Lyndsay Hamilton Fairley

The basis of my collection is photographs taken from walks along the East Coast of Scotland, in particular North Queensferry and Cramond beach. I was inspired by the compositions created by materials being washed up there, which have a tactile, spontaneous quality.
I further abstracted these images by drawing in multi-media in a very free-manner. Focusing on tone and texture with mark-making, I developed my jewellery from these, exploiting the naturally haphazard qualities of the compositions in my initial source material.
A selection of brooches, necklaces and individual earrings (although only necklaces and brooches are displayed here), my jewellery has a muted colour palette, instead focusing on subtle differences in the surfaces, intended to appear as drawings on the body. I have used a variety of techniques in order to achieve this, including stone setting flush with tube, tube construction, steel oxidation, and roll pressing. I also developed a method of wire inlay into sheet in order to create delicate pattern and colour in the tube, using patinas to create contrast. This is mirrored with a method of enamel inlay into tube to create a similar ‘sketchy’ appearance, but with a more textural feel. Subtle hints of enamelled colour are also visible within tubes, to create further tonal and textural distinctions.
Many of these techniques are very traditional; I like the contrast of using these processes in an unconstrained, abstract manner, no longer directly referencing the beaches they were taken from directly, but embodying the same sense of spontaneity.