Katy Spong Statement
Living by the sea and overlooking farmland I am drawn to movement, the constant change in activity both human and animal. This is particularly revealed in the birdlife of the bay. The movement is tireless, elemental and images strike unexpectedly. I am attempting to observe, select and structure the fragility of the moment.
Birds make powerful subjects. I experiment with monoprint and collage to explore my subject and capture the fragility of a moment. The impulse to reconstruct prints using different textured papers and abstraction in turn informs my painting.
I DRAW inspiration for my work from landscape and nature. In 1999, I moved from Bristol to South Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. I found aspects of this landscape, in particular the sense of wilderness and of space, reminiscent of the parts of Africa where I grew up, and the influence of these parallels is apparent in my early work.
Since moving in 2007 to the west coast of Scotland my paintings and prints have been an exploration of a new place, a new environment: living by the sea and overlooking farmland is a marked contrast to the forests of South Loch Ness.
Experimenting with monoprinting, collage and abstraction has helped to develop my work. My paintings draw very largely on the cumulative experience of looking and the memory of observed moments.
The moments that nature provides in and around Cuil Bay are the subject of my latest series. Nature happens around us all the time, it is getting on with its own business, it is often surprising and unannounced. The unexpected frequently stops me in my tracks and reminds me how precious our environment is.