Jane Glynn

 

 

 

Inspired by Sir John Wittewronge’s weather diaries, I have been making daily pictures. Each month I use a different painting or drawing medium and focus on a different aspect of ‘outside’.  For February I painted trees, skies and fields using acrylic on board.  The book shown here has prints of all of the February pictures. I attached each of the book’s segments at the outer edges of the pages so that the book can be stretched out and every image seen at the same time. The cover refers to the way documents change over time: silver changes to black, ink destroys paper and colour fade.

I am an artist/illustrator/educator. My work explores stories, memories and time. Most of my work finds its way into book form as I am fascinated by books as physical objects, and especially the difference between reading online (which I find useful) and holding and reading a book (which I love). I see books as a beautiful, fragile, endangered species and as a uniquely human invention that grew out of our emotional and intellectual needs and our physical forms. Alongside all the noise and clutter of the various screens in our lives, the book quietly conveys one person’s ideas to another person. I became interested in the project as I have lived for most of my life near Hertford and was intrigued to have a look at the archives and to respond to a family who lived here so long ago. What interests me particularly is the way physical things change over time, for instance the way silver ink on a document can gradually change to black, and ink can wear away the paper it’s written on, leaving letter shaped spaces. I am also fascinated by the way history and memories change as our perceptions change. Much of my work takes the form of visual diaries soI was particularly inspired by the weather diary and have responded to that by creating a picture of ‘outside’ for every day of this year. Each month I use a different medium and focus on a different aspect of ‘outside’. The weather diary by was a practical farmer’s documentation, whereas mine is an exploration of my thoughts, perceptions and the memories that the drawings trigger.