Anita Reynolds

Still Waters at Foggintor Quarry III

Triptych monotype print on 220gm white cartridge paper using Hawthorn oil based inks.

THE PANDEMIC EFFECT

Ever the optimist, I initially viewed the lockdown as an opportunity to step away from the usual deadlines associated with exhibitions and projects. For me this was timely as I was recovering from a major operation a few months previously, to be honest I needed a break.

However, I did in fact sink into a state of total artistic block. By block I mean that crippling state one reaches where you can’t make work and you feel like you are standing on a precipice looking down, afraid to move. You don’t want to make work or you don’t see any point in making it. With the pandemic on my conscience as well, everything I thought about creating seemed superficial and meaningless.

A few months into lockdown, after I’d done the obligatory gardening, baking, house tidying, daily moaning and walking, I found myself missing my practice. I saw my local landscape with a renewed love; Dartmoor has always been my place of solace but the great “Human Pause” has given it a deeper significance. I feel a heartfelt gratitude and a determination to make works that reflect this.