Cocktails at the pond - Ongoing fascinations
I have this fascination with this phenomenon of nature, it may even be an obsession. I want to explore it. It can be found on and around the edge of water, kissing the earth or land and can be big or small.
When approaching bodies of water, enclosed or vast, set into the land or mighty rivers on its way to oceans and seas. There it happens, the magic. They can morph into mirrors reflecting the skies, or gaps making interruptions in the landscape. They look like mysterious portals, doorways to undiscovered worlds.
I am the first one to see it as it is at that very moment. A nano second later it has changed already. Maybe a ripple from the wind, the evaporation of a drop of water, a fleck of dust has landed on the surface, specks of light found a new rhythm , a different dance. The surrounding air changes the mood of the body of water, a bird flies across and paints a disappearing shadow.
There is enthusiasm and a sense of first, I witnessed that very moment through my very own eyes, I am the only one. I am the only witness to this moment of pureness of nature. I am a painter and all I can do is capture this happening and celebrate it. It is my enjoyment of the place I want to share through my paintings. I believe that the source of my interest lies in early childhood experiences. In discovering nature and fantasizing about it using it as an escape from the harsh realities of life. Sitting on the edge of a body of water, observing the never ending movements on their way, on their own journey of life. Enough room for metaphors.
To capture and celebrate, giving meaning to that very place. All those experiences feeds into my painting. What I hear and smell, my thoughts and the sounds of that moment, my knowledge of culture and history, the applied metaphors, the atmosphere.
A quest to give meaning to my own life. How to feed a thought, a smell or sound in a painting is difficult and hard to explain. I believe that the enjoyment in the act of painting and the medium of paint itself make it all possible.
It is the energy and freedom in your very own mark making, the randomness of paint splatters and splattering. Putting one glob of paint next to another. It is about knowing your ingredients like a great chef does, the knowledge of how they will react when mixed up or put next to each other. Developing something unique something brand new, a new taste ... like that very unique moment on the edge of water and land.
London, November 2009
Caroline Havers