I came across a YouTube video on the work of Jared Pike . Pike (& others apparently) make renders of strange unreal pools. They use the vocabulary of swimming pools, which as the video says, seem to trigger resonances in a lot of people. The video hypothesises that this is because of childhood memories but it also seems to me that there is something about the play of light in pools that does something for us. As an aside this is not something I’ve ever seen written about. Why do sunrises, sunsets, the play of light between the trees of the forest, the glittering of moonlight on the ocean etc etc stir our emotions (and I know that that’s not just me because so much art is based around this)

I’m currently learning Blender (and 3d in general - I feel that we are at the start of an exciting period in media where the increases in computing power make a lot of things possible. Albeit in the brief period before we pitch headlong into climate catastrophe) and beyond the pure technical skills I’m drawing regularly just to practice. Dreampools seemed an ideal topic.

One of the things that fascinates me about taking a creative topic is how different people interpret it. Despite taking as my starting point a very similar vocabulary as Pike - the tiled walls, the pool , the caustics my images have turned out very much my own.

As I started making them I found themselves having a life of their own. My images triggered other ideas & feelings and I have started exploring. The church image below which is my latest arose because one aspect of these ‘liminal’ (a terribly overused word but the one that’s used in this genre) space photographs that I particular like are those of the abandoned mansions of those rich people who have no taste whats o ever and mixing that with the play of light in a church like space……

Having started to establish a visual vocabulary of my own for these pictures I’m sure I’ll return to them in coming weeks.