Ruth Bunnewell

I am continually drawn to things and places that hover 'on the edge'. Over the past year I have started to paint urban settings and buildings. This really began during lockdown, during which the only scenery available to me was urban. I am drawn to areas that sit just on the outskirts, just on the border between becoming 'town', places that lie in the grey area.

There were numerous reasons that compelled me to want to study the water tower for the painting 'The Water Tower; the Highest Point'. I find the contrast of the concrete structure amongst the quiet, still, peaceful tree lined site. There is the essential nature of the building, contrasted with the familiarity of it that makes it unnoticed by many. It quietly sits there, essential and used daily by city dwellers, without really being part of the city. It is there, and not there.

When I paint landscapes and treescapes, it is the outer edges that draw me close. Juxtapositions and contrasts, things and places that can hold opposing characteristics simultaneously. The beauty of the woodlands and forests co-existing with an idea that it would be east to get lost within. One heightening the other.

​Another place that I find fits this theme is Sizewell in Suffolk. I find the huge nuclear power stations that sit right next to the sea outstandingly beautiful. The reason I personally find them so, is because of their proximity to the forests and the water. There couldn't be a greater contrast of nature sitting literally side by side with man built. Some people loath the building, some people love it. Despite the disconnect between the power plant and the natural beauty, I feel that there are also similarities between the two, the immense power of the nuclear station seems as sublime to me, as the sea it sits next to. Each containing potential for danger, whilst being essential.

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