The Watershed Project

I’ve been neglecting my blog

so here are some catch up images

my favourite so far

“Scaff tower at Gorple”

this is 4 images put together and although its got all the right information , I’m going to take more images of the reservoir and the tower and redo the whole lot !(capture the right sunshine on the rese, some light behind the tower but not entirely forcing it into silhouette, more tower in foreground, so more sky with colour/clouds)

still it is my favourite and says a lot about my ideas for the W. project as a whole …it has something of our compulsion to build, the surreal nature thats never very far up on the moors, stillness, its got a compelling, seductive, intriguing quality that I cant quite put my finger on.

another version

and perhaps a tower between these rocks-

or bridge this hole

On Widdop Mooor- walking towards Lower Gorple reservoir—as well as installing The Monument (see previous post), there were icicles and frozen puddles to explore….

man on icicle!

3 men and an icicle wall– the walls out of focus , sorry!

I thought I’d build a monument- something to act as a foil for Stoodley Pike. Built from  the heather on the path up to Top Withens. I have populated it- lots of people queuing up on the viewing platforms, precariously balanced.

I took it up to Widdop Moor today- a cold and frosty day . I discovered a clump of burned out heather just like the one at Top Withens, and placed the monument . A bit dark but it gives an idea.

so cold, really love this place with its stark, rawness.

is it too obvious to make an igloo?

perhaps an igloo out of heather? or sheep poo- or using the mud dug up from this beach? Could have missed the ice now though, we’ve had a thaw, though it is so deep down cold at this reservoir, it might just still be frozen.

so , the clay from Baildon- forming an iceberg at The Bridestones

I’ve had three attempts at this now- here the water was frozen  and it was dusk , giving that wonderful soft blue light- but the “real” rock behind, which is in effect half the image, can’t be seen as it’s covered in snow, difficult to get everything…

I’ve since been back (too cold for photograph) & made an underwater base for the berg so it can be fired, glazed white and photographed in the puddle when the water melts .

Here is The Bride of the bridestones- in all her freezing white glory. The sheep had been sheltering by her side , out of the wind, so there was sheep poo a-plenty.

I’ve been making structures (below) using the heather picked on the walk to Top Withens, Stanbury.

First here’s the site of inspiration: I love these heather plants, they’ve been burned and have blackened, carbon stems with bright orange streaks. They look like a strange , other-worldly forest when you crouch down and alter the scale.

and here’s practising putting people in there- it was so cold that day I couldnt mess about too much- the super glue doesnt stick when its damp! Just managed to get a few in the “trees”, earily looking outwards.

so I made these structures using the heather – they are part iof the series of experimental structural dwellings/shelters/homes made using local materials. These would be completely useless in the weather on top of the moors- they are all sculpture really- following the curves of the heather stems, they are a sort of homage to the plant .Would be lovely cast in aluminium or brionze (I’ve always hated bronze – what’s going on!).

here are the 2 put together-

this isn’t working properly. Getting the image to this stage takes a while but sometimes I have to go this far just to see where changes need to be made – the heather is TOO much like its background, so it may have to be photographed in another location

so , I have an idea for a monument to heather- reflecting back on the wonderful Stoodley Pike, which I haven’t used yet.

and making more heather structure/sculptures – in effect a terraced street ,but each one unique- my Navvyopolis.

On the road from Hebden to Oxenhope /Keighley

These temperatures (-4) really make me think about how people used to live around this landscape. How did they cope with the cold, without the comforts we now take for granted and rely on. How did they keep warm? snow, ice – fire, heat…this duo occurs repeatedly in my work

I know when the time is right I will do some work on a more abstract level with fire & ice, (melting, steam, water, power), but this project has conjured up a house in model form , made from sorrel picked from the snow landscape below. The resulting shack refers to the shanty town Navvyopolis , built near Widdop to house the men constructing the reservoirs,Widdop & the Gorples.

I took the house on a journey today and photographed it in a couple of locations.

Just off the road to Widdop- on the top of the slope above Hardcastle Craggs

off the Long Causeway, just into Lancashire.

I think I will be out again tomorrow, to discover some more locations for the house.

I’m also hoping to get in touch with a local historian, John Billingsley, who might have some information on Navvyopolis. Also The Packhorse Pub on Widdop Rd has info on the railway that was specially constructed to carry materials up onto the top for the reservoir- I feel a visit coming on!

And back over to the Keighley Rd as above . I’ve just finished playing around with this image & am happy with it.

it conveys the cold, and the isolation  that must have been felt (perhaps still is) by anyone living up on the moors before electricity, 4×4 cars, central heating, internet, TV, hot running water, proper roads ….. etc.  Vulnerability to the elements and weather.

this was the coldest day yet

I am making a mini series of mock icebergs. I looked around the Bridestones for the perfect rock that will double as an iceberg when modelled in clay. This mini iceberg will be fired & glazed white , placed on an iced over puddle, and photographed with the real rock in the background (does that make sense?).

It talks about other landscapes away from here; monumentality and scale. The model iceberg is an echo in the frozen puddle- the rock , the ice and weather which shapes much of this landscape. Water and time.

Here is the mock up- the iceberg will be fired and hopefully will be glazed white as the driven snow…

Onto another frozen puddle- ice to hold a couple of figures

I’m still not totally happy with this image – I have tried different versions in photoshop (wider landscape, less/more ice puddle) . It exists like this as an idea not a finished image. I think the figures get lost – they look like flys on a fishing line , which is not what I want.

I knew when I placed the model figures before (17.10.10), that there weren’t enough of them and that the sun wasn’t strong enough or in the right place (mid afternoon) so today being a day with good sunshine, I headed up to The Bridestones , with my matchbox and superglue.

Freezing-  I superglued figures & photographed for as long as I could actually move my fingers.

We managed it!

November 9th, the group made a trip up to Blackstone Edge Reservoir in the minibus….Steve from United Utilities let us through the gate so we could drive to a good vantage point- thanks. The weather was quite amazing- very cold and windy, but sunny and dry, glorious actually.

Both Julia and I thought it was very successful though we were sorry we couldn’t get one student off the bus as the wind was potentially strong enough to rip off the rear door as they were getting his wheelchair off.

But walking with that huge view, smelling the incredibly clean air, experiencing the solid force of the wind. We howled into the gale, made faces, stuck tongues out…

battling to keep the paper down, I papered a rock which was drawn on and explored with feet, we threw some ink on it and let the wind do its thing.We danced- well jumped up and down- it would be great to have some music up there to dance to – something that complemented the wind, the sheep , the grasses rustling.

We used the paper as a mat to lay on & drew round people. We rolled and slithered over it, wrapped up in it using it as a blanket, taking paper out of its normal comfort zone. I was so pleased it didnt rain as I wanted the paper dry- time to explore wet paper and ink when I’m on my own!

we recorded the sounds

We stood over one of those incredible details of engineering/ architecture so particular to the successful working of a reservoir, which often result in something peculiar , dangerous but compulsive to watch- this image doesn’t convey it but the flat 2D surface of the freezing- black water fell over the edge down some steps under the bridge we were standing on.

we had a really great time