Let's Talk Art Blog

At this year's Noosa Open Studios I think the most commonly asked questions were about incorporating pencil and charcoal into mixed media work. So I thought I'd share a quick summary and a demonstration video about how I set these types of marks so that they stay put and don't keep smudging as the work progresses!

Why am I doing a U-turn? I think I may have an answer...... I began working on a new piece during Noosa Open Studios - really so that I could occupy my mind and my hands whist the studio was quiet. In many ways this is the best way for me to start new work - with plenty of distractions and interruptions - I can't get too focused and fussy in those early stages if I can't maintain my train of thought!

With so many interesting snippets of my recent organic print experiments crowding the bench, I couldn't resist taking a sidestep to make a new sketch that incorporated some of them.

I print with all kinds of interesting found objects, and I do have a few favourites, like egg cartons and cardboard packaging, that I like to use to create prints on my gel plate. But having started on a new painting I found I was looking for some prints with a more organic feel, rather than geometric patterns or structured designs. So I turned to our veggie patch, which is unashamedly sprouting lots of lovely weeds at the moment, including a kind of marsh grass which turned

With visitors coming and going over the past few days, it's no surprise that I've been feeling a change to the energy in my studio space. And this has got me thinking about my connection to my space and my creativity - particularly my apparent need to undertake a creative act on a daily basis!

I thought I'd start this latest sketch with a single colour in the background - to harmonise whatever came next and to see what, if any, difference it made to the overall feel of the colours once it was finished.