Lichenitis

It has been a while since I updated my blog because my 88 year old mother broke her leg at the end of November and I spent a long time running around in circles tending to her needs.

However, things are now returning to normal and with a recent walking holiday in Tasmania where I took many photos to inspire my art I am again making progress.

I think that I have contracted a severe case of "lichenitis." Images of lichen fill my head. I gasp with delight each time I encounter a new variety. My husband shakes his head and rolls his eyes but I am hooked. I just had not been aware of the diversity of form, shape and texture that exists. They are marvellous those little lichens.

If aliens were looking down on us when we were walking in Tasmania they would be wondering what this dishevelled looking woman with a gleam in her eye was doing crouching down and peering myopically at rocks for minutes on end then spending more minutes with a camera and macro trying to capture all of the intricate and microscopic details. They may begin to wonder at the sanity of the human race. So did I when my fingers became numb with the cold, but I just could not stop. The water dripped off my nose, my husband rolled his eyes some more....

Back home......, sanity has reasserted itself briefly. I have been trawling through my images and deciding how I want to use and re-interpret them. I have already started on a series of drawings. None of them are finished yet (see below). I have started some lino cuts and collagraph plates and have ideas for a series of paintings too.

Lets just hope that Mum does not break the other leg any time soon.

Experimenting

Recently I have been playing around with old collagraph prints that I am not completely happy with, seeing if I can give them new life in another work.

Previously I have cut prints into strips and glued them onto paper to form a background over which I have collaged monotypes of seaweed etc.

This time I am interweaving two prints together and then collaging another image or motif on top. In the examples above I have collaged dots of paper of varying sizes on one and dots of a black and white collagraph on the other.

The actual weaving process is very relaxing.

I now have quite a few backgrounds to play around with using a variety of techniques and images to collage over the top.

Exhibition open

My solo exhibition at the Firestation Print Studio, Armadale is now up. Getting everything hung was quite a task as there are many 20 x 20 cm or 30 x cm cms works which I have put together in a grid in the gallery for greater visual impact. These works are either prints or drawings. In the studio/workshop area are 6 paintings and in the back room, a variety of prints and drawings.

Despite all of the meticulous and tedious measuring I was really happy with the effect. I have had a lot of glowing comments as well as a few sales and look forward to sharing the work with others over the next 2 weeks.

Under the Microscope

2011 Exhibition

I have been working towards another exhibition. It is at the Firestation Print Studio Gallery in Armadale. It runs from October 12th to October 29th.

Work in the exhibition continues my fascination with detail. While previously this fascination has been with detail in nature, more recently my fascination has extended to man made objects as a son has passed on microscopic images associated with his work in metallurgy. While the exhibition continues my interest in detail in the natural world the focus is on this much closer view and the internal structures of materials seen through a magnifying lens. Hence the title…… Under the Microscope.

Work in the exhibition also reflects my continuing experimentation with medium, as I seek to challenge and broaden my expression. Over the past eighteen months I have been exploring different ways of working with collagraph plates which has resulted in more mixed media prints combining collagraph plates with aquarel or collaged forms. In painting I have continued exploring the properties of string as well as other ways to create a textured surface.

The exhibition contains paintings, drawings and prints eg:

PAINTING EGS: Oil and string on canvas, 70 x 70 cms each

DRAWING EGS: Pencil works x 3. 30 x 30 cms each.

PRINT EGS: Collagraph and acrylic, 30 x 30 cms each