the return of the relics

[looking in, from the outside]...[stacked fragments]...[wall fragments]...[intaglio print]...[intaglio print]...[blind embossing on paper]...[intaglio collagraph prints]...from the imperfect/circle project: liminal, on the brink, success, failure, beautiful, ugly, perfect, flawed, incomplete, whole, insignificant, valued, sacred, discarded, lost, saved, broken, mended. strange relics......

prints and drawings

one of the lichenscapes etchings, proofed in colour...[etchings, proofs on various papers]...another road trip; subsequently did some while looking out of the window sketches to while away the seated hours, in what could possibly be the smallest functioning sketchbook, at only 10cm square...[miniature sketchbook, with tesco pen][miniature sketchbook pages][field and sky drawing one][field and sky drawing two][field and sky drawing three][field and sky drawing four]I am hoping that drawing directly from the landscape, sat within it or just passing through it (as here, partly from observation and partly memory) will in time inspire a new direction in my work... I like the sombre mood of dark clouds against a rolling landscape...

etchings in progress

Here are the first working proofs from some small etchings that I have been pursuing since the lichen drawings... looking a little like lichen, or perhaps any micro-organisms, in colonies of moss, mould, algae...Even after all the photographs of lichens (I must have taken two hundred or more) and then the pen drawings, I begun these etchings with no visual references in front of me (and no plan to illustrate a species), prefering to see what initial textures and tones I could create, working from memory... I like the discipline of a slow, considered, meticulous process - etching seems the perfect medium in which to combine delicate line with texture... here are two of the initial trial proofs... printed in a warm black... I need to rework them in more detail later in the week and experiment with colour......It's curious to think that many years ago I used to pore over books such as this one on earth as seen from space (published in 1981), as a source of inspiration... these satellite images of the Himalyas were taken in March 1977 and December 1978 by Landsat spacecraft...and am inspired by these old textbooks too...[pages showing section of the ileum or small intestine][page on lichens, showing a cross section]The only issue with printmaking is the evidential traces of concentrated work - that is, printmakers hands...[self portrait with hands]