A new blog to document a fused plastic experiment

Bananas, gloves, tortillas and lemons - fused plastic collage 23cm x 23cm

The other day my friend the artist Caroline Fish asked me to exhibit some fused plastic collages alongside her gorgeous ceramics, Jezz Meredith's prints and Jacqueline Dawson's jewellery at Craft Co in Southwold, in May. This invite came as I was thinking about which direction to go next with my fused plastic. I had an idea and this is the first piece that I've made with it in mind.  

I thought it would be interesting to document the idea, so I have created a new blog about the process.You can follow the blog here to keep up to date on how the experiment is progressing!  http://diningonplastic.blogspot.co.uk

Art on the Inside of a mail art envelope

Part of most days is devoted to mail art.  People ask me what mail art is and I tell them it's art that travels through the post.  For me it is that other kind of art that makes me laugh and work obsessively, often purposelessly, although sometimes conceptually.  It is a different space for me and an essential one.  These two envelopes are going out today and I am dying to make some more in this 'style' later.  

I usually work in styles, or series in mail art.  These I'm calling 'unsealed envelopes' and the envelopes are made from life drawings I no longer need, and they have bespoke two sided fused plastic collages inside.  I have made the labels in a similar to the way I make my business cards with 'trash' fused plastic and clear labels. Obviously I have obscured the addresses with a bit of washi tape to keep people anonymous.

Below are the actual contents of the two envelopes in all their sides.

Sun Trap (painted paper collage) 17 x 24 cm

While getting ready for my first exhibition at The Freudian Sheep https://www.facebook.com/freudiansheep?fref=nf, a gallery in Ipswich that shows work by local 'upcoming' artists I've been making painted paper collages and fused plastic. When I took pieces to Jo Hollis (who frames my work), I wondered about working on thicker paper.  This is my first experiment on a thick watercolour paper I had on hand. It's possible to float the piece and avoid the wrinkled feel of lighter paper. I also tried tearing, rather than cutting here.

After visiting the Diebenkorn exhibit at the RA, I felt I wanted to work bigger in fused plastic.  This has been problematic because pieces don't always want to lie flat and I am not sure about how well they will hang. I experimented with sewing and gluing them onto paper and flattening them under books but the movement was compromised. I was able to make some bigger work eventually.  This piece is glued onto foam board.

Solar Yoga (Fused Plastic Collage) 23 x 26 cm

Fused plastic portrait 2

I am wondering about creating a Victorian photo album of fused plastic portraits? How would that work? Or are these icons? Should the people be real or imagined - they have been invented so far...   What other materials would I need?  Would it be interesting?

I have a new sewing machine and I'm not sure what I was doing wrong yesterday but the stitches were not right.  Today it worked dreamily. I even used the knee lift! I will have to go back and prick out the other stitches and correct...

Fused Plastic Portrait 1

Working in the Bob Lahotan school or finding shapes that mean something to you in playful application of colours, I began dipping my toe in plastic again. First I selected some pieces with colour and patterns I liked.  My plastic bin is overflowing and I brought pieces of choice plastic back from America.  Jane Lewis brought me some recently too.  The shapes said Victorian frame, the Madonna figure followed.  Then Patrick suggested a touch of gold.  I hadn't set out to make portraits but I like the idea; will take the shape of this as a starting point for a possible new series.

Collage to fused plastic

 Pauline Manders, author and my neighbour, comes into my studio regularly, so she sees what I'm up to and occasionally I show her things that others might not see. I am interested in versions of things and how to translate between media.  Colour studies became mail art books and pages of books become fused plastic collages. Pauline likes to see the progression.  It helps her to understand the end result.

To see what Pauline is up to, visit her blog.  I make her covers! http://paulinemandersauthor.blogspot.co.uk

Another view of Gurney in Somerset

Another drawing session where I used an image (taken recently) and  projected it on the wall; I translated the colours into tone and line. This drawing is 9 x 13.5.  Next I tried to change tone into colours using a previous colour study. I cut and fused the shapes as I saw them.  The initial result didn't suggest the space or the light so I cut it all up again and tried to feel the space and use some but not all of the elements in the drawing to suggest what to do next. When sewing, I made a conscious effort not to repeat myself and to use the stiches as lines more intentionally than sometimes. The edges of the fused plastic were not even once I'd made a back.  It was a wiggly organic form and I thought it might be a fragment, but in the end that didn't work.