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]
ever increasing circles
Some recent printmaking experiments - intaglio prints made from some worn and discarded sandpaper discs that I have been collecting for a while.
[prints, proofs and other experiments on the wall]Rather than retaining their perfectly circular shapes, I have instead been tearing and distressing the paper edges, as I print and reprint the proofs.
[eroded sandpaper used as a printing plate]I also wanted to pursue the idea of the imperfect or broken circle, or with parts missing or two halves that don't quite match - cracks , fissures, fused joints.
[detail of embossed surface textures]Most of these first experiments are printed on white drawing paper, some are on Hahnemuhle, some on Khadi. I also tried some viscosity printing - a process that enables you to print two, three or even four colours in one go. it requires more prep work but the results are immensely textured and tactile - and even the crumpled paper discards have some visual appeal. Most of these initial experiments will be heading for the collage drawer...but I have some heavyweight paper set aside for the next stage of printing...
[crumpled inked paper]Thinking back to the earlier intaglio collagraphs on paper (on canvas), yet again I didn't want to end up with a flat print, so I erased the evidence of the plate mark or edge by trimming some of the proofs, giving the print some potential as a sculptural form rather than a material mark on paper.
[more embossing textures]During this time, I have been pondering on (or should that be inspired by?) the earth's shifting tectonic plates and the so-called 'ring of fire' (according to scientists, Concepcion city has moved ten feet to the west since Chile's earthquake), to the micro-ecologies of lichens, my collections of striated beach pebbles and hag stones, the geometric pattern on a dinner plate, even an abandoned bird's nest that fits in the palm of my hand, and the strange fruit encountered in the hedgerow...
[lichens, found on churchyard gravestones in Suffolk]
[collection of striated beach pebbles]
[pebbles with holes; hag stones]
[Barbara Brown dinner plate]
[a tiny bird's nest]
[strange fruit in hedgerow]While printing some of these collagraphs (if printing from sandpaper comes under that category) I heard on Poetry Please (on Radio 4) the poem, Try to praise the mutilated world by Adam Zagajewski ... (but I am sure some of its depth is lost in translation)......Lastly, I have been accepted as a new member of Artworks. Established in 2000, Artworks is a dynamic group of thirty contemporary East Anglian professional artists working in a range of styles and media, some with national and international reputations. So, I am looking forward to the new connections and opportunities that being a member of Artworks will bring into my creative life.
lichen drawings
Over the last couple of weeks I have been doing some small lichen drawings (or illustrations perhaps), 15cm x 15cm, all ink pen on paper, on pages in a sketchbook... adapted (and distorted) from some cropped and enlarged photographs... lichenscapes...
A style of drawing inspired in part by the histology illustrations in biology textbooks, which I find fascinating...
Here are some of my lichen photographs, taken on a crisp and clear morning a couple of weekends back, visiting three churchyards in the search for interesting lichens [a new species of lichen was apparently discovered at one of them]...
...I read online (although I've since lost the link to it) that churchyard lichens are sometimes as old as the gravestones on which they silently inhabit... could there ever be a more unintentionally beautiful way of signifying a life after death...?