Morning, St Andrews

While many remember Jim from Dundee, my most precious memories are of our times together in St Andrews, where I lived and he often visited. We talked, shared stories of children, loves, beliefs and literature while drinking coffee and, more often than not, wine. This pen and ink drawing is of the ruined cathedral in St Andrews. My inspiration comes from Ansel Adams’ Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, a legendary photograph that draws upon the moment when Adams managed to capture an image just as the moon rose and, at the same moment, the sun captured the crosses in the foreground. My drawing reverses the time and suggests, instead, a morning when, while the dark ruined cathedral almost dominates, the small crosses are just seen in the background. I don’t intend a Christian message here, but I do wish to draw upon a range of metaphors that envisage death, darkness and endings as no more than a doorway – like the arched windows in the ruins – to renewed life, light and beginnings. The figure in the drawing is, of course, my own invention. He almost blends into the black and white lines. But, if you look closely, Jim’s there.

© Marion Wynne-Davies