Studio Work ABOUT my art & others

Places are starting to fill for this upcoming workshop  in Turners Beach Tasmania - thank you - all consumables and materials are provided such as bookboard, drawing papers (200gsm), matboard & foam core (recycled) for lightweight covers, glue, thread, etc  and i have been having fun creating handmade papers for use in covers and/or wraparounds for signatures or collage to embellish your books with. DETAILS of the workshop HERE . message me if you have any questions

  W O R K S H O P   1  Sunday 14 September 10-4pm small groups preferred  held in the artist's studio, Turners Beach Tasmania  In the workshop you create two books - an A4 size accordion sketchbook with pockets & hard covers - bonus paper weaving embellishment PLUS  a scrap landscape sketchbook with lightweight hard covers BOOKBOARD ACCORDION FOLD SKETCHBOOK   This A4 sketchbook containing 62 pages is created using bookboard for the pages in accordion/concertina format that creates valleys to take 6 signatures and    we create 3 pockets as part of the structure, PLUS, from the scrap cuttings you create a paper weaving element on the cover.       video of the book here      second book - SCRAP LANDSCAPE SKETCHBOOK This highly practical size sketchbook is created from the cut off's from creating book one (above).    This book contains 22 pages in a long landscape format and is covered using ...

 its been a winter of making books books books - a few are works in progress and some are working through workshop ideas .... workshop coming up soon

I ordered book board - archival acid free - but got the thickness wrong (no surprise there).  It was so thin i could not use it for book covers at all ... so i went into my default 'what if' ... and a book idea percolated to the surface of my brain.   here it is in progress. working on another 'what if' book idea - for a workshop - going to finish the idea first and then send out information on a workshop to make the book (contact me if you are interested in getting update email regarding the workshop and details)

  Asemic work represents the need to be immersed in the intuitive awareness of things. I have been making asemic works long before it became 'fashionable'. I started out in the 90's as a calligrapher studying by snail mail for 2 years via the Digby Stuart College in London.  I soon realised, having mastered the various styles (italic, Roman, Celtic, Copperplate, etc) that the freeform mark making excited me most.  I was inspired by Mark Tobey, Cy Twombly, Jasper Johns and Willem de Koonig. There is a meditational element to asemic, working with silence and illegibility to express what cannot be described.  Mark making, abstraction, non objective taking one to the depths of being, of consciousness beyond the literal. I began writing about my forays into asemic here . and a little asemic book is talked through on our you tube channel .

 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 have a set of mum's tarot cards which i dont use but i like the creativity of the imagery and what they may mean. It's not a full set and they are newer than the ones i remember from my childhood which i think came from my Granny in Hungary. I wish i had those ! This set mum gave to me many many years ago - i think she thought I might play with the gift of reading but my left brain always took over. In recent times during de-stashing whirlwinds I found them and this week decided to do something with them. I created a A book of tarot cards that turned out nicely. I have the images below of a few steps in the making. and this link will take you to our you tube channel showing this book in its final form with the box. Do let me know what you think. Materials : tarot cards  a long sheet of heavy weight paper/card - i used 26 inches long and the height is exactly the same as the height of a tarot card bookbinders glue, bone folder book board  fancy papers to cover boards ma...

Early Summer i went on a #getaway to Boat Harbour - spent 3 days there soaking up the sun, isolation and beach.  A nice visit from V and lunch at the restaurant was a highlight.  I treat all my #getaways as a 'residency' and go on long walks, photography and do drawings, writing and reading. the drawings en plein air shown in the earlier blog post led to these two little books. fine art photography of my time at Boat Harbour can be found  here a short video of a beach walk at Boat Harbour #Tasmania