Standing Stones

Held off posting these various development drawings of the Machrie Moor Standing Stones, on the Isle of Arran, until Brian received Vivien's moleskine which I sent and posted up another of my drawings as part of our MoleskineExchange. The moley drawing came out of the final drawing in this series but I'll go back to the beginning (which is a very good place to start) and see if I can remember how it all came about (it now seems like a very long time ago when I did these, either that or my memory is fading faster than .....oh dear, I forgot what I was trying to say!)

Since I didn't make any drawings direct from life when I went to Arran last month I was working from my own photographs. After a couple of more realistic interpretations I then shifted gear and going off at a tangent (which is often my want) and started applying a new dynamic using heightened colouring to say more about the subject than is immediately apparent from 'real' life:

Neocolour II on paper, 40x30cm: Development #4.

Well the sky was blue and the bracken was kind of redish, and the Stones were lit to one side by the setting sun. All that was needed was a bit of heightening of those colours to start getting 4,000 years worth of history talking!

Fine but what if the mood needs to be colder and more distant?:

Neocolour II on paper, 40x30cm: Development #5.

Blue and grey takes us back to the ice-age, long before central heating (although the way things are going in this country and in this present century we are all going back there at an alarming speed and wanting to move to Arizona!) This development was simply a chance to use a favourite colour combination of colours, but I was especially pleased with the grassy green suggestion of a circle as though there were more Stones just out of picture. In reality there weren't any more having been pilfered by even more ancient men than me to make new structures elsewhere.

But what if.....:

Neocolour II on paper, 40x30cm: Development #6.

A portentious sky and two Stones standing forever at the edge of an abyss. The Stone on the left is so tall it disappears out of the picture getting darker all the time, and both Stones are rooted into the earth from where they came.

What else can I do with these fellows? :

Neocolour II on paper, 40x30cm: Development #7;

Previous developments are all standing back in admiration so I thought it was time to get up close and personal with one of them at least and see how the centuries have left their mark. Scarring and fissures, love-hearts (for f*** sake!) and lichen, and blooms of algae all writing their own history. Tablets of stone down from the mountains with messages of wonder from our predecessors. Good on ye, mates, and thanks - I would drop you an email to tell you how much I love these Stones but I don't appear to have your address!

Never mind, I can always post this appreciation and hope you are listening out there!

Neocolour II on paper, 40x40cm: Development #8.

This final piece came with a desire to soften the scene and make the Stones an integral part of their open moorland, windswept, environment. But what is this? One of the ancient peoples come back to honour their own monument? Na, it's just wee Jacqui posing beside the tallest Stone to give it scale (she says that's all I ever ask her to do when I take photographs of buildings and structures. Problem is she is so small it gives quite a skewed view of what you are looking at!)

So there you have it: Standing Stones on Machrie Moor. A wonderful place to visit and stand within the circle marvelling at the organisation and desire of peoples from 4,000 years ago. Makes you think.