Merlyn Chesterman

My current work is about the sea.

During lockdown I have been incredibly lucky in that I have always been able to walk to the coast and swim. Day after day in those two months when the sun shone daily.

I have swum in rough conditions, I have swum further out than I had thought, and have watched the movement of water around rocks. I have noticed an indigo band on the horizon, and seen water that is Verdigris one day and silver and grey the next.

Always, my intention is to be true to science, and at the same time capture the quality that has got my attention and attempt to record that reality in a way that cuts through what does not need to be said.

I want my marks to work at an abstract level, in fact they must, but I also hope that the more literal surface allows me to share more easily what I have found to be exciting. These things – light, fear, cold, exhilaration, delight and wonder, for example, are universal and I hope my woodcuts will be appreciated at a feeling level.

Far out

Woodcut, oil-based water-washable ink on Somerset satin. This print came about after a swim at Hartland Quay where we went out much further than usual. It felt like another world.

Rough

Woodcut, water-washable ink on Somerset satin. This print is about a place we swim regularly. It gets rough but stays safe. So, it is fun and exciting.

Sea and sky

Part of a series of small A4 woodcuts, again exploring the sea and how to make prints about it.

THE PANDEMIC EFFECT

Looking back at the lockdown, I see it as a breathing space for Nature, and for me a chance to recalibrate. Not since I was a child have I had so much unscheduled time. If I didn't think too hard, about the reality of the pandemic, I was rather happy. The birds, I am sure, sang louder, the spring flowers smelt more fragrant, and the shapes around me were much much sharper. The air was different. And I had no responsibilities, as I was alone.

I was generously given the self-employed grant, which meant that for the first time in my life I was being paid for simply existing. The pressure was off, I had time to think and even time to play.

I got to know the sea in a way I have never known it. The same stretch, day after day, and never the same. I can never un-know it. I can work towards showing it in my prints for the rest of my life, and I can thank this change in routine for that.