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This sketch was prompted by a pile of collage paper scraps and some interesting shapes that I'd cut out from my printmaking dump sheets and then overprinted. I thought I’d see how far I could go with just collage pieces to get started this time, before the urge to add paint got the better of me. It was looking a bit garbled to begin with, but at the start I was really just thinking about covering up the white paper.

I spent a wonderful morning with the Oils & Acrylics painting group at Wallace House exploring 'Space' as our Element of Art and 'Focus' as our Principle of Design. We explored positive and negative space and two different ways we can create focal points and areas of emphasis in abstract art, with colour and contrast placement. Check out our album from the morning - I think I may have a few collage converts on my hands!

I had a session playing around with the gelli plate, with no set intentions to create anything other than interesting experimental prints I could use for collage. You might recognise some of these as pieces as I used some of them in my 'Dusty Summer' Sketch. I used wet strength tissue, cartridge paper and copy paper, in no particular order!

As the season is changing, so are things in the studio, with my latest body of work nearing completion. It will soon be time to plant the seeds of some new ideas. It must be all the rain....

My paintings always reach a point where I need to let them sit for a while. I prop them up on the easel or hang them on the wall and distance myself from the making of them and reduce my interaction with them so that in effect I become nothing more than a passerby. It's in these moments that my focus becomes less intense and I can find myself feeling a bit adrift, no longer anchored physically and cognitively by that artwork.

Wow! Amazing creations have emerged during my one day print and collage workshops. Beginners, hobby artists and currently practicing artists working in various fields have embraced this process, with great feedback about how enjoyable this working processes is.