Drypoint at Barcaldine

I've travelled up to Barcaldine in Central West Queensland this week to work with artist Joanne Taylor and to run some community workshops.  

My first workshop was Drypoint and Mixed Media.  I had a group of 6 keen local artists and we explored drypoint techniques using thin acrylic sheet and simple drypoint etching tools.  Drypoint is an inexpensive and non toxic method of intaglio printing.

I've now got a week of exploring the local area with Joanne as well as setting up her etching press and of course doing some printing.  I've got another workshop at Blackall next weekend.

Black Wallaby

Brolgas - very elegant large birds

A large flock of Galahs at Sunset

Drypoint scratching in progress

Student work - Drypoint print
on a tetra pack (foil inside of a milk carton)

Student work - pelican drypoint with Chine Colle

My wren drypoint with colour applied using
ala poupee methods

Works on Paper - Collages and Prints at Hanasho

This month my collaborative partner Catherine Money and I have our first exhibition together at Hanasho, a japanese-inspired florist at West End Brisbane.

Opening drinks are this Thursday night at 6.30pm, everyone is welcome.  Below is a copy of the invitation, plus a selection of images of works from the exhibition.

The exhibition continues until the end of July.

'Looking Back' - Collage - Sandra Pearce and Catherine Money

'Songs in the Sand Dunes' - Collage - Catherine Money & Sandra Pearce

'Trust' - Mixed Media Collage - Catherine Money

On holiday and still printing.....

I'm back from a 3-week holiday in British Columbia, Canada (in case you noticed I hadn't blogged recently....).  We hired an RV campervan for 2 weeks, then spent another week in Vancouver.

And of course I took my art kit with me - papers, gelli plate, roller, acrylic paints, watercolours, washi tape, brads, glue, double sided sticky tape and my book making equipment including needles. My project during my trip was to complete my usual travel diary, with a focus on nature.

At the end of each day, I recorded the day's events.  I set up my 'art studio' on the RV dining table for an hour or two each evening - writing, printing, drawing, painting and assembling my book.

Early in my trip, I joined the Whistler Public Library as a temporary non-resident member, so I could borrow some books on local plants and animals.  I find that taking the time to identify local flora and fauna gives me a stronger connection to the place I'm visiting, and provides me with a snapshot of the biodiversity of the area.   And its a great pleasure to know what I'm looking at, and the books provided some additional information about habitat and how that animal or plant fit into the local environment.  It provides a much richer experience.

I sewed up my book using a coptic stitch on the last few days of my holiday, and then when I got home, I printed photographs and inserted them into the blank pages that I had purposely left in between my writings.

I've been doing travel diaries for many years, and its exciting to feel them developing more into visual diaries with a nature focus.

Below are a few photos of my RV art studio and the resulting journal.

RV Art Studio in action

Prints onto a postcard to send home, using
the Gelli Plate and Paper Birch leaves.
Due to Australian quarantine laws I can't bring natural
materials like leaves back with me, so printing them
with my gelli plate gives me a permanent record
for my journal.

During my trip I used my travelling watercolour set to record local flora
for my journal, my library reference books are on the left.
I'm no watercolour expert but I enjoyed myself anyway!

I'm 'hard at work' printing in the RV...note the smile on my face!

I'm relaxing  at our camp at Nairn Falls doing some sketching
of a local plant I collected.
My view from here was a beautiful boulder-strewn river
and snow capped mountains.  Heaven!

The RV we hired, our home on wheels for 2 weeks,
plus we had mountain bicycles to get out into the forest.

My finished journal, a couple of inches thick,
with the coptic binding on the spine.  The covers
are gelli prints of local flora, including my
favourite bracken fern and maple leaves.

A sample from my journal, showing a photograph,
gelli prints on vellum and paper,
then my daily diary writings on the left.

This journal spread features a gelli print on a postcard,
a brochure, and a page with a photograph and sticker (just for a bit
of bling!)

This journal spread features photos and a watercolour painting,
supplemented by photocopies from my library books
giving information on birds and plants I identified during
my trip.

A Collaborative Connection to Nature

This year I've began a creative collaboration with fellow artist Catherine Money.  Catherine and I have known each other for many years, sharing a passion for printmaking and the natural world.  Our collaborative partnership is exploring the notion that everything in nature is interconnected.

Our collaborative activities this year include 2 exhibitions.  Starting with Hanasho Flower & Art in July, we're exhibiting 'Of Banksia and Birds' - a reflection on the connection between flora and fauna, focusing on the banksia species and the birds that inhabit those environments.

In August, we're holding an exhibition and artist in residence event 'Insight + Onsite' at Maroochydore Regional Bushland Botanic Gardens, coinciding with Wildflower Week.  We will both be working on site at the gardens and invite everyone who visits us to participate in a large collaborative artwork.  We'll also be running some printmaking workshops there.

As a lead up to these exhibitions, Catherine and I have been engaging in a postcard swap between ourselves.  As we live over 80 kilometres away from each other, this art activity enables us to have a visual 'conversation' about our collaborative art practice.  Its an opportunity to make small artworks without pressure or expectation and the reverse side of the postcard shares some poetic text or information about our topic.  I'm really enjoying receiving Catherine's artworks in the mail - a little creative surprise in my letterbox amongst the bills and other boring day-to-day stuff. Her drawings and collages are just gorgeous!

The postcards will be on display at our 'Insight + Onsite' exhibition in August.

Below are a few samples of the postcards so far.....

Catherine's Postcard - drawing, collage, printmaking.

Another of Catherine's postcards

The reverse side (my address has been blanked out)

My drawing of a burnt forest of banksia trees -
accompanied by haiku poetry on the reverse side

My zentangle drawing of a banksia cone

Buzzing with drypoint and monoprinting

In my studio I recently created a drypoint plate of a bee, using a piece of smooth plastic and an etching needle.  Drypoint is a form of intaglio printmaking, where the ink is forced into an etched line and then printed.

This is my drypoint plate and my etching tool which
I used to draw the lines into the plastic.

This is one of my first test prints.
 I've hand coloured it with gold ink.

I printed my bee drypoint plate several times (called an 'edition'), reinking between prints. I then used my Gelli-Arts Printing Plate to create a monoprint background, using gold and brown acrylic paint with a stencil and paper circles.  I made a paper silhouette of the bee image which I held over the drypoint print when monoprinting, so it wouldn't get printed over.

My chicken wire stencil, which looks like honeycomb
when printed.  The stencil is made of plastic not wire, so it
doesn't damage the gelli plate.

You can see from the images below that each print becomes a one-of-a-kind artwork even though the drypoint bee image is repeated in each one.

With the monoprint in the background, I was aiming for an impression of a hive. In some prints the paint is a lot brighter and the imagery sharper than in others.  And that's what I love about monoprinting - no two prints are ever the same.

Indigo Blue

Last weekend I had the rare luxury of participating in an Indigo dyeing workshop, held on the Sunshine Coast with textile artist Jenai Hooke.

The indigo dye process is a very natural organic experience, where the dye vats are treated with reverence as living things, and care must be taken not to unbalance the indigo brew.  Its a slow dyeing process from preparation of the vats, washing and mordanting the fabric, manipulating the fabric with stitches, knots and folds, then the dyeing and post-dye treatments - rinsing, washing and setting.

It was a pleasurable process in a peaceful country setting with friends and gorgeous alpacas.  And being the paper-obsessed person that I am, I was able to dye some paper as well.

Happy times!

The Indigo Vat, complete with the indigo 'flower'
which indicates a healthy vat

Jenai and Nicky unravelling Nicky's scarf
after dipping in the vat, oxygenating the fabric so the
dye turns its wonderful blue colour

This is a t-shirt I concertina folded then bound.
This photo shows it after a dip in the indigo vat.

The finished t-shirt, the top of it was dyed without folding.
I love the pattern the bundling created.
Easy for me too as it didn't involve stitching!

A close-up of the bundling pattern, you can
see the string marks.

 

Dyeing some paper

The paper drying, the bubbles from the surface of the vat
created beautiful patterns.  I'll print onto these.

A silk scarf that I indigo dyed over top of
some eco-dyeing that I did.
The circle patterns were made with glass beads
 and chick peas secured with rubber bands.

Everyone admiring our combined indigo handiwork.

 

And the Alpacas - the little brown one was born
whilst we did the workshop.  Too cute!

Banksias and Birds

My art friend Catherine Money and I are embarking on a collaborative partnership that intends to open us up to the notion that everything in nature is interconnected.  Catherine gave me a wonderful quote that will form part of our work ethic:

'Nature speaks softly...you have to listen quietly'  M. Millen

As part of this project we are holding an exhibition of works at Hanasho Florist in West End in July, then for a week in August we are setting up an Artist-in-Residence and Exhibition at Maroochy Bushland Botanic Gardens.

For the Hanasho exhibition, I'm currently working on a series of monoprints focusing on birds and the banksias they feed on.  I've been exploring a technique where my first print in a series is a 'set-up' print.  This means that I'm using the ink on the plate to ink up my objects rather than exclusively manually ink them myself.  The first print is printed onto cartridge and is not a resolved print in any way.  It could form the basis of a collage though, as my mantra is 'Nothing is ever wasted!'.

This is the first print, the 'set up'.
Layering the objects assists in developing
interesting textures and marks on other objects.
White space is normally avoided but
I don't have to worry in this process.

One of the resulting prints.  It features
Coastal Banksia leaves and imagery of
New Holland Honeyeaters in mid flight.

Prints using WA banksia leaves and
imagery of the Little Wattlebird

I've also been having fun with circles and some
thready fibre stuff I bought at the junk shop.
You never know where you can find cool
stuff to print with.

Blue and brown - my favourite colours!
The word 'camouflage' comes to mind
with this print.

Monoprinting Workshops

Magical Monoprinting

Date:  Saturday 21 March 2015

Time: 10am - 4pm

Cost: $90 (includes all materials)

Location:  BVAC Hub, Wellers Road, Tarragindi

Enquiries & Bookings: sandy_p09@hotmail.com or Sandra 0419 028 133

4 places left! 

Explore the printmaking technique of monoprinting using plants, stencils and other found materials to create one-of-a-kind and often unexpected images.   We'll be using artist quality etching inks and my etching press to work our creative magic. This workshop is designed for beginners, 'non-artists', or those new to this type of monoprinting.  No previous printmaking experience required.

i love ginkgo! monoprint

Studio Time - Monoprinting

Date:  Sunday 22 March 2015

Time: 10am - 4pm

Cost: $40

Location:  BVAC Hub, Wellers Road, Tarragindi

Enquiries & Bookings: sandy_p09@hotmail.com or Sandra 0419 028 133

1 place left!  Maximum of 6.

This day is designed for those who have already participated in a monoprinting workshop with me and who would like some studio time with an etching press to work on their own monoprinting projects.

This is not a workshop but some guidance will be available after a short introduction. Numbers are limited to 6 to ensure everyone gets quality printing time. You'll be able to work independently but still have group interaction and shared enthusiasm.

The cost for the day is $40 - this covers my hall hire costs, use of my inks, plates, basic papers, and other consumables.  You need to BYO your apron, lunch, any printmaking papers you want to use and any objects (leaves, stencils etc) you want to print with.  

I'll have available Fabriano printmaking paper (slight marks/foxing around the edges) for $5 per large sheet.  Great value for monoprinting/collage etc experiments.

The simple beauty of a leaf and some fibre in a monoprint

ginkgo again, I'll have to find another tree to
top up my stash!