The colour white

I have been wanting to experiment with chalk drawing for some time, so sitting here in the Observatory on the South Downs seems like a good time to start. Drawing […]

Headlost Walkfound

I took a walk up onto Cheesefoot Head early this morning, to see if I could clear my head from all that I have unearthed during this residency so far. […]

Romantics in space

I don’t know about you, but when I am putting on a talk I have to run through it again and again until I feel it is inside me; that […]

Flint nautilus

Flint is where I am looking at the moment, the flints that are found inside the chalk. The two materials are just so different – hard/soft; grey-brown/white; one you can cut with/the […]

In the round

Today it is a chance to work on the images for my talk, I Love Philae and Philae Loves Me, in the Planetarium at the Winchester Science Centre in about ten […]

Ehux from space

So I was looking for something that connected these three things: the Victorian scientist Thomas Henry Huxley, the small calcified plates out of which the chalk of the South Downs […]

You will find me in the planetarium

I just couldn’t pass up the chance to do a talk it the Planetarium: such a fantastic space in which to present work-in-progress, but also to try out some images […]

Your lens has no shutter

The architects of the Observatory were inspired by “the geometric works of American artist Sol LeWitt and Antonello da Messina’s painting ‘St Jerome in His Study’. I’ve been looking at […]

The sharpest of edges

I am looking at this piece of agate, but thinking about flint (which is not so dissimilar in many ways, both are crystalline forms of silica). Flint is a feature […]

On a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam

In an earlier post I wrote: “Josepth Amato in his book Dust makes the point that in the West our obsession with the very small over the past century – germs, cells, […]

Finding my voice

This afternoon was the opening for The Observatory project in Winchester and each of the three artists to be resident here, Isabella Martin, Sean Harris and myself, had to give […]

Finding my place

I have been trying to find my feet today in the Observatory; start to get a feel for the place. The overwhelming feeling at the moment is of floating: perhaps […]

Simply a thing of wonder

Today no explanations, no words (well, apart from these few!), simply a thing of wonder. Not sure about credit for the picture, but it comes from @TabithaPaterson,  @FragHeritage with hashtag #Boxgrove

Cool to be sincere?

Do you find that books just turn up at the right time, quite unintentionally? This has happened so often to me that I am beginning to believe there the universe […]

Hermit on stage

Finally there: I have been given the keys to the Observatory. Its architectural raison êtré is clear. It is a beautiful structure; its intent expressed through its form. The charred wood […]

Into the ‘in silico’

Well, there is a first for everything, and today it is entering the world of Minecraft. I am researching possible ways of working for the Observatory project at the Winchester Science Centre. The […]