This is pastel over a collograph print. The plate is made from cut up pieces of old linoleum plates that no longer interest me. Some of these are mounted to an 8″x10″ board, others cut to fit, but left loose to be inked separately.
I have not got a final working plate yet, but it has some promise!
Improvisation, Intimacy, and …
I am a slow learner about people, and about myself. So I have only just realized some aspects of my art that can frustrate me: my art is very varied, and unlike that of many artists, it may not be easily recognizable (as mine).
There are several contributing factors (one being that I work in a variety of different media!), but a key factor is surely that my art is so internal, and so personal.
My artwork is improvisational. I rarely plan, and may work without an object or scene in mind. When I do start with, or incorporate drawings of external objects, these things generally morph into something very different and become part of a separate, internal, reality that I try to show you.
My work reflects my psyche as much as it does the outside world. My art integrates me with my surroundings and with the news of the world.
It reflects all the aspects of my personality and also influenced by my current mood when I work.
So it is perhaps hardly surprising that my work has both a light side and a dark side, and also places in between! The tone of my work will vary dramatically based on what is uppermost in my mind as I start a new piece. And it may change along the way…
Sometimes I am lost in the patterns and beauties of the natural world, the joy of chocolate, or the delight of a sunny walk on the beach. At this point work my may have a bright, clear, cheerful tone. At other times, I am under the influence of darker spells; fear of death and the impact of “Nature, red in tooth and claw” may dominate my work. At such times, the subject matter, colors and tone will certainly be heavier, darker, and altogether different!
Doing it Digitally
Working on the Moon (again)
People in my Garden
Making a(nother) Mummy
Making Arrangements
When you are getting started with an experimental piece, be sure to document the work! Sometimes experiments fail, but the photos can become artworks in their own right!
These are evolving into a new series: TACTTF ( = They All Came to the Funeral :-). Of course all four images here are versions of myself…
All is dust… or mud if it is raining
Working on the Moon: are we having fun yet?
Climbing Egg
This is the last prepared blank duck egg in my collection: now it is the “scribble egg” or the “climbing egg”.
I do have one more blank egg: it is an ostrich egg! It needs some prep work before I can draw on it. It seems to have a fairly glossy coating that I probably have to sand before I work on it. Also I want to think about how to display it, and decide whether to fill the conspicuous holes used to empty it.
And another piece framed
Curly Twigs IIa digital
This is a somewhat problematic mixed media work. It started with a scan of an incomplete more traditional mixed media “drawing”, but has significant digital modifications & additions.
So as I see it, this is a fine art mixed media print. It is not a copy, in that there is no original. It a a multiple medium, like other fine art printmaking.