In my last post I said I’d given away all my gelli prints. During the week I bought some Golden Open acrylics – they’re expensive here in New Zealand but great for gelli printing. I choose a few favourite colours; black, titan buff, red, titan pale green (celadon), dark violet and anthraquinone blue.
I got out my Elizabeth St Hilaire stencils, plus a few old favs from StencilGirl, and got to work. I wanted some graphic prints, and stronger lines. I made about 50 prints, using a mix of Hahnemuhle Sumi e and Sketch rice paper.
I love the Gelli plate as an artist’s tool. Mine are all Gelli Arts brand, but I don’t think there’s a lot of difference between the brands other than the plate sizes. I use the gelli plate to make papers for collage and, when the stars align, I make finished artworks.
I use Hahnemuhle Sumi e rice paper, Yasutomo rice sketch paper, deli paper, Dina Wakley Media collage paper, tissue and cheap copier paper. I use a brayer, mostly Liquitex or Golden paints, and some of the time I use stencils – I particularly love the Elizabeth St Hilaire collection from Joggles.com
Recently I gave away my stash of gelli prints to fellow artists in a wonderful FB group run by talented New Zealand artist Froyle Davies. Why? It’s fun to send envelopes off to other artists, and it’s good to refresh your collage materials sometimes.
Yesterday I grabbed a gelli plate, paints and stencils and got to work – 110 gelli prints later I have a new pile of prints with a different feel – I’m excited to start using them.
When I was at The Learning Connexion I did a lot of drawing, and I blogged about it recently. Not “here’s a realistic face” drawing, more mark marking and activating the page. I haven’t gone full circle, but I’m certainly doing a lot more drawing.
Tonight I took two books off my bookcase; Contemporary drawing by Margaret Davidson, and Expressive drawing by Steven Aimone. It’s years since I read them.
I’m not looking for technical information, and I’m comfortable using my supplies. I want to look at the different ways people draw and make marks, and think about what I like and why.
Lately my art has taken a distinct change in direction. I worked my way very quickly through two art journals, using water soluble pencil, paint and collage. At one point I even said to my good friend, and fellow artist, PenKirk https://www.facebook.com/halfpennynz that I needed to “step away from the journal”! I didn’t of course, I just kept creating.
About three quarters of the way through the first journal I realised the shape I was trying to create, over and over, was the island at Waverley Beach. It’s very different today; time, tide and climate change have destroyed most of it.
Dad used to fish off the far side of the island. My friends and I would climb up the side and dive into the waves. Then, dripping wet, we’d clamber back up the papa rock and do it all over again. Looking back, I realise we could easily have been hurt because papa rock gets very slippery when it’s wet. We didn’t get hurt, but we did have a lot of fun.
I’ve been doing a lot more mark making, using water soluble media. There’s a shape that keeps appearing and I’m not sure what it is yet. I seem to be using a lot of blue, deep green and white. I’m starting to wonder if the lines are masts. If it turns out they are masts, I’ve no idea where the imagery is coming from.
At The Learning Connexion I did a lot of mark making, particularly in my 4th year, and still do in my art journals, but over recent years haven’t done as much in art pieces. I’m not sure what’s made the difference, perhaps some of the artists I’ve watched on YouTube including Jackie Schomburg https://www.youtube.com/@jackieschomburgart/about, but I’ve gone full circle and am doing a lot of mark making and drawing.
Where’s all this leading? Goodness knows, but I’m enjoying the process and trust there will be an “aha! So that’s what I’ve been trying to get out of my head “ moment.
This is one of the pieces I did before I got to the final shape of the island at Waverley Beach.This is an example of where I’ve started with water soluble pencil and a wandering line.Playing with mark making. The strong vertical line on the right is the start of the more mast-like lines.This is the very recent piece that has me thinking sea and mast … maybe! If it is, I don’t know where the mast comes from in my memory, but I guarantee it will be a memory.
People say practice makes perfect, but wonderful Australian artist Niamh Baly always says practice makes progress. And she’s right!
I joined the gym about 6 weeks. My hope was to improve my balance and strength – having two total knee replacements and various medical dramas over the years has impacted on both.
When I started I could manage 10 minutes on the CrossFit at Level 1 and use 3kg weights for leg and arm exercises. Today I did 17 minutes on the CrossFit at Level 2, 10 minutes on the Exercycle, 4 sets of 10 on the Leg Press and 3 sets of 10 leg exercises with 6 kg weights. I couldn’t find the 5kg ones and the 6kg were just too heavy for my arm exercises.
By most people’s standards that’s not a lot, but it is good progress for me. I’ve got some goals in mind – one of them being just better general capacity. I’m so grateful for the difference my surgeries have made to my life.
Cath Sheard Art 