voices as a narrative mode within a text/image). Perhaps it acknowledges that there is no single definitive answer or image; the paintings and drawings become environments of social-sharing; participants are not just observers or readers, but become instead co-creators or interpreters of content.

Sunday 17th October

2010-10-17T22:05:00.029+01:00

‘I struck my knuckle on a thorle pin and mis-shaped to this day’.
‘Sail was made with the skipper getting on one mitton, the other hand which held the sheet was badly cut and chafed’. (1881 Gloup Disaster)

Having started to make some work about hands, and collecting images of 19thC fishermen's hands and finding damaged hands, I have been pestering the local fishermen to show me their hands and allow me to photograph them. They have all been tolerant and compliant, and probably bemused at such a request. As a result of being introduced to a retired fisherman and his family, I spent an interesting Friday evening talking with David Smith who started work on the boats aged 15. Each evening after a day out fishing they would have to soak their hands into scalding hot water and Dettol. The water would be made as hot as possible so they would be taking their hands in and out as they acclimatised to the heat (and pain), as they tried to leave them in for as long as possible to draw out the poisons from the fish that might have got into cuts and scrapes in their skin. There would be a period in the summer months when their hands would go very red and sore, due possibly to algae eaten by fish.

I have also been collecting stories of the Moder dy - quizzing everyone I meet. But more on the phenomenon of the Moder dy at later date.

SUNDAY 17th:
All gale warnings currently in force
Hebrides, issued on Sunday 17 October 2010 at 1507 UTC      Gale force 8 veering westerly imminent
Bailey, issued on Sunday 17 October 2010 at 1511 UTC      Westerly gale force 8 continuing
Fair Isle, issued on Sunday 17 October 2010 at 1507 UTC      Gale force 8 veering westerly soon
Faeroes, issued on Sunday 17 October 2010 at 1507 UTC      Gale force 8 veering westerly soon
Southeast Iceland, issued on Sunday 17 October 2010 at 0316 UTC      Gale force 8 veering westerly imminent

Out painting today with Deb and Wilma at the Stead of Culswick with two seals to keep us company. Gale force 8's 'no so bad' - exhilarating and inspiring. Lots of spray and waves breaking far out to sea. Thank you Deb & Wilma for putting up with my strange 'soothmooth' predilection for such weather and taking me out despite it, and to Wilma for the warming soup and fruit crumble afterwards.

(en-plein-air, oil on board)

Back at The Booth tonight, having rung out my waterproofs and cooked my supper, the wind sounds wild, thwacking against the side of the studio and whipping up the surface of the water in the harbour. It's gonna be a rough night.

SUNDAY 10th October

2010-10-11T00:58:00.009+01:00

Continuing mainly cloudy. Perhaps some brightness at first for Shetland but cloud thickening here, with the chance of a little patchy light rain or drizzle for a time. F2 E to NE’ly winds. Sea state – Mainly slight, with a 1 metre E’ly wind-swell, but moderate to slight, with a 1 to 2 metre NE’ly wind-swell northeast of Shetland.

Well not sure where the rain was, since it was pretty bright and sunny most of the day. I drove across to West Burrafirth - a different terrain with lots of lumps and bumps and hills that close in around the roads. Then onto Huxter at Sandness to walk the cliffs, discover patterns on the rocks, and watch the Atlantic sea as it turned inwards. More drawings.

Sea surface

The more I travel around Shetland the more distinctive areas become. I feel over whelmed by the space; areas seemingly empty of people and yet traces of an older habitation lie amongst the ruins of crofts, in the worked stone and the field markings. But it's always the sea that draws my gaze.

Reading the weather

2010-10-09T23:12:00.006+01:00

I asked Anne Karin to explain the satellite weather map that she sent me from the Meteorological Institute in Bergen:

'In a large view like this one there will always be patches of clouds. Of course they are nicer with these deep lows that make the snail shell pattern in the clouds. And this deep low has to the west a pattern that clearly shows a lot of cold air is coming down from Greenland towards areas west of Ireland.

But: how do I see it is cold air? Well, warm air front makes a 'frontal zone': the air is pushed upwards in the atmosphere, it cools, and water vapour becomes droplets and clouds and eventually rain starts when enough humidity. This kind of behaviour is seen as the white edge around the centre of the low in the sat picture. That is the warm front. Behind it is the 'cold front'.

Cold air does not 'climb'. It is dryer also, and there will be clear sky. But along the way over the ocean, the air will acquire water vapour and this will form 'cells' in the air flow (the dots to the left of the centre of Low). These cells are clouds (cumulus), they grow and may become large (as can be seen over Ireland/Scotland). The higher they are in the atmosphere, (and they reach the troposphere), the colder the water droplets become ice particles. These clouds will often rain, and perhaps give thunder. The whiter these cells are in the sat picture, the colder they are, and most probably the higher they are. So white cells mean 'rain or snow showers in the area'.'

So now we must look again:

Saturday 9th October

2010-10-09T22:15:00.020+01:00

Any mist and hill fog will tend to thin and lift during the morning, giving brighter interludes by the afternoon. However, it will remain rather cloudy and hazy, with the best of any sunshine likely to be found on the west side of Shetland, sheltered from a F4-5 SE’ly breeze. Perhaps a few clearer spells at first this evening, but the night will be generally cloudy although remaining dry. SE’ly winds easing F2-3 and tending more E’ly in direction. Sea state – Mainly moderate, with a 2 metre SE’ly wind-swell. Through the day becoming moderate to slight, with a 1 to 2 metre E’ly wind-swell.

My new camera arrived yesterday, so I can re-photograph and re-upload images of small paintings (but not tonight). Today has been unbelievably still and warm in contrast to yesterday when I went to St Ninians Isle in high wind to walk and draw and watch the heavy clouds rising, falling, drifting across the far hills.

Blue pebble

A morning of drawing in the studio; the drawing progresses. The extra strip of paper along the bottom has certainly helped the image. There has been a lot of adding and taking away.

Followed by a late afternoon trip onto West Burra and a walk on Kettla Ness to clear the dust of chalk and charcoal and catch the last of the light.

Thursday 7th October

2010-10-07T21:57:00.028+01:00

Dry and bright with sunny spells. S’ly winds will be F4-5. Remaining dry tonight but, after a mainly clear evening, cloud will increase later. Winds backing SE’ly and freshen, F5 across Shetland, bringing some mist and hill fog along eastern hills and headlands. Sea state – Mainly moderate, with a 2 metre S’ly wind-swell later turning SE’ly.

My day out at Eswick, with sheep, seals and gulls as company:

A series of small studies made from rocks above sea

Wednesday 6th October

2010-10-06T22:16:00.015+01:00

A fair amount of cloud around at first, perhaps even the odd spot of light rain. However, the day should be mainly dry with some sunny spells at times. There is the chance that during the afternoon there may be one or two showers around, these mainly in the west. F5-7  S to SE’ly winds at first, veering F5 S to SW’ly by evening. Some clear spells this evening and overnight, but also the risk of a light shower. Sea state – Rough, with a 3 to 4 metre S to SE’ly wind-swell, later becoming moderate to rough, with a 2 to 3 metre S to SW’ly wind-swell.

Weather map showing area over Shetland (thanks to Anne Karin in Bergen).

A morning talking to art students at Lerwick College - thank you all for making me very welcome, and for your enthusiasm. Then a long session in studio with the drawing (no pics as my camera is broken(!) - another on order)

Tuesday 5th October

2010-10-05T20:21:00.006+01:00

'A mainly dry and bright start although rather cloudy, especially across Shetland. Good sunny spells will develop into afternoon across Shetland. Strong southerly winds persisting. Maximum temperature 14 °C'.

A day preparing a Powerpoint for tomorrow, and working in the studio (although strongly tempted by the sound of the wind to go and watch the sea).

The white paper in progress of becoming far less white.
and below sea-washed canvases to be used later...

A seal and sea otter outside window, along with the usual diving birds (what are they called?), and the occasional fly-by gannet and noisy gulls.

Monday 4th October

2010-10-05T09:43:00.006+01:00

MONDAY 4th: Mostly dry and bright with some sunshine this morning. However, this will gradually fade as high cloud thickens and lowers, with the afternoon then cloudy. At the same time, the F5 S’ly wind will back SE’ly and increase F6. Outbreaks of rain will reach Shetland early evening. The rain will soon become heavy, and SE’ly winds will increase further to F6-7, and locally gale F8 across the more exposed areas. Rain will move away from Shetland overnight. Strong to gale-force winds will veer F6-7 S’ly with the improvement.

Monday was this kinda day.
Late trip to Gloup meant that I had no time to walk round the area where the 1881 disaster occurred. Will have to return.

landing place for sixareens, Gloup Voe

Sunday October 3rd

2010-10-03T21:26:00.012+01:00

Weather forecast for SUNDAY 3rd October: Rather cloudy at first across Shetland, with the chance of some longer spells of rain. However it will also brighten, with sunny spells and scattered showers for the afternoon. F5-6 S or SE’ly winds. Sea state – Rough, with a 3 to 4 metre SSE’ly wind-swell. Later decreasing moderate to rough, with a 2 to 3 metre SSE’ly wind-swell.

This morning I set up the studio, covering the walls with plastic - look a bit like the preparation for an episode of Dexter. There is now a large white piece of paper stapled to the wall and it's looking at me accusingly… invitingly.

Instead I drove north out to the Hill of Neap and sat in the rain drawing sea, with charcoal in one hand and sausage sandwiches in the other. Perfect, although it was a pity I'd forgotten to buy the mayonnaise, and there wasn't quite the promised 'rough' sea swell or the 'fresh to strong southeasterly winds and 'sunny spells' ' that had made drawing so good yesterday. Though there were the showers (not so much 'scattered' as persistent), which made drawing more tricky. Still, I'm certain I saw a sea otter hunting in the breaking waves.

Back for a cup and a Skype chat with my son.

And the white paper now bears some large charcoal marks, so it doesn't look so smug.

Saturday October 2nd

2010-10-02T22:41:00.027+01:00

A bright glittering day with a cold hard wind, I drove north to Eswisk and spent most of the day walking and drawing from the cliffs at Eswick. A fantastic place to watch the sea racing and the foam flying.

You can begin to understand the difficulties that sixareen fishermen would have had trying to avoid being driven onto the jagged rocks lining the shore line as they struggled back to shore against the breaking waves. My drawings became more uncontrolled as the day wore on as I struggled to get the movement down. I should have taken paint.

Returning to Shetland

2010-10-01T23:20:00.001+01:00

Made it back into Shetland today by the skin of my teeth, tonight's ferries having been cancelled due to severe weather warnings. Outside the wind and rain are now battering against the Booth. Late afternoon as, battling against the wind, I walked along the cliffs at Gulberwick towards the Ness of Trebister, the sea was frothing, huge waves rolling in under a heavy sky. Watched the gannets diving headlong into the sea and gulls whipping up into the sky. Managed a couple of drawings before retreating back up the path and heading home.
It's great to be back.

My return to Shetland

2010-08-18T15:52:00.000+01:00

After a unavoidable break from my project I will be returning to Shetland for the month of October where I will be holding an open studio day, presenting my research to students at Lerwick college, and continuing with my research and development of work. Hoping for lots of waves and wild weather... I will post updates on my blog. See you there.

2010-05-21T13:07:00.000+01:00

Corridor of Oceanography, Bergen

In each of these rooms Oceanographers sit hunched over their computers observing, calculating and predicting the movement of waves around the world.

Wave lessons

2010-05-17T02:01:00.000+01:00

My tenuous grasp of the mathematical principles of wave theory have been met with infinite patience, with lessons occurring in a variety of locations.

Harold explaining the movement of waves

A Bergen cafe and the Spaghetti diagram explained by Kristian

The Draupner Wave

2010-05-17T01:48:00.002+01:00

On January 1st 1995 a wave measuring a height of 18.5 meters was measured passing under the Draupner oil platform in the North Sea. Dubbed by the international scientific community as the "new year wave" it is an extreme wave. An observer on the platform would have seen a wall of water, twice as high as all other waves, approaching over a period of about one minute. Wave height being the distance measured from the trough to the crest of the wave, with a crest height 18.5 m above the mean water level, the wave height was 26m.

(See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_JOBOvJEOg for reconstruction of the event - not good quality).

Making waves

2010-05-17T01:06:00.002+01:00

Measuring waves: Formed by wind blowing along the water’s surface, wave height depends on wind speed, fetch length (distance the wind blows over water with similar speed and direction), and duration of time the wind blows consistently over the fetch. High wind speeds blowing for long periods of time over long stretches of water result in the highest waves. Waves are still formed by the local wind, but once formed they continue to travel for thousands of miles.

Making waves: generating regular waves in a wave tank in Bergen, but our request for something more dramatic proved rather too challenging. We left them staring into their computer with Kristian Dythe's mathematical formulae for an extreme wave.... maybe next time..

Looking for extreme waves

2010-05-07T20:54:00.000+01:00

Having dodged the ash clouds I have arrived in Bergen in search of extreme waves.

First stop is the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, founded in 1866 by Norwegian astronomer and meteorologist Henrik Mohn. Here I am to meet with meteorologists, oceanographers and mathematicians – experts in forecasting the weather and sea conditions. Watching sky and sea using data collected by direct observations from land via weather stations, as well as from laser equipment on and even below the sea, and by satellite, they provide meteorological observations and issues warnings. Over the next few days I hope to discover the complexities of predicting such extreme phenomena.

Sounds of the sea

2010-03-30T16:55:00.001+01:00

Brim-fooster - sound of sea breaking on sunken rock · Burrik - a sharp sea or tide lump ·

Augmenting - increasing swell · Djoob - ocean · Draag - the drift of a current · Drittsleng - the roll of the sea · Gro - a swell · Gruttie - ebb tide · Hak - broken water · Jap - short sea ·

Ludder - spray or foam · Mader-dye - under swell · Saule i da sea - heavy ground swell · Snarr - a turn or whirl of tide · Soal - swell occasioned by breeze · Tove - a short, cross, heavy sea

Observations from the sea, chalk, charcoal and graphite on paper

Continuation

2010-03-18T22:49:00.001Z

Having returned from Shetland and re-established myself in my own studio, I realize how much I still need to do. All the work I made whilst at the Booth is staring at me in anticipation. Surrounded by all the other paintings that I was making before I left and that are now also demanding attention, it is difficult to remain focussed. However being sent lots of information about recent extreme waves and sea storms certainly helps to galvanise me (thank you Andy and Kristian). I have been working on a series of paintings that I started whilst at the Booth studio. These reflect a change in use of colour – the strong turquoises that appear as the waves turn and break, and the creamy-white - sometimes pinks - that appear in the foam.

I have also begun making some larger-scale drawings and will be developing these over the next month, so will post them as they emerge...

Thank you to all the people on Shetland that helped/advised me, and invited me out: Billy (creel fisherman), and the Scalloway Harbour office staff; Kristie, Christine, Rob, and Roxanne from Veer North; Mark from the Shetland Times; Clair at Shetland Arts; David at NAFC; Angus, Joanne, Carol and everyone at the Shetland Archive; story-tellers Lawrence and Davy; Robert at Unst Boat Haven; Neill on Barr, and the lovely lady who runs the fantastic Scalloway fish-shop.

Seascapes

2010-03-17T11:34:00.000Z

My solo show of Seascapes starts at the St Giles Gallery, Norwich this Friday (March 19^th – April 24^th), so I have been busy preparing for this since my return from Shetland. Although not related to the Shetland project, these are sea paintings from my time spent walking and gazing at the Atlantic Sea at Cill Rialaig artist retreat in S Ireland, so set the scene of my obsession with the sea. (St Giles Gallery, 51 St Giles Street, Norwich NR2 1JR).

Homeward and on

2010-03-01T17:41:00.002Z

My attempt to leave the island on Friday night and experience some rough seas was thwarted by the cancellation of the NorthLink ferry to Aberdeen due to inclement weather. So unpacking my drawing materials and waterproofs I went walking the cliffs of Burra in deep snow and freezing wind, but a stunningly beautiful jagged coastline, with late afternoon sun on sparkling snow, deep blues and turquoise water, and otter tracks to follow (they might have been rabbits..). Having watched a fishing boat making very slow progress of rounding the coast in the heavy swell, before turning back, perhaps the ferry captain was right.

Saturday the ferry sailed, so after a night sea voyage – also prolonged due to heavy swell in Aberdeen harbour – on Sunday night I finally made it home. Having a cabin to myself on the boat meant that I was able to sit and draw out of the window – which meant that I was much closer to the water than when standing out on deck with all the smokers. This was the opportunity I had been waiting for – a moonlit rough sea and to feel as well as see and draw the movement of the sea. It meant that I had far less sleep than I should have done given the ensuing long drive back down to Somerset, but feeling the boat rolling I couldn’t bear to miss the sight of waves swelling and breaking around us. Spreading chalk and charcoal over everything, it was a fitting trip back.

My blog will continue from Somerset... but I am returning to Shetland in October for a month. Prior to this I will be travelling to Norway to visit my Norwegian oceanographers and mathematicians partners to talk extreme waves.

INSIDE -OUTSIDE

2010-02-26T22:46:00.001Z

Having been determined to do some outdoor painting while here, the weather always seems to be against this. However a couple of days ago I braved the freezing conditions and went out with a rucksack full of oil paints, boards and palette knives, and sitting in the snow, made a few small paintings before retreating from failing light to the warmth of the studio. Working crouched on the ground with my palette in the snow, snow became mixed in with the oil paint, which altered the consistency of the paint so that it became granular - it was a bit like painting with ice-cream. But it was good to have worked with paint and with colour – white snow against black/brown rocks under a darkening pink-streaked sky reflected in the dark voe.

Whilst the research I am doing - the artifacts relating to Haaf Fishing, the written, narrated, and embellished accounts of storms, disasters, rescues, the contemporary stories of recent huge waves that people I meet recount with relish - all play a key role in the development of imagery, yet observation is, and always has been, critical to making work.

How much does drawing and painting transcend observation of the landscape I have walked in? Having drawn/painted in a place, is my memory and my interpretation affected by this act? Do I then understand and ‘see’ the place differently? Or is what I draw and paint based less on what I see and more on what I know or believe, or have read? When I look at the paintings and drawings I have made, I think that I have a deeper (or is it just another?) understanding of the places I have been walking.

Working in the studio with the research alongside drawings and paintings made on site, the connection with the actual places - some with traces of the past embedded into the landscape - the historical significance of events is more evident, or perhaps more keenly felt. However, when translated into an artwork, the images may mutate into more fictitious form; it is inevitable that I will project my own experiences and memories and imagination onto them.

The Bad Day

2010-02-24T13:06:00.001Z

'I gied da halyards back ta Robbie an I jimpit eft inta da owsing room an I took da shivel an I balled him ta Tammy Laurenson an I says "Tammy, now..if ever du did wirk i dy lefe..try dy best..ta empty her" '. Extract from first-hand account of 'The Bad Day' (Delting Disaster, 1900) by Willie Nicolson,Shetland Archive tapes.

Lots more snow and no wind for the last few days, so it's been difficult to get about and I've been in the studio working. Have been continuing to make more experimental pieces (see above); making the work in response to accounts of the 18th and 19thC fishing disasters (thank you for your comments - both on blog and on my email). I have also been painting from drawings I made of large turquoise waves crashing onto black rocks near Sumburgh. Not sure how I'm going to get all this work home as it's pretty wet...

Extremes

2010-02-22T10:14:00.002Z

Definition - extreme (adj):

1. highest in intensity or degree

2. going far beyond what is reasonable or normal

3. farthest out, especially from the centre

4. very strict or severe

5. denoting an activity in which participants actively seek out dangerous or even life-threatening experiences

1. the furthest limit or highest degree of something

2. something or somebody that represents either of the two ends of a scale or range, for example, the highest or lowest degree of something, or a quality and its polar opposite

3. the first or last term in a mathematical proportion or series

Having come to Shetland looking for the extreme, whilst I may not have seen any extreme waves, it is a place of extremes, although I realize that this is a relative term. What may appear extreme to me may well be simply taken for granted by the indigenous population of Shetland, and is probably nothing to someone living in the Antartic. Nevertheless here on Shetland the weather dominates and changes rapidly.

Sunday morning in Scalloway was almost tshirt weather, bright warm sun, the harbour water as still as a mill pond, and although there was still some snow on the ground, I worked in the studio with the doors wide open. Setting off early afternoon with an artist from the Veer North group to travel across to the islands of Yell and then Unst on a quest for a beach and blue plastic, I remarked on the amazing dark cloud hanging in the air as we drove north. As we arrived at the ferry crossing, there were flecks of snow descending. By the time we had crossed over to Yell and driven its length to catch the next ferry over to Unst, it was snowing fairly steadily, but we ventured on. Having arrived at Unst this had become a blizzard. We drove a short way up the road before reason set in – we couldn’t actually see much of the road - and we turned back (with some difficulty) and drove slowly to the ferry. It was all very beautiful though.

This morning in Scalloway there has been no power, and now snow is sweeping across the harbour… obliterating my view of the hills on the other side.

Experimentation

2010-02-19T20:41:00.003Z

Found a great area for large rolling waves yesterday - on the way down south to Sumburgh. It was late afternoon and icy cold as I perched on the black rocks close to where huge rollers were breaking over the rocks sending vast plumes of spray into the air. As the waves broke the sea was an incredible turquoise colour. I couldn't draw fast enough, especially with frozen fingers. I had planned to return there today with paint, but as usual the Shetland weather got the better of my plans - there was no wind and lots of sun. So a day in the studio instead. The drawings are feeding new paintings. Images to follow..

Have been plundering the Shetland Museum Archives at Lerwick for 18th&19thC images and writings related to Haaf Fishing, and have begun to combine them with my paintings. These are experimental pieces - at the moment I can't make them very large as the printer here is only A4 and not particularly sophisticated. Assembled together they suggest a narrative..

Comments?

Out on Burra - it really was snowing

2010-02-17T00:37:00.001Z

Tuesday 16 February, 2010 10:26:
Weather report from Fair Isle Weather Station
'Temperature sensor has gone haywire again, reporting -67.8C!'.

2010-02-16T09:17:00.000Z

As I sit here at just after midnight, heavy rain is sweeping across the harbour and lashing at the windows of The Booth. Great, but why wasn’t it like this when I was on Unst? My visit to the island was productive in so far as I learnt a lot about the construction of and the different types of traditional Shetland, Faroese and Norwegian boats, and their link to the Vikings (thank you Robert Hughson). Plus I got to see Uyeasound’s ‘Up Helly Aa’ and experience the after the galley-burning celebrations. And stayed in the Zero Carbon House B&B. But the only extreme thing about my walk along looking for wild heaving seas and windswept coast-line was that it was on the most extremely calm and sunny day I have experienced on Shetland. There’s always tomorrow….

Postscript: Awoke to snow showers.

Out on the sea

2010-02-16T01:09:00.027Z

Given the superstitions regarding women on boats I was extremely lucky to find a fisherman willing to allow me on-board his boat. My day out with Billy Hughes, a Scalloway creel fisherman, checking his creels enabled me to look back and up at the coastline from the sea and to feel to movement of the boat as I drew (when my freezing fingers allowed).

We chugged between the rocks and skerries in his small boat, stopping periodically as Billy brought in his creels, sorted through the catch (throwing most back), before moving on to place them again and to locate the next batch. The catch was two and half buckets of edible brown crabs (partans) and a box of assorted other less ‘exclusive’ ones. All bound for Spain. Not much for a fairly labour-intensive day’s work, but at this time of the year….’mebbe n’ so bad’.

At the risk of sounding like a middle-class Romantic (try to imagine bohemian artist instead.. okay, maybe they’re the same thing), it is strange to think that whilst most of the country are driving like crazy through some concrete jungle to and from work each day, this is what Billy does alone most days of the year, whatever the weather, surrounded by this bleak and wonderful landscape.

'I took da shivil.. an I says; Tammy, now..if ever du did wirk i dy life.. try du best..ta empty her'

2010-02-14T21:47:00.002Z

Discovered after an informative trip to The Boat Haven on Unst, that some sixareens did indeed have pumps, and also they had bigger bailing shovels as well as the oskerries to assist the removal of 'heavy smoorie of spray from the owse room'.

So those of you who have been worrying about this issues, I hope that this allays some of your concerns for the poor sixareen fishermen desperately trying to empty their boats as the 'lumps of water' crashed in, threatening to swamp the boats in heavy storms.

The Moder-dye

2010-02-10T00:50:00.000Z

Def: the original or mother wave (old Norse); used, as legend would have it, by experienced Shetland fishermen prior to the days of compasses to find land in times of fog. Described as a 'surge or physical protest' the ocean makes when her cosmic motion is restricted by proximity to land. A 'sensed' undercurrent, which is a wave-like motion or swelling running towards land, discernible to the trained eye on soundings and observable in foggy weather .

'No matter how wind-driven and uncertain the billow, the methodical undulations of the 'moder-dye' can be seen across the hills and valleys of a wind tormented sea, always setting four-square towards the land'. (Sail Fishermen of Shetland, p74)

Fin' oot da misforn knotts

2010-02-05T18:17:00.001Z

Old seamen in the different parishes who knew the sea-lore would be sent for to "fin' oot da misforn knotts" before any sixareen was launched. Round black knots were "misforn knotts". A boat with these sort of knots in her boards was sure to be cast away. "Windy knotts," or knots with sprains out from them, like "wind-straiks ida sky," told that the boat with these knots would always falling with gales and bad weather.

"Good knotts," or "lucky knotts," took on the shape of ling, cod, or tusk-fish. Sixareens with these kind of knots always had good fortune at the "far-haaf," and sailed to the stations with big hauls of cod and ling.

"Blood knotts," were unlucky, "njuggle knotts," a portent of disaster, "ling knotts," and "hansel knotts," were lucky knots. The most dreaded "knott" of all was the one shaped in the image of a cat; if the boards of a sixaern were seen to contain any "knotts" shaped like cats, then the unfortunate timbers must be cast away and new ones substituted.

2010-02-04T09:29:00.000Z

Essential equipment for the sixareen fishermen

19th century Owskerri or bailing scoop from Burra.

Each area had different designs and colours.

Friday 29th January

2010-01-30T18:54:00.001Z

FRIDAY 29th: While there may be some bright or sunny spells, there will also be further showers of sleet or snow. Again these may occasionally be heavy, leaving some accumulations, although during daylight hours these will tend to melt at lower levels. Feeling bitterly cold in the F6-7 N’ly wind. Sea state – Rough or very rough, with a 3 to 5 metre W’ly swell.

Awoke to snow and high winds. The world totally transformed, but also restricted to where I can reach on foot. Walked out to Pund Voe and braved the fierce showers of snow, which periodically swept across so that I could hardly see across the bay. Sat in the snow and drew until my fingers were numb.

Observations on getting started: Always difficult at the beginning at the start of a new and challenging project, and especially when I've had a month away from painting. It takes so much time to start seeing. I have a plan to make a series of small mixed media works on board that incorporate images of maps/charts/objects with paint and drawing. My problem is that I am a doer not a planner, so until I have all the information assembled and can surround myself with it, it is very difficult to know what will emerge.. but maybe that's just an excuse.. I have spent some time since I arrived wandering about the Shetland Museum & Archive, attempting to contact the museum curator (an elusive chap it appears), so I can gain access to objects that might shed light on the world of the Shetland sea farer and to sea maps and charts - the world of plotting and radar - which for the 19thC sixareen experienced fishermen would more likely to have been intuitive, as opposed to reliance on any technical aids. (I am worried about offending Shetlanders by using materials inappropriately and that might be sensitive, but then maybe I am being over-sensitive). There is an immense amount of thinking time that has to be worked through, searching for the path through the labyrinth, a quest for sense and form faced with an almost imponderable mass of information and possibilities.

The Gloup Disaster

2010-01-28T21:45:00.011Z

Wednesday January 27^th

Travelled by ferry across to Gloup on the island of Yell to visit the site of the 1881 Gloup Disaster. Whilst the day had started fine, as I boarded the little ferry the weather began to changed (as it so often does on Shetland), and by the time I had driven across the island to Gloup the wind and rain had set in. Walking up to the cliffs above the heaving sea I experienced severe wind and sleet, and could hardly push myself forward and keep on my feet. Any drawing was completely out of the question. Watching the sea rushing in and the waves breaking with fury upon the rocks beneath me It was not difficult to imagine how it must have been on 20^th July 1881 when the tragedy occurred. In the dark it must have been terrifying even for experienced sailors, and they experienced what must have been up to today’s equivalent of storm force 10, perhaps hurricane force 12.

That day had started as a "day atween wadders"; strong winds having kept the boats ashore for days, the morning of the 20th dawned clear with light winds, and although there was still a heavy sea running, the men were keen to get to sea. Going over 40 miles to the fishing grounds in open sixareens (six-oared boats), using simple landmarks for navigation, the boats had no warning of the incoming storm.

A SURVIVOR'S ACCOUNT OF 'The TERRIBLE TRAGEDY’, printed in "Shetland News":

"A fleet of about 30 boats was at sea the night of the disaster, 26 from the north half of Yell, most of them from Gloup, with others from places such as Gutcher and as far south as Whalfirth (near Mid Yell.) There were a few among the number out from Unst and Feideland. The night was very fine, and we went off from the land about twenty miles, though it is difficult to recollect the distance after so long an interval of time.

"The storm struck us suddenly, and as soon as it struck we were in a fearful sea, and in darkness, in spite of it being the month of July. In our boat we held to our lines and did not leave our position till we had got all our lines on board. We then set sail and turned for home, sailing before the wind. In such a sea it was necessary to steer for each wave, veering away from side to side according to the precise direction from which the wave pursued us. Two men stood by the sail (a square sail) in order to handle it, both for the veering, and because, if a sea threatened to break over us, the skipper would make them lower the sail, thus easing the boat and allowing the wave to go past us before breaking.

"At last as the day broke (about 4 p.m.) we saw that we were nearing the land -- it was then pouring with rain as well as exceedingly tempestuous, with dark overladen sky. The first hint we got of any disaster was a number of oars floating in the water, for we had seen no other boat during the night. As we approached the haven at Gloup Voe we saw an empty boat driving ashore, overturned on its side, mast and sail keeping it in that position. Then as we entered the Voe itself, we saw a great concourse of people -- wives, sisters, parents, and some children -- gathered on the shore with a great lamentation, and a boat manned by twelve men rowing towards us to get hold of the upturned boat. The people had come from miles around to view what they dreaded and expected, for the storm had broken suddenly in the midst of a fine night, and they knew their men were at sea. When we landed they asked if we had seen any other boats, but of course we said we had not."

Only the bodies of seven men were found. The 58 drowned haaf fishermen left behind 34 widows and 85 orphans. 36 of the drowned men were from Gloup.

Extreme

2010-01-28T11:40:00.000Z

Oceanic rogue waves are surface gravity waves whose wave heights are much larger than expected for the sea state. The common operational definition requires them to be at least twice as large as the significant wave height.

Rogue (or extreme) waves are recognizable when they occur, but there is no unique definition of such waves. The pragmatic approach is to call a wave a rogue wave whenever the wave height H (distance from trough to crest) or the crest height ηc (distance from mean sea level to crest) exceeds a certain threshold related to the sea state. This review follows this practice and applies the common criteria H/Hs > 2 or ηc /Hs > 1.25, where Hs is the significant wave height, here defined as four times the standard

deviation of the surface elevation.

Wave height: total vertical

distance from the wave

trough (lowest point) to the

wave crest (highest point)

Crest height: vertical

distance from the mean

water level to the crest

Significant wave height:

traditionally defined as the

average of the one-third

largest waves and denoted

H1/3; today defined as four

times the standard deviation

of the surface elevation and

denoted Hs.

Information from: Oceanic RogueWaves

Kristian Dysthe, Department of Mathematics, University of Bergen

Harald E. Krogstad, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Peter Muller, Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii

Arrival

2010-01-25T09:14:00.004Z

Shetland weather forecast for FRIDAY 22nd: A cloudy, windy start to the day with outbreaks of occasionally heavy rain, accompanied by F7 to gale F8 SE’ly winds. …. Shetland is likely to see the rain and strong to gale-force SE’ly winds persisting until well after dark. Here the rain will slowly peter out as winds gradually ease. Sea state – Rough or very rough, with a 4 to 5 metre SE’ly swell.

Despite what the Shetland Times said about cancelled ferries and battered isles on Friday night, my plucky NorthLink ferry docked in Lerwick Harbour allowing its hollow-eyed passengers to disembark into the cold early morning Shetland air. My journey here was auspiciously in keeping with the aims of the project. I experienced the effect of high winds on the sea, which, whilst perhaps not extreme, certainly kept me awake most of the night, with the noise of the ferry battling against gale-force wind and the constant swell and roll of the boat.

Shetland’s coasts is littered with monuments to the lives of seafarers. This morning I read a report in the Shetland Times of the life of another fisherman claimed by the sea in Lerwick Harbour and valiant attempts made by the Bressay ferry battling in 50knot winds to save him.

Starting out

2010-01-07T15:07:00.004Z

Hello there. This is the first posting for my new blog.

I have just booked my ferry journey from Aberdeen to Lerwick, and will be arriving at The Booth, Scalloway on January 23rd, so my project will be commencing soon. Watch this space.......