Cornwall...

Having arrived in Falmouth, the first few days were a slight blur. Heat was the most interesting aspect coming from wet and cold NZ. It meant that I could explore the area and more importantly, work outdoors. My initial ideas began to form from walking around Falmouth, hearing the Cornish accent, familiarizing myself with the tiny, narrow streets and the call of gulls overhead. I'd forgotten the light. Blissful wide skies and the sent of seaweed washed up on the shoreline. Boats still aplenty but sadly no fishing boats. It seemed mainly ferries, navy vessels and pleasure boats were the main inhabitants of the harbour. What was interesting to hear were the many different languages spoken whilst walking around. Russian, Polish, Spanish, Italian, French, German... Cornwall has become very cosmopolitan since my childhood! Once the land nobody visited except for the more adventurous holiday makers. I was happy to see that the sense of kitsch had not really taken hold. Cornwall obviously celebrated it's heritage = there were plenty of references to the fishing industry in the town and lots of pasty shops but mostly selling to locals. Falmouth has long been known for it's artistic community and there were many small galleries which offered local arts and crafts ranging from huge paintings to potteryware. Not thankfully aimed at the tourists generally but were celebrations of the diversity of artists living and working in contemporary Cornwall. I kept coming up against the blue that I've been obsessing about for the last few months. Thin blue line has featured in a lot of my installation pieces either as thread or painted into collages, canvasses and photographs. Horizon line, sea, sky, rope. Seen everywhere I went so this colour has left an indelible mark on my psyche. Blue represents the environment of the Cornish coast. It helped that the sun was shining all the time and was blissfully warm. Looking at the first set of photographs I took, the blue is so redolent of childhood memories in and around the coast, searingly so. I kept bumping into siblings, nieces, cousins just walking around. Cornwall really is a small place!