inbetween dreams .....

I have been quiet on my blog but busy in the studio.  Never as busy as one would want, but I have found many times to head down here and explore some work.

These images are worked over engravings with ink and other media.  The painterly effect rather than the graphic is what I am aiming to achieve.  I have been working in a similar vein for a while but have made larger works now, and hope to get even larger soon - up to 60cms x 30cms  or thereabouts.  I usually work quite large with my drawings/etchings but this square size of 300cm square is a far more reasonable size to frame and house I think.  I will produce a whole body of this work - trying to simplify the design, not so many fragments though this is fairly typical of the way I work at times.  Fragments emerging from the gloom.

Don't for a moment think I am in a dark place - life is grand and I am blessed.  I am somehow drawn to these deep dark secret places.

I must post on one of my earlier etchings 'Deep Secrets Revealed'.  Probably one of my favourite etchings though because of its emotional context, hardly ever shown.  How often do artists do this I wonder?

more thoughts .....

I have been finding time in the studio which is wonderful.  Yesterday I had to hide inside all day as we were burning off an abundance of trees which we had felled on Monday.  This meant I couldn't open any windows and yet I had planned to do some experimental work with printing/engraving.  With this in mind I decided to use the less toxic option of Charbonnel etching inks - WATER based.  My first experience with this aqua wash and I am now hooked.  Easy to wipe the plates and ever so easy to clean up all the mess.

For those of you who are printmakers, the toxic environment with oil based inks and turps cleaners is a reality.  Same for those of us who also paint with oils.  Not wonderful for the lungs.  This was only my first play but I am investigating a technique I have used successfully with small work, and am hoping to produce in a much larger working format.  You can see some of the details in these images below.  More to come once I have worked out the best way to produce the work I want and then bring images to fruition.

beginnings .....

When I have been out of the studio a while, even for a month, it takes me a while to feel at home.  Not really feel at home as such, as the Studio is where I feel most at home, I guess I mean re connected.  In touch with what I am hoping to create.  I am sure we all know what I mean even though I am not expressing myself adequately!

In  October, one of my young friends is getting married.  My daughter will be one of the bridesmaids for this very formal and special wedding.  I have been asked, in lieu of both engagement and wedding gifts, to make art for Anna.  I know that Anna loves my work but all those confidence lacking traits seem to come to the fore when I am painting/creating for someone, rather than them seeing a work and saying that they love it ..... hence the way out of my dilemma is to spend the next month making a dozen or more images that I think Anna and I will both like, and then let her choose.  This may be a cop out - but it also means I will have lots of hanging artwork completed once she has chosen.

Starting points ...... a few of the artworks will be formed out of my manipulation of paper.  I sometimes like to use this method to prompt ideas, rather than impose my thoughts on the paper.  I have enough of those and will be spending time forcing my opinions onto those blank spaces but yesterday I began playing with some paper to see what ideas would arrive. This first one has given me plenty of room for thought and I am looking forward to bringing it to completion.  I have shown small snippets of larger sheets in subsequent photographs.  Certainly there are enough marks, and enough interest to lead me along the way.  I have been working with books and hence much smaller images so much over the last while that I hope I am able to sustain this form of imagery on large sheets of paper.

flora and fauna .....

And of course - just a few photographs of my favourite things ..... tree trunks and marks (plus some bird and plant photographs along the way).

I took many photos of the calligraphy tree - can see an artist's book coming from it, and the photographs of the tree bark at the end of this post, which I still need to identify.  I was enthralled with its patterns and took dozens of images.

At the end of each day's travel and camp I was too tired to keep a diary so I am very thankful for the camera which will always prompt memories.  Extra thankful to the new technology of GPS in cameras which allows us to see where each photograph was taken - at least my latest little Lumix does, not my Canon. After each trip we take I come home visually saturated and it takes a while for that to settle down while the creative juices kick in.  At the moment, though it was a wonderful trip, I am feeling travel weary and doubt that we will do any for a while to come.  Luckily it is so very beautiful where we live, there is no need to do more than open one's eyes in the morning to be inspired.