Feather : Leaf : Print

Since the Christmas break, I've been busy preparing for my next exhibition, titled 'Feather : Leaf : Print'.  Its being held at Tiny Tree Cafe at Coorparoo which has a beautiful little gallery space at the back.  White walls, so perfect for displaying my work.  I love these small suburban places where art is more approachable and relaxed.

However, every exhibition creates a mountain of work for an artist.  Not only the creation of the artwork itself, but also documentation, framing, labels, bio, artist statement, promotion, delivery, installation, opening night etc etc.  And with the installation deadline looming, I must admit I've been spending more time on the fun stuff (making the artwork) in the past few weeks.   I know that I've already have a lot of artwork ready to go, but I love the excitement of creating new works and exploring new ideas.

So yes, I've been creatively busy (I can't help myself).  Over the break, I dug out my indigo dyeing kit that I bought after doing a workshop FIVE years ago and have got it going (finally).  My little black bucket is now a blue-heavenly witches indigo brew which I don't have to share with anyone and I can just step outside my studio and start dipping my papers.   Now I know that it's very naughty that it took me five years to do it, but I'm so loving doing it that I'm contemplating buying ANOTHER kit, but I know that it will probably take another few years to use that one, so I'll stay strong and resist that urge and just enjoy this one while it lasts.

I've also been playing around with cyanotypes, including wet cyanotypes, which of course seems to have brought on the rainy weather. My garden is thanking me, though the chickens aren't so keen on being damp.

Anyway.... having an indigo dye bath, cyanotypes and my printer 'Thumper' on the go, its been a golden opportunity to mix the three up a little.  An example is a wet cyanotype that didn't quite go to plan, so I dipped it into the indigo a few times, dripped water on it (which then obscured the feather cyanotype) so then I needed to monoprint the feathers on.  Fun, scary fun.    Now just waiting for the sun to come out to play more with the cyanotypes and to warm up the indigo bath and off we go again......

My exhibition at Tiny Tree Cafe (420 Cavendish Rd Coorparoo) opens on Tuesday 28 January at 5.30pm, please join me if you're in the area.  The exhibition continues until 22 February.  I hear they have some wickedly amazing European handmade cakes............!   The bonus is that two other artists are also exhibiting work, including Robert Astill with his eco-dyeing.  Sounds like it'll be worth the big slice of cake to see it all......

Indigo Dye Pot = Black Bucket

Indigo dyeing on paper,
dipping mindfulness exercise!

Close up ... with some water splashes
to make it interesting

This is a failed cyanotype of feathers,
which I have dipped in the indigo...
lovely effects.  I think I also
left it out in the rain overnight accidentally!

A detail of the failed cyanotype, with
feathers monoprinted on top.
I've called this one 'Fresco'
because it reminds me of a wall mural.

Ode to the Desert Oak

I'm in love with a tree.

Its the Desert Oak, from Central Australia.  Its latin name is Allocasuarina decaisneana and its a slow growing tree with the typical branchlets of the casuarina family.

Young trees have a narrow trunk and form, looking somewhat like old-fashioned feather dusters.  They mature to an adult form with spreading limbs and bushy foliage.

They tend to grow in multiples in the one area which creates a surreal looking landscape of the variously shaped trees in different growth stages.

During my recent trip to Curtin Springs Cattle Station, I decided to produce a work based on these trees.  When I visited in 2018, I did sketches of the trees, their branchlets and their cones.  This time I wanted to extend myself a bit more, and decided to use cyanotypes to record the trees.

Using my unit's bathroom, I created a darkroom to pre-coat my papers with the cyanotype solution, then exposed them the next day with various samples I had collected.   The sunlight was very strong, so I couldn't use my standard exposure times, but chose instead to work fairly organically and probably did overexpose the prints.  I love the serendipity of it anyway.

I've assembled the cyanotype prints into a concertina book, using a piece of my handmade paper I created from the station's grasses.  The cover features a sample of paper made from the Desert Oak.

We have casuarinas here on the coast, known as She-Oaks, but the Desert Oaks have really captured my imagination, so I've enjoyed creating this book to record my memories of them.

Recording Desert Oaks in my sketchbook in 2018.

Young Desert Oaks -
they look like feather dusters I think!

Mature Desert Oaks, surrounded by a few young ones.
I can still hear the wind whispering through the branchlets.

The front cover of my book, featuring
Desert Oak paper and cyanotype of the branchlets.

You can see the texture of the paper in this photo...yum!

Close up of some of the pages. I applied the cyanotype
solution roughly on purpose, leaving the white of the
paper showing through in places. 
To me, this evidence of brushstrokes replicates the breeze
was flowing through the oak's branchlets.

This photo shows the spine of handmade paper.
The earthy colour of paper sits well with the indigo of the cyanotypes.

Photo from the top downwards - you can see that I've glued
the cyanotype papers to the handmade paper spine.
A simple concertina construction that lets the cyanotypes and
handmade paper take centre stage.

Experimenting with Cyanotypes

Together with my printmaking friends at Migaloo Press Collective, we've been playing with cyanotypes.

Cyanotypes are created using a photographic printing process where two chemicals painted onto paper (or fabric etc) and allowed to dry in a dark room.  Objects are then arranged on the paper, and it is exposed to the sun to develop.  The exposed paper around the objects develops a cyan-blue colour, leaving silhouettes and shapes of your objects.

Great fun!

Migaloo Press did a play-day, lead by Jen who has experience in cyanotypes.  I had done some years ago but was keen to update my skills and to use cyanotype chemicals I had stored in my art room (on the 'must do' list).

I've captured some of my experiments in the photos below, but I plan to do some more exploring and developing alternative colours using tea and vinegar.  I think this is my Christmas holidays project!

Exposing the paper, with leaves and stones.
Its behind glass to ensure good contact and so that
the leaves don't blow away.

The resulting print from the exposure in the previous photo.
It was a cloudy day so this is a pale print even after 20minutes exposure time.

Another exposure, with a bee image (cut from paper), sedge,
string, talc, and a hexagon stencil.
I'm not a minimalist as you can see!
This exposure only took 5 minutes as it was
 a bright sunny day.

Cyanotype print using Shepherds' Purse weed, talc, and a paper stencil.

The same cyanotype print with a lithograph printed
on top afterwards.