Nothing like a bit of pressure

We have had a rather exciting time recently and all the celebrating, visiting, driving and moving stuff has thrown my work routine off kilter. I have found a little time here and there, but yesterday when I finally had most of a day to be in the studio, I felt flabby and not in the least match fit.  I couldn't remember where I'd left off and what I was thinking. I began, but it was uncomfortable.

Ruth Philo told me about Rebecca Solnit's book A Field Guide to Getting Lost and I am reading that, slowly, alongside other things.  I have been looking too, noticing the bands of colour that compose the fields. I can't believe I have never noticed how the ragged robin sprouts above the wheat and barley, to edge the fields in pink, and the washed out lavender of the thistles.  The colours of high summer make a beautiful palette.  The landscape is dry, the skies are moody and what wonderful shapes growing makes.

I have a rather tight deadline to get my work for the Inspired By Becker exhibition made.  I did get the frames and matts made to fit my plate appropriately, so at least I don't need to finish in time for framing…. but I haven't succeeded in making a monotype yet that captures something about the light of Suffolk and evokes Harry Becker on some level.  For the past two days I worked in colour (Akua Intaglio) and value and then used soft pastel on top.  I am hoping for something looser, moodier and more surprising.

What happens with an idea

During Open Studios I had the pleasure of welcoming lots of people with different interests and tastes.  My work is varied, but in my mind it is all related, and open studios gives people the chance to see how each piece relates to another piece and to see what inspires me.

Talking about my work in this context helps people who may not relate to one aspect of it to understand things differently. The above 'tinned view' is an idea I am working on for a mail art project I have begun. I am a mail artist and send mail art out widely, internationally.  Mail art means that I get lots of wacky and often beautiful ideas all the time in the form of post. I am always pushing myself to find a different voice to send in the mail. The tinned view is the result of my Inspired by Becker project which you can learn more about here: http://ibbas.co.uk.  My previous post shows some of the first experiments in monotype  I'm working on for their annual exhibit.

I love making colour notes as I walk and these tinned views are acrylic on paper, something new for me.

I explained to the person who bought the fused plastic collage above about my process, how all those views informed this fused plastic collage.  I talked about how the gesture and the symbols meant something to me as I made them, moved them, composed them committed to them.  The title: Seaglass of Fields helped her to understand the piece and how I came to make it.

I often work across media, using an idea in a different way, or as inspiration for the next thing.  In my mail art I call these versions.  The Fused plastic collage with stitching and paint below is called Moated View, relating to my house and the shapes I see daily.

There are two new exhibitons coming up where I'll be showing some of this work.  Maybe you'll want to come along?

Monotype and landscape

It is one of those grey overcast days and this morning while walking Lyra, it was even a bit foggy. 

The hedges were grey-green and milky. This is the first day this week when I have had a whole day to work so I decided to make monotypes, responding to the local Suffolk landscape.  One of the chapters I read in the Degas book was about versions and how Degas used the monotype to experiment with different versions of an idea, or to progress through ideas. What's nice is that at the end of the print run I had three very different experiences of the landscape recorded.

I was tied to the bleached colour I saw, though, so in response I collected my effusive bouquet of roses that I cut yesterday evening.  I found a recipe online for making your own special sauce so that flowers last a little longer: 1 t bleach, 1 t sugar, 2 t lemon juice + water. So far it's a success and the resulting monotype satisfies me more than the landscape monotypes!  You will notice that I used lots of the colours I'd already mixed for the landscapes. I didn't wet the paper and I think these Akua colours are fab!

Smell the Roses, monotype - Akua Intaglio on paper, 10 x 15cm

Inspired by Degas and Becker

Light on shoulder, Monotype Akua intaglio on paper , 10 x 15cm

Light on Hip, Monotype Akua intaglio on paper  10 x 15cm

I am reading the book from the MOMA exhibit in NY, A Strange New Beauty, (which is a catalogue with essays about a show on Degas' monotypes) after receiving a postcard about the exhibit from a friend. I have always made monotypes this way but seeing Degas 'experiments' has made me want to explore my method and beyond anew. I used a toothbrush, a rag, Qtips and the back of my brush to make marks.  I forgot my brayer , my water bottle and my release agent when I went to my life drawing group so made do with what I had and rubbed the back of the paper with a wooden spoon.  I made a few other prints, but these were the most satisfying and successful.  They were both drawn 'backwards' so the resulting image is as I saw things.

Afternoon light on birdbath, Monotype Akua intaglio on paper with pastel, 10 x 15cm

In the afternoon, it was splattering with rain so I stood under the front porch with my plein air easel and my water-based ink.  I couldn't find the release agent (I have now) or the transparent base but I did have my brayer so I worked removing the black to indicate the light. I worked backwards and had to move the flower beds a bit closer than they really are to I could get it all on the plate. In the evening I added some pastel and returned to it today when there was a bit of sun.

I've joined a group: 'Inspired by Becker' http://ibbas.co.uk and want to make a seires of works capturing Suffolk light in the landscape with energetic marks.

Open Studio 2016

The first weekend of Open Studios 2016 was a joy! More than twenty friends and new visitors came for a look around the studio and to see my work. the conversations were interesting and different people had different favourites.  I am fortunate to have sold a few frame pieces too. 

If you haven't been before,  this view is one wall of my hanging system. There are two more... and I have three boxes of work by the window on the right.

Fitting in a morning drawing while gardening

Kantha with Complementary Beads

Here I am in Maine, with my muse - the island where the mountains meet the sea, and instead of stepping out into the garden, I chose to make a drawing of some other textile and some other beads.  I am with the 'font' of beads and textiles, when with my mother.  I realise that by focusing on her beads I am appropriating her colours too.  Or are these our colours?

It has been so sunny that we've been all hours in the garden: weeding, mulching, raking - perhaps that's why I chose to zero in on the beads? The garden is predominately green, brown and grey, perfect for mark making, but not so interesting for me and my colour studies. I will go out before I return to England, though, perhaps tomorrow!

Drawing from Life Exhibition and new directions

Last week my life drawing group had an exhibition in Bury St Edmunds.  I showed my colourful pastels (a selection below).  There were sixteen of us represented in the gallery and it was a strong, varied show. The gallery shots have two walls missing… I meant to take them later, as there were people in front, so you miss out seeing the work of Judith Glover and more by Pamela Yeend and Anna Dixon Smith.  Drat, I forgot!  Here is link to the catalogue that I put together for the exhibition and which has work by each of the artists.  

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3g5q7Qjx55QSGF6WFZEbTVNdm8/view?usp=sharing

Now that the work is down, when I went to the group today I felt I needed to step away from my pastels and work in a different media.  I couldn't find my chamois and I had been making mono prints so I decided I would take some Akua ink, a small plate, a brayer, a barren, a spoon and a small sketchbook to print into.  

The setup for the sessions has changed and I find it difficult to make an interesting pastel anyway because there isn't enough 'confusion' to compose my squares/rectangles.  Working purely in light in a gestural way with ink would be different! I forgot my paintbrush, but Anna lent me one. We had thee minute, ten minute and twenty minute poses.I work with a rag taking ink away.