Herring Gulls and Puffins

It`s interesting to me how we can be presented with an image, in this case a grainy sepia photograph from the late 19th century, of a dirt street winding up a hill, peppered with people standing stock still in various wooden poses, all gazing stoically at the camera. And, after an immersive tuning in; finding out about the people, the culture, the location, the birdlife, the likely smells and sounds of the place; and along with a touch of half remembered family stories and artistic license, we can arrive at another image. In this case, a lino print picture. The same street winding up the same hill. But this time more animated. With more of an eye for the pattern of things, a wish to see the interconnectedness of all aspects to that community, on that far away North Atlantic island.

In the sepia photo there is no hint of the sea, and so the print introduces gulls and a single puffin. Seeing them swooping brings their plaintive cries to mind. The smell of salty sea spray. And the streaked evening clouds (facing west, as the street does) suggest waves regularly and perpetually beating against a shore.

The dog and the cat evoke a cosy warm domesticity; warm, grass turf insulated homes, smelling of lamp oil, rye bread and dried fish; an essential counterbalance to the environmental harshness laying siege on all sides.