Blog

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!

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

It doesn't get much more fun than this! My recent 'Outside The Box' workshop at Noosa Arts & Crafts was a fantastic weekend jam packed with colour, experimentation and exploration. We painted, did some gelli printing and collaged our way through 2 days of exploring the notion of thinking and working outside the box - literally!

I've been having a bit of a play around with collage papers and shapes, as I had so many interesting bits of material left over from my gelli printing. I also pulled out offcuts of collagraphs and monoprints for this exercise.

Continuing with my colour explorations in paint and with my gel plate! The colour focus for this sketch was the triad of Red-Violet, Blue-green and Yellow-Orange. These are colours I haven't used before as a combination and part way through making the painting I decided to get out the gel plate to create some collage material in suitable colours. So this Blog post includes both processes! My discovery of the day was these organic leaf/flower-like shapes that appeared when

Red, Yellow and Blue are intense primary colours and used altogether in their raw form are fairly overwhelming! But with the addition of plenty of white, more pastel shades are achieved that work beautifully together. The pure colours add a lively pop of colour. This sketch evolved from some leftover drawing pieces from my Portal Series and began with lots of bright colour.