Sugar Beet Moon

Does the full moon rise when the sun sets every month? I was ashamed to admit that I didn’t know - so I thought I’d go out and draw the full moon rise every month for a year - and that would be that. How wrong I was.

An Exhibition of drawings was shown at Abbott and Holder, 30 Museum St, London WC1A in September/October. They can be viewed online here.

The complications of drawing a moving object, that is more often than not changing colour, in a darkening sky was captivating, awe inspiring and incredibly difficult. Learning to draw in the dark was like learning to draw all over again. Getting to grips with the seemingly unpredictable motion of the moon was as frustrating as it was compelling. Looking between tree trunks waiting for the moon to rise I would often find it had quietly risen behind the small thorn bush to my left or my right. The trees and bushes on the horizon of this shallow wooded valley (which I lamented at first because of their blocking abilities) turned out to be extremely good markers. I could note the position of each moon rise and moon set quite precisely.

Shortlisted in the non-fiction category of the East Anglian Book Awards

Through pictures and diary entries I find my subject matter encompasses much more than I first imagined. Initially, finding ways to draw in the dark and understanding how we see is as pressing as getting to grips with the complicated motion of the moon. Slowly I understand that the moon isn’t a subject on its own, that it’s part of everything around me - the stream, the toads, owls, teal, mosquitoes, horse chestnut blossom, and even the shooting of foxes. I feel the spinning of the Earth as it travels round the sun while I keep watch on the the moon as it circles Earth.

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My initial longing for wide open spaces for easy moon viewing faded as I began to get the hang of the moon from here. But, of course, the more I understood the more I realised I understood absolutely nothing. Utterly engrossed with following the moon through the sky outside my house, in this place, I began to recognise things, like the spring equinox full moon rise (roughly due east) would, for fifteen minutes or so, reflect along the whole length of the stream, painting the dark, shivering water luminous, burnt orange. The autumn equinox full moon rise is in the same place but there is no reflection because the leaves are still on the trees then. Chasing the moon through trees, around this place, taught me more about here, my home, than I could have thought possible when I wondered if the full moon rises when the sun sets every month.

Sugar Beet Moon is a two year record of curiosity, astonishment, bedazzlement, befuddlement, awe and frustration - in drawings and words.

Many thanks to Charlotte Sinclair for her words and Kent Andresen for his photographs of my moon drawing project (including my star gazing bed!), for the Weekend Financial Times, Sept 15th.

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Four stages of the October moon, full moon, 20th Oct 2021. 189x54cm

Four stages of the October moon, third quarter, 28th Oct 2021. 189x54cm

Colour, altitude and direction of rise, of all the full moons in a year. 59x84cm

Four stages of the October moon, first quarter, 13th Oct 2021. 189x54cm

20th Oct 2021, number 4 of 8 drawings of full moon rise. 10x15cm

20th Oct 2021, number 5 of 8 drawings of full moon rise. 10x15cm

20th Oct 2021, number 3 of 8 drawings of full moon rise. 10x15cm

20th Oct 2021, number 2 of 8 drawings of full moon rise. 10x15cm

Four stages of the October moon, new moon, 10th Oct 2021. 189x54cm

20th Oct 2021, number 1 of 8 drawings of full moon rise. 10x15cm

Sugar Beet Moon

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Cumberland Drawings