Getting inspired

I have been scrutinising my many photos, examining the multi-various patterns and translating my understanding into a series of simplified images for drawings and plates. Some of the plates are ready to print.

I don’t know much about rocks and maybe I should learn. My fascination is with the intricate and varied patterns that have formed over time. There are a myriad of sharply defined honeycomb patterns on outcrops and there are very subtle honeycombs where waves have worn away almost everything so that all that now remains is a slight, sand filled, indentation.

There are places with balls that protrude and others where they have disappeared to leave only a sand filled circle.

There are many broad and fine systems of ridged intersecting lines that flow and are interrupted and change endlessly as I walk along the shoreline. Some photos, where tilted very thin layers of rock have been eroded flat leaving lines that could well be roads, rives, fences and other features, look like an aerial view of a town.

There are of course many variations and combinations of these patterns in just a kilometre of shoreline so that the camera is constantly clicking and I am constantly reframing as I wander along. I never seem to feel that I have captured all of the diversity. Oh, well at least there is certainly more than enough material there to ignite the artistic fires.   

Starting small

With enough backgrounds prepared I am still moving slowly along the new path by doing some small prints to use as greeting cards (while familiarising myself with this new terrain) before taking the plunge and embarking on new 30 x 30 cm collagraph plates.

The technique for the small prints is the same, two background colours of a generic stipple and then another plate for the image, made with paper cut out and impasto gel, printed in two colours. So far I only have one colour of the image printed. Both contrast and definition will be much greater when I add a second colour but the photos give the general idea.

As the black and white images above illustrate, the small prints are based on the drawings I have been doing. There are so many intriguing and luscious patterns and textures in the shoreline photos I took that I am at last beginning to get excited and engrossed all over again. I think that the “Lichenitis” is gone at last and I can just about manage to follow my track down the path to a new obsession. I’m still not quite sure what to call it. 

First steps in the new direction

Having taken the first step and opted for a theme I have started on some prints. 

To ease myself into the new direction I have been concentrating on the not too daunting task of printing backgrounds while I draw possible images in my visual diary and my mind sifts through the many possibilities until it is happy to commit to positive action. Some may call it procrastination. I think of it as all valid progress towards a desired end.

The backgrounds are a “generic” stipple collagraph plate which I print both right way up and on its head to produce a two colour base onto which I will then print images in a further two colours. As the colours are subtle photos are not a great illustration of the effect but give the general idea ...see below.

(detail)

As I am keeping to my previous format of 30 x 30 cm square prints I am using a plate that I made ages ago and have already used many times (they seem to be very hardy). I have a number of these “generic” plates with either hatch or stipple patterns. I find them a useful way to provide background colour. They are made by applying a thin layer of impasto gel to a pasteboard plate, then creating texture in the wet gel using a palette knife and coating both sides of the plate with shellac once the gel is dry. 

Finding a new theme

October's exhibition is a distant, pleasant memory. It has been quite a task to wean myself off lichens and onto another theme which will sustain my next body of work.

I have been very lax with the blog lately due to the festive season and continuing very hot weather which somehow saps enthusiasm for any but routine activities.

I started my new theme last November by going to the beach and taking lots and lots of photos of the amazing patterns of sand and rock on the shore platforms.  Here are a few........

Yet again any bystanders would have wondered at my sanity. With my nose down and eyes peering intently at my feet, moving the camera this way and that to get just the right composition then wandering on and repeating the process I was clearly somewhat unhinged.

I have started drawings inspired by the photos. The next step is to get onto some prints.

Fungus meets Ferrite exhibition

My exhibition, Fungus meets Ferrite is now hung and open at the Firestation Print Studio at 2 Willis Street Armadale until November 9th. The opening is tomorrow Saturday October 26th from 2 - 4 pm.

The Firestation has produced a film clip to promote the exhibition. I think it is great and really worth a look. I supplied photos of bushwalking scenery, close ups of lichen and some photos of work. The rest was filmed at my place and all put together by a Firestation volunteer. The clip can be seen on the home page of the Firestation's web site i.e.: http://www.firestationprintstudio.com.au