My intrinsic connection with the natural world initiates my concept for my art practice by way of my living and working on a small farm in Suffolk and being aware of the seasonal changes and how the pattern of these changes alter each year. I explore ways to engage my public with materials taken from or relating to the rural wilderness. I call my practice drawing but this can be on paper, wood, bark, cloth. I work in 2D and 3D, and my subject registers the environment in which I work. Through experimenting with collected soils and flora, and finding ways to draw and paint with them, and also using bark, coppiced and cordwoods as a canvas I make and use these discoveries to connect with my subject.
My art is a natural progression of ideas, informed from my inner and outer landscapes. I am interested in how my intuition transposes thoughts into a visual format and how the collection of marks and materials become the sum of their parts. I make my own charcoal and collect soils to use for pigments. My argument continues to be that man has a creative spirit with a need to make traces. www.ruthrichmond.com
