Under the microscope - recent work

In the past 2 weeks considerable time has been spent in the Seed lab at Mt Coot-tha and studio at home. Click to enlarge any image below for a better viewing. The first image is illusive - it is the same seed I have drawn in the quick journal sketch on the right - image 4. Scleria Ciliaris is roughly a third the size of a peppercorn. An experiment with camera pointing down the microscope led to this 1st shot. I was seeing something quite a bit larger than this though, with the shiny white appearance and texture of a golf ball - with stem attached. Quite a challenge for the uninitiated to draw whilst staring down a telescope. What a treat however to see what the naked eye doesn't. Ever since I have been keen to view all kinds of seeds this way...even if not so keen to photograph them in this haphazard way!

Working on the verandah at home on large work for upcoming exhibition next month. In the process of building layers of acrylic and archival inks. excellent afternoon light makes for pleasant working now the summer has passed. Winter is the best time of year for this space... being such a moderate climate.

Still in progress, layers are gradually added and worked over, scraped back till the composition and rhythm of the work gels.

The motif is actually the cross-section of a fruit with seeds shown in 3 variations - this motif has been worked with repeatedly in the ovoid painting below in acrylic paint and archival inks.

Its been a highly productive couple of weeks going between the Botanic Garden Seed Lab, Garden Library, dialogues on seeds, collecting and conservation work, additional related research and concentrated studio time.

In the studio this March

Working on the Homage to the Seed journal since February has kept track of a busy time of orientation in the Gardens. Beside all the fantastic discoveries taking place on the grounds of the extensive Botanic Gardens the studio has been a hive of activity and a wonderful coagulation of ideas has been taking place - ideas spanning 2 or more decades of work. I am now in search of the book (packed away downstairs) that set me long ago on a very compelling track that has been resurfacing of late as a result of looking at the seeds, pods and capsules up close and from all angles. I will expand on this from time to time... where possible.

Below: all images can be clicked on to enlarge. This first image, from the journal,  reveals a section of the quandong seed - a very textural, wooden like seed. On the right is the Cunjevoi - Alocasia Brisbanesis - also known as Spoon Lily, at its most striking open stage revealing fruit.

This image above and below is the same work - the first from last year, the second image last week developed as a result of featuring the wonderful form of this string of pearls like bean.

work in progress - assembled together for a sense of how its working - what to focus on and so on. None of the works shown in this post are completed - rather they are likely to evolve quite a bit in some cases. 

Below: 2 square canvases where seeds forms have been layered on over the other - building both texture and surface variation -intimating the infinite life of the seed.

Exploring the cross sections of capsules and pods in this abstracted form links to past work where I was researching symbols form the ancient world that may well have started life from something as simple as a seed capsule. The timeless quality inherent in such forms means a work from the archaic period of ancient greece may look as contemporary as a current image adapted into a symbolic from. This interests me intensely as it is mocks the falsehood of perceiving ancient things as gone, over, of no meaning anymore. I'm reminded of thoughts by Carl Jung on this very subject - scrawled in a journal somewhere. If I find it I will add it here. This image below is not yet finished...I'm liking that it challenges my own preconceptions of imagery that works. Its good to be uncomfortable in this way I find.

The section of a canvas that didn't photograph properly refers to the new direction intimating 

the infinite that seeds so aptly symbolise.

Homage to the Seed: Artist-in-Residence

Recent work from the studio is focused on the residency project for 2010 at Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha. 

First up is a tray of seeds and pods collected of late. My studio and back verandah is rather crowded with collections like these. Lying across the Paul Klee book is the most unusual tip of the fruiting section of an umbrella tree (must check that!) Loved the colour of the orange stalk and the random  placed green seeds (pods).  I've been exploring both plant anatomy and morphology and the black pen drawings in the journal are fruits containing seeds with the structure depicted for various species. I really liked the form of the seed structure in w, x and y and have been employing it for its symbolic capacity in the paintings below. Click on Homage to the Seed to go to that blog to read more on the residency project.

micro-macro - fluidity: 2004-2007

                                         

                                                  

This series of works evolved slowly - first starting with less layered compositions in 4 distinct colours - white, aqua, maroon and black. The forms, compositions and colours arrived quite mysteriously and it was actually unsettling to not have a sense of having consciously created the works... particularly the first 5 paintings. Unannounced visitors that puzzled me and took a long time to convince me they belonged. I actually hid them at one stage and only much later - 18 months or longer - did I decide to pull them out and rethink them. It came to me to add the greens to bridge the starkness of the original 4 colours... in the meantime I had been exploring underwater colour and movement whilst swimming and I started to see this underwater realm differently. Also images from New science were turning up everywhere and the idea of particles and the micro-universe was engaging my attention. Eventually the works ended up in the Post-grad exhibition in 2007 at Newcastle University titled 'Fluidity'. Even though by this time I was approaching fluidity in new ways the concept was utterly engaging for most of the 2000's and it lent itself to numerous interpretations. 

These 2 works received awards in in the 2006 Maitland Art Prize in their various sections. The work above 'Untitled' won the Work on Paper Section, the work below 'Sensitive Chaos' ( 1metre sq) was the work singled out for  Highly Commended in the Open $10,000 prize and a small work which was sold was highly commended in the miniature section.  The annual prize was judged by Professor Anne Graham, head of Fine Arts at Newcastle University NSW where I undertook Post -grad studies the following year with her as supervisor. The work 'Untitled' is in the collection of the Mailtand Art Gallery.

Sensitive Chaos - NB: unfortunately the colour not at all accurate in this image.

fluidity - 2007

Work from 2007

These works were all part of the exhibition 'Fluidity' held at Wattspace, the University of Newcastle Student gallery where I was doing Post grad work that year. After a considerable phase over a few years painting geometrically inspired works I was approaching the same fascination with layering and multiplicity in an entirely different way. Quite simply eye problems exacerbated by long hours in the studio working on layer upon layer of fine lines to build up a rich illusion of depth on canvas forced me to consider another way of approaching the work.

Below are a series of small works on paper using acrylic paint applied directly from the tube or from a syringe at great speed. This was not easy to control so the works featured lines that were slightly wonky - something that after the previous intensely exacting line work came as a welcome relief.

Click to enlarge and view.

This work was the most minimal of all that was done during this period of months. the raised line of paint from the syringe gave the work its character - even though it is difficult to view here. the following post elaborates on this a little more.