Making marks

Why follow the tracks being made by the sheep...  The sheep tracks are now hard and compacted.  They are not straight lines - the shortest route somewhere but they are traced time and time again.   This making of tracks  is seen in any landscape, urban or rural.  In a city a derelict scrap of land will have routes created as people cross through it making short cuts.  The sheep trails are more meandering - I wonder what this says!

I think my looking at the sheep trails is to do with my fascination of how man makes his mark on the landscape. The sheep doing the same.   Buildings in a landscape give a sense of scale, a reference point.  How the landscape is used.  That interaction between man and nature.  How man is trying to tame his surroundings.  How people/animals move through that landscape.  One imposed on the other, how the other is oblivious.  This making of lines, mark making is seen as man tries to make sense and clarify boundaries, borders.  Straight hedgerows.  A wandering boundary between Wales and England.  

Lines are important.

Chainsaw marks

Water through wood

Making sense yet?

I think that I'm starting to make sense of what I'm trying to achieve.  I'm still not there yet but things are starting to form! Just letting yourself play is a hard but essential part of creating.  That's why grants like this are so important.  A day a week isn't enough though.  You need weeks at a time together.  Everything is so disjointed, and trying to be coherent is hard. Slowly things are starting to build.

Flight Line

Whilst on the hill watching the buzzards I starting looking at the clouds and filmed them out of curiosity.  When I got back and down loaded the images, I realised I had captured a buzzard diving in a straight line then dissolving into the clouds. 

Serendipity.

Tracks

My route up onto the hill has become too overgrown with nettles, so I have taken to using the sheep tracks. They are becoming more and more trodden.  Grass giving way to mud,  the lines becoming more sharply defined.  Mark making on the landscape.

Short and sweet

Here is a shortened version of my continuing fascination with tracks being created in the landscape.  If you would like to see the full 2.23 version, just ask!

Sheep on track

The last few weeks have been very limited in terms of sharing the working process.  Lots of technical figuring out on my part.  I've been coming to terms with how to use the Mini DV camcorder.  I'm still not happy with the quality of images I'm getting.  I've kindly been lent a tripod which I hope will help to some extent.  The quality of my stills images have been poor, which has made me reluctant to post images, especially the weekly ones from the same spot.  They've just not been good enough.  Though I hope they've given an idea of the view!  I hope the new camera will solve this!

I'm also trying to sort out some large scale work.  There are two ideas I would like to pursue.  One, if all goes to plan, will be implemented in August.  It will be sited on the hill itself.  The other may be more long term and have to happen over the winter.  So View from a  Welsh Hill will carry on.

I have also been told of some wonderful local stories, not all concerning this particular hill, so my horizons are already expanding!

Mist 

29th May 2009

23rd May 2009