I have thinking about ways of framing, or creating a sense of knowledge about a place where I have never been before. It is less that a week before I head off to SCANZ2013 in New Plymouth and I have spent a lot of time over the last few months looking at maps, Google Earth and reading as much as I can to gain some sort of understanding of New Plymouth and the Taranaki region.

As as starting point I took some photos of Mt Taranaki from my iPad, to start working with some imagery and a deliberate means to ‘frame’ the mountain in terms of my role as a remote observor, seeking to capture a moment of understanding.

After printing the iPad photos, I created a series of watercolour sketches, which will form part of the work I am developing while at the artist residency. These small watercolours are…