working in transit... the mobile studio

Last night I returned from time out up the coast and put together a post on that at my visual eclectica blog  this morning.

I packed up some ink, watercolours and various journals and found some space to work sitting in cafes as well as at the holiday apartment. Hers a few mages from a cafe setting.

This is cotton rag paper ...a khaki journal i've been using lately... figuring out the best ways to enhance the qualities inherent in both paper and materials.

This concertina book is a really engaging surface to paint on... 

If i tire of a section i rework it or introduce other colours etc

that can mean adding or subtracting in a way that one regrets at times

but in order to give life to something that is par for the course!

In a way there are a lot of ideas stored in one small series of works in this concertina book.

Back to the cloth journal ... simple mono-prints

 and these are  a few images of the other side of the concertina book...

I started this journal at the Kew Mlllennium Seed Bank and have added to it now over several work sessions in the past few months. Ive got 4 more concertina books to use at some point and am looking forward to seeing what is generated by using this format.

mono-printed page in the cloth book

mono-printed pages

 working with textured marks

More work from Journals: 2008

                                          2011
                                         
                 and November 2011

I could post pages of journal images. Much to do... I'd best get moving now.

ideas emerging...

Yesterday I went along to GoMA for the afternoon to see Matisse: Drawing Life. I just found this bloggger's impression of viewing the show.... I never thought of bringing my camera! I was simply keen to see his work!

     

Sometimes I am put off the big block-buster nature of these shows, but on my mind was the thought it would be foolish indeed to miss out seeing an artist whose work I have long considered of major importance to my own thinking on art, quite apart from his international stature!

My enthusiasm to think about this artist revives periodically... always there is a freshness of seeing that astounds me... the other thing I enjoy is the fact of his dilligent long career and continual effort at drawing and painting. Hilary Spurling's thick and extremely well-done Biography is two parts has forever planted many an image in my mind. They gave rise to a great deal of thinking and add greatly to why his story as well as his work has resonance for me. Something about the nature of time especially is all the more vivid for this reading.

The exhibition did not disappoint.... I will likely to return for such a treat it was to cast my eyes over each work and drink in the lines, the nuances of each. His boldness was immense... the readiness to lose control in the effort to make an image that was animated struck me. Frequently drawings were un-beautiful...  and then they were astonishing beautiful like this one below.

Far more so in life. When I later looked at a reproduction after having viewed the work I was stunned at the difference...at my memory of the glow from the paper. Such purity of line and perfection of composition... economy of line.

Henri Matisse | France 1869 — 1954 | Fée au chapeau de clarté. Souvenir du Mallarmé 1933 | Drypoint on Velin Arches paper | Collection: Bibliothèque nationale de France | Réf Duthuit : 234 | © Succession H Matisse/Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney, 2011

The fact that there were numbers of Matisse's books featured made the exhibition all the more intense and rewarding. As I am currently thinking about the next book I will be working on I looked keenly to see what I might learn.

Matisse in the James C Sourris, AM, Collection of Rare Books - via here.

On display in the exhibition ‘Henri Matisse: Drawing Life’ until 4 March 2012, are rare and important books, journals and exhibition catalogues from the James C Sourris, AM, Collection of Rare Books. Held in the Queensland Art Gallery Research Library, these publications dating from 1936 to 1956, offer contextual background and a glimpse into Matisse’s oeuvre of the time.

A highlight of the collection is Verve. In December 1937, Tériade (Efstratios Eleftheriades 1897—1983) established the journal Verve, which he would edit until 1960. A quarterly review of arts, letters and literature, Vervewas noted for its high production values and lavish design, having been ‘conceived as a work of art in its own right.’1 It brought together the art of diverse countries and eras and featured numerous texts by both artists and writers, including Henri Matisse, Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, James Joyce, Marc Chagall, Jean—Paul Sartre, Man Ray, Pierre Bonnard, Pablo Picasso, Henri Cartier—Bresson and Joan Miró.

Matisse designed the cover of the inaugural issue for his friend Tériade: a nude drawn in Indian ink within a composition that is effectively his first paper cut—out, with the journal’s title appearing along the edge in calligraphic script. Matisse also contributed linocuts and lithographic prints for the third and fourth issues, such as a green, red and black variation of La Danse 1909—10, framed with pieces of paper painted with blue, yellow and black gouache.

For the eighth issue (summer 1940), entitled ‘La Symphonie chromatique’ (Symphony of colour), Matisse composed a cover using 26 differently coloured papers, ‘at once realistic and symbolic; it conveys the impression of multicolored precious stones strewn across a black cloth’,2 necessitating 26 passages through the lithographic press — an extraordinary feat for a printed journal. Tériade edited three special issues of Verve on Matisse’s paintings of the 1940s and his final paper cut-outs.

From the Gallery I went on to the State Library where I found refuge in the Asia Pacific Design Library  with its wonderful adjacent reading space.... not shown here.

With the temperature outside 37 degrees I was glad to stay till 8pm closing. I browsed the collection of books and magazines and will get back there soon to read other publications of interest.

I also picked up copies of Art Forum Magazine from 2011, musing over various artist's work ... particularly that of Philip Taaffe whom I posted on at my other blog last night.

Something was triggered seeing the Matisse show that I picked up on afterwards reading about Taaffe. A number of elements... the most obvious was the decorative theme of both, which in both cases has far deeper significance than is sometimes acknowledged. I will need to come back to this as its late and its worthy of more focus.

It is certainly timely to be reconsidering what came up yesterday as I am getting ready to embark on the next phase of painting, having reorganised my studio from top to bottom. A few days to chew over what to push ahead with in the next series of artworks is helpful ... also thinking about the book which is on the agenda for this year. I want to work visually for awhile before getting bogged down in words and ideas.

a fresh start... a new year

Happy New Year everyone!

Ive not had my camera out of its case much in the last month... first it was the catch up on all kinds of tasks after a huge year and OS travel... then it was writing the E-newsletter. After all that it was the need to get stuck into the paints in the studio again.

I have so many photos from the trip Ive not posted...so I might work on that  next. It was fun creating a new header for this blog a few days ago. The image is from the greenhouse at the Millennium Seedbank.

I turned my attention to creating a new header for this blog (below)... not sure how long this one will last here... but the good thing about the casual nature of thus studio archive blog is that it is a place where I am happy to plant around. Its not a website... theres no formality here. I like that I can try things out and write down odd thoughts....much like one does in a journal!

The image below was on the header till recently ... this is where I was mid-year!

And before that was this header... the residency year.... seeds everywhere...and the oval paintings!

This one below reflects 2009.... its actually a painting turned on its side that I did with collaged fabric. I remember enjoying the colours in this one...it was called "coastal reverie" and does capture the moods for me of this region at the coast.

Well.... lets see what 2012 brings ... may your year be filled with enriching journeys of whatever kind you find yourself taking! 

PS:

I wrote about my trip to St Ives in Cornwall in October at this blog... and the lovely Carolyn, the blogger I introduced in that post, wrote a little also about that visit here in her wonderful blog. 

Carolyn Saxby has a thing for colour that many admire... this reflects her way of working. She walks daily if possible in her wonderful hometown of St Ives in Cornwall ... collecting things as she goes... perhaps making a drawing ... definitely takes shots... and later she works at bringing the colours to life!




Thanks Carolyn for sharing your wonderful stories and showing me around. My visit  to St Ives was brief but the memories are long!

getting ready for the new year...

A quick post today before I get into the interior painting I have taken on... see visual eclectica blog for that story! Its the time of the year that, given I am home on holidays, there is a chance to rethink and remake... starting with the new header here. Not sure how long it will be kept... but change as they say... you know the rest!

I have so many ideas, projects and studio/painting plans that I decided could wait whilst I freshened up my home and created some all important order in my domestic scenario. The beauty of that is you find things that will ultimately be used in the work... and you clear your head in a way that allows for more calm and order ... a very good thing!

Ive added these photos from my UK residency at the Millennium Seed bank in West Sussex. I wrote extensively about the UK Research trip in my latest E-Newsletter available from mid December. You'll find an overview and extensive notes on the places I visited with plenty of photos along the way!

E-newsletter header

Home over a month now I am still realising how many photos I took that I haven't yet looked at properly. Around xmas day I worked on journal and postcards I  started over there... but I've not been getting round to taking photos at the moment. Something I must amend as there are a number of things I wish to capture.

This was my desk workspace in my room at the MSB. It was set in the midst of a huge estate and Botanic Garden at Wakehurst Place. You can read all about that in my latest E-Newsletter.

The journal I managed to work on extensively in my stage... here opened at a watercolour drawing of a fossil seed cupule.

Pages from the journal...

painting in my mind!

I've had a huge couple of weeks writing... so the painting is on hold at present!

Tonight ... after yet another long day writing about my UK trip for a report... and also completing the E-newslteer about to go out anyday now.... I started viewing images on my tumblr site Seed Capsules.
I changed the template I use some months ago and now I really do have a site that has images tumbling out of the screen. You can scroll on and on and the view is of two columns with just a narrow band between images. I was sitting at my large desk top screen remembering each image I've reblogged there and marvelling at the density of visual stimulation and intellectual property in the collection of images which rolls out.

Its really quite inspiring to receive this outpouring... OK...its only a smallish screen image, not necessarily good resolution in most... and yet the magic and potency of certain images does seem apparent. Some images have a kind of totemic power to them... they actually convey qualities that touch one. I do find that curious and surprising. Mac computers have that light behind the screen and a lovely clarity...is that all it is....
i don't think so.

Go see if you see what I mean.... visit Seed Capsules here.

WHat i found scrolling through these images was a certain lushness in some... wonderful painterly qualities, others its the compositions or shapes... whatever... what it did do is make me feel really keen to again get immersed in the paint. Haven't had a chance to paint since that short trip to the coast and before that at the Millennium Seed bank. I'm glad Xmas is coming up... i want to make the most of some free time!

I don't like to post anyone else's images here simply because it might create confusion... but these two images stood out tonight and reminded me of qualities I like in a work.

suchasensualdestroyer:


Aboriginal (unknown group, Kimberley, Western Australia), Pendant, pigment/pearl shell, c. mid-20th c.

(via huamao)

Martin Assig
Nur M. 1996
Enkaustik auf Leinwand.
160 x 100 cm.

MORE

This is by the same artist and was at the link above as well:

Martin Assig

Beide Fridas
1999. Enkaustik und Tempera auf Holz. 185 x 136 cm. 

Interesting to take time to appreciate how someone uses their materials and works the surface ... colour...composition. Things to think about here.

well thats my experience tonight of 'painting in my mind'... as I slowly mused my way through all the images I found paintings being prompted from my own free flowing thoughts and associations.

so my task is to try and realise some of the promptings from my imagination....

stay tuned!