Studio Work ABOUT my art & others

these little pieces on Japanese papers are trials/play in the studio this week - enjoying switching to oils after months of monoprints using acrylic on the gel plate.  see previous posts here and the 'what if' premise, here   

  Swiss Miss (Implosure) 40″x34″; collage on a print of a collage on rag paper; 2015 published  KOLAJ February 2018 On a trip to Switzerland to visit my lovely daughter and future son-in-law in 2013 I was creating collages in between sight seeing.  The final piece above started with this original that came together from Swiss magazines in my collage journal.  Stage1. Stage2. - once i was home again i scanned the original collage and added the red background, smoothed around the image and heightened the contrast in areas.  The image (above) was printed on 40x34" rag paper and I went to work on it - adding more collage elements, stencilling and pastel accents. The final piece, framed in a lovely hardwood, was exhibited in Tasmania in 2017.  See a short (silent) video here  exploring the details. 

This print came out of a residency and ultimately an exhibition at Cradle Mountain. Titled:  MAPPING TIME (the road to Cradle) click the image for details .  I was fortunate enough to be accepted for 2 residencies at  Cradle Mountain  which was such a wonderful experience.  Each residency was 4 and 6 weeks duration during 2017 and 2019 culminating in an exhibition in 2020 at the Cradle Mountain Hotel Gallery.  Blog articles on the residencies and solo exhibition, culminating from the gum trees on the road to Cradle. This is a limited edition of 13 prints -  details &  purchase here

This print has come from the #pocketfinds i had been conducting over last summer.  Collecting plants, shells, stones, etc and rearranging them to photograph became an ongoing project.  (so many ongoing projects including writing haiku, collage and research each day/week). I wrote about the #pocketfinds project  here  and i put up a short video of some of the pieces here including this book. I have decided to float this one out as a limited print -  details here. I would love to hear what you think.

 i am getting ready to do more chemigrams as soon as the rain (and winter) clears. Spring maybe, summer definitely.   So what is a chemigram? Here is a technical rundown - in short:  A chemigram is a camera-less photographic image.  You apply darkroom chemicals directly onto photo paper resulting in a unique, abstract image.  This technique is a mix of photography, drawing, printmaking.  Artistic experimentation, i think, is key. Mark making experiments yield a diversity of possibilities. This is undertaken by applying resists, allowing light to affect the paper (exposure), and placing the paper into developer and fixer solutions.  The image relies on direct interaction with the darkroom chemicals on the photographic paper. Outcomes are affected by the different resists, chemical interactions and exposure times resulting in unique and often abstract images.  have a look at the book of experiments i created whilst exploring chemigram technqiu...

The Bridge Gallery in Burnie is a temporary space for the Art Gallery while construction of the Arts Centre is underway.  We travelled to Burnie to pick up the  Oistre book  which was a finalist in the Burnie Print Prize 2025 , and encountered a splendid, awe-inspiring exhibition. There are 21, i think, artist books where each artist responds to each Afghan womans experience of living in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in 2021. i have posted a few images i took on our visit (below).  The images are not 'professional' but give me a sense of the presentation and ideas that i enjoyed immensely. I love how each book presents as 'the same' however upon opening, each book has artwork entirely unique to the story of each Afghan woman.  The creativity and diversity of artwork and story kept me in the gallery, going from book to book, for nearly an hour.  Just marvellous.  Techniques included typesetting, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking...

Playing with the fern book idea and mono prints.  I have created many mono prints, using the geli plate and ferns from the creek - looking to create a book from the   prints.    Here are a few succesful prints. When considering the 'fern book' proper (title yet to be determined) problems to solve include: Format - the proposed final book is much bigger than the prototype and a different format (landscape while the prototype is nearly square). Printing - the pages completed so far for the fern book proper are multiple printed mono prints which make the pages really busy so additional pages of blank papers need to be inserted which can be collaged, drawn upon, sliced prints etc.  Title - need to think on one  Lettering and words - brainstorming 'fern' and 'conversations by the creek' where the ferns grow - seeking words and letters that may be used in the book - stamping or handwritten, stencils etc Covers - this will come as i continue down this path. this i...

so many projects on the go (always) - a few here, some still in progress, others merely an idle thought.  my work is research and process based so there is much experimentation and intuitive 'doing'.  images here of asemic writings, paintings in progress, books completed and in progress, slow stitching and chemigrams. find our youtube channel with various playlists including art and artist books  let me know what you think.

                                                 I am so pleased to hear i am a finalist in this prestigious prize which will be exhibited in March 2025.  Once the exhibition is up I can post my work here. updated  April 2025. Images and artist statement of the book OISTRE posted here  

Ferns collected by the creek and printed on the gelli plate and mono printing, digital prints, chemigrams & textile prints. I made  a short video of this prototype for the fern book. LET ME KNOW what you think. 

  Dedicated to #13 ..so, New Year reflections - 13 days of looking back on 13 projects over the last year Day 12 - chemigram. 2024 i discovered chemigrams and played (a lot) ... love what comes from process based art play. (wikipedia) Process. A chemigram is made by  painting with chemicals on photographic paper  and lies within the general domain of experimentation in the visual arts. It requires the use of materials from silver halide-based photography (light-sensitive paper, developer, and fixer), but it is not a photograph.

  Dedicated to #13 ..so, New Year reflections - 13 days of looking back on 13 projects over the last year Day 11 - artist books. I create books using photography, abstraction, altered books, books holding creative exercises, ICM, chemigrams and more on various projects. i also hold occasional (winter) workshops on creating artist books.

  Dedicated to #13 ..so, New Year reflections - 13 days of looking back on 13 projects over the last year Day 10 - IPAD i love using the ipad to create images - inspired by Hockney and Warhol and abstraction.

Dedicated to #13 ..so, New Year reflections - 13 days of looking back on 13 projects over the last year Day 9 - poetry i have over 150 poems published in print and online -Drifting Sands (Aus), the herons nest, the Aurora Review, Eucalypt (Aus) Contemporary Haibun, Cloudspeak, Ripples, Modern English Tanka, LYNX, Modern Haiku, Kokako (NZ), Moonset, Simply Haiku,  SEE ALL MY POETRY HERE - newly created blog with regular updates.