THE GONGOOZLER PROJECT
Gongoozler definition - A person who enjoys watching activities on the canal.
The idea for this project evolved while walking and thinking. A new puppy necessitated several walks a day, forcing me out of the studio in all weathers. I began to enjoy this new time for contemplation and respite from work. However I soon realised my mind was still working on a subconscious accumualtion of ideas. Random thoughts and compositions for paintings began to form and take shape on each walk.
A friend recommended I read Rebecca Solnit's book 'Wanderlust - A History of Walking' , this confirmed my instinctive knowledge of the connection between walking and creativity.
The dog and I ventured further afield, often walking the towpaths of the Forth and Clyde Canal and my inner 'gongoozler' was born.
Canal towpaths provide a little bit of everything, at once rural and urban, they offer unfolding transitional scenery. Hidden in plain sight they are footnotes to the main routes. Accessible to everyone, an easy flat continuous walk, no map required. With its unhurried pace of life, forever set by the past, the canal offers an opportunity for 'slow looking' . I have always been facinated by waterways, and in the past have taken advantage of scholarships to visit and paint the canals of Amsterdam and Venice.
With such a broad spectrum of landscape to cover I spent as long time walking and thinking, striving to capture the individual character of each canal in its present form from the perspective of the pedestrian on the towpath.
Inspired by the nineteeth century Japanese printmaker Hiroshige's 'The 53 Stations of the Takaido' , the gongoozler exhibition aims to provide a narrative structure that brings each separate canal journey together in sequential form as if you were walking the towpath with me.
Many of these paintings are now sold, if you would like to see a range of giclee prints of the canal paintings please click the link below.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/
-
Lesley Banks, Wheel Shadows - Union Canal, 2017 -
Lesley Banks, Blue Sky Day at the Wheel - Union Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Bridge on the Way to Ratho, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Falkirk Tunnel - Union Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Footsteps at the Wheel - Union Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, The Day they Drained the Canal - Union Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Corpach Cloud - Caledonian Canal, 2016
-
Lesley banks, Loch Lochy - Caledonian Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Laggan Locks - Caledonian Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Clachnaharry - Caledonian Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Kelpies Together - Forth and Clyde Canal, 2017
-
Lesley Banks, Sunday Afternoon at the Helix - Forth and Clyde Canal, 2017
-
Lesley Banks, Kelpies Apart - Forth and Clyde Canal, 2017
-
Lesley Banks, Misty Morning at the Whiskey Bond - Forth and Clyde Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Calderbank Shadows - Monklands Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Summerlee, Spring - Monklands Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Summerlee, Autumn - Monklands Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Floating Island - Monklands Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Summerlee, Summer - Monklands Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Calderbank Reflections - Monklands Canal, 2016
-
Lesley Banks, Rainy Morning - Crinan Sealock, 2017
-
Lesley Banks, Winter Morning - Crinan, 2017
-
Lesley Banks, Crinan Sunset, 2017
-
Lesley Banks, After the Rain - Crinan Canal, 2017
-
Lesley Banks, Red Roof Reflections - Crinan Canal, 2017
-
Lesley Banks, Puddler,s Cottage - Crinan Canal, 2017
-
Lesley Banks, Bellanoch Bridge - Crinan Canal, 2017
-
Lesley Banks, Ardrishaig Sealock - Crinan Canal, 2017
