LUCY McLAUCHLAN

TRAVERSING WALL & CANVAS ALIKE
WHERE THE MURAL FADES, THE CANVAS BECOMES A PERMANENT RECORD

WOODLANDS / NOT FORGOTTEN (2015 - )

Painting murals allows for a certain scale and pace, likewise when I’m in the trees painting large sections of canvas. There is an immediacy and a connection that is direct and physical. I spend a lot of time in Warley Woods, an urban woodland just on the edge of Birmingham that so far has escaped redevelopment. Some of the trees have been there since the late 1700s, my murals are lucky to last a year. Taking direct prints from these woods and parts of the city set for redevelopment is my way of paying homage, painting on and amongst the trees and buildings, preserving a memory.

LOVE MANY TRUST FEW
ALWAYS PADDLE YOUR OWN CANOE

WATERWAYS / BIRMINGHAM BY PASS (2016 - 2019 )

Birmingham’s known for its extensive waterways, ‘more canals than Venice’ is the strapline. Back in 2016 I painted a large circular piece from a tug boat - bailing out the water, trying not to step on a syringe or a dead rat. The next time I borrowed a canoe to get those otherwise unreachable spots, then I took my sledge and canvas...Since then I’ve paddled and painted my way along, getting to know this hidden enclave tucked away with all the workers, the dreamers, the pleasure cruisers and gongoozlers.

Dedicated to all the drinkers, the dancers, the workers and wildlife researchers. The octogenarian tourists from Canada, daily regulars looking for love, others in tamden fishing for carp. Finding shelter for Silent Steve and to John & Joe who grew up on and only know The Cut.

WASTELANDS / BROWNFIELD RESEARCH CENTRE (2018)

Brownfield sites provide large and free spaces to paint uninterrupted, but for others they hold mixed feelings - the absurdity of vacant space / at the same time enabling ecosystems to thrive.

Airpsace Gallery / Brownfield research residency (2018) on site in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent - land of the Potteries
Where factories have closed leaving vast empty spaces, brittle and worn. Behind this fenced off area holds an ever changing landscape, abundant in yellow: wildflowers in bloom, camouflaging discarded yellow plastics, Buddleja entwined in hazard tape, cornered by double yellow restriction lines. As this land sits patiently waiting.

Initially these sites appear to be out of bounds, containing the past and constricting the future. Behind the hoardings hides more than what once went before. An area cut off and secluded, playing host and providing a glimpse of what some perhaps choose to ignore. Left scattered across the ground, broken needles amongst ceramic tiles, distorted foundations - layers of years that have passed underfoot scarring the floor. Each new route worn as desire paths form between detritus and decay. A sense of both chaos and calmness, as time shifts and fragments disperse - like the bones that eventually disconnect and move beneath the earth.

WOODLANDS / WASTELANDS / WATERWAYS

Collection of paintings and prints made in the urban woodlands, waterways and wastelands (exhibited together at The Burton Gallery and Museum, 2021). These works have grown from a background in mural painting, where the same physical and direct actions are shared to create site-responsive large scale works, within the elements and between the gaps.