It was this melding of her lifelong fascination with the esoteric and her surrealist practices that were to be her defining influences, remaining with her throughout her life becoming increasingly entwined with her paintings, and her writings showing a psychogeographical fascination with the interweaving of folklore, landscape and sexuality.
In her lifetime, Colquhoun published two unorthodox travel books, 'The Crying of the Wind' about Ireland - Richly visual and full of sly wit, this is an account of Ireland as only Colquhoun could see it, a land where myth and magic meet wind and rain, and the song of the secret kingdom is heard on city streets - and her Cornish book 'Living Stones' - Sacred and beautiful, wild and weird, Colquhoun’s Cornwall is a living landscape, where every tree, standing stone and holy well is a palimpsest of folklore, and a place where everyday reality speaks to the world beyond - and an alchemical novel, "The Goose of Hermogenes' - Lushly visual, rife with symbols and cries from the unconscious, Colquhoun’s first novel is a surreal feminist fable, and a supreme artistic vision. Her books have recently been returned to publication by Pushkin Press (which is from where those italicised quotes were taken).
The video below features Colquhoun fan Stewart Lee in discussion with Mariella Frostrup about his love for the travel books and includes a reading from 'The Crying of the Wind'.
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