black & white

a lonely banana weeping

With so much beautiful colour surrounding us, why do we always return to the simplicity and drama of black and white or white and black? I started this series of drawings a few years ago when a colleague gave me a lovely diary to play with. I found it again while tidying up and resumed my mainly white drawings. 

Must tidy up more often.

bum

coolum

drawing "fings"

I started by preparing the paper in the A5 landscape diary with black gesso using a foam roller and paper mask. This matt black surface is great to draw on with white ink or gouache using a nib or stick or home-made tool. Some of the lines are very fine so you may need to enlarge the images to see them properly.

I took this particular book with me travelling making drawings at night back in the hotel. I continue working at home too but don't usually finish the whole series. I find that allowing some time between makes it easier to explore new ground.

leaf "fings"

rewards

When I travel I like to use the opportunity to start new work that I do in my hotels at night rather than trying to watch foreign television programs. I do this in small books of about 20 pages I make specially to fit in my backpack together with a very basic collection of drawing materials. 

"Re-Wards" is the latest of one of these books which I work back into once I get home.

The subject matter is often my new environment, the airport, the plane, people I meet anything that I find interesting or amusing.

On our last trip to Vietnam, I noticed quite a large group of ladies at the airport in Brisbane who all seemed to know each other and looked alike although not in a normal uniform but clothes that were of a similar type. They all appeared to be well "hoisted".
Later when we picked up more passengers in Sydney, more of these ladies joined the group and I assumed they were maybe going to a conference. My curiousity got the better of me and while in the queue for Customs I started a conversation with one of them.
They were all going to Vietnam as a reward for the excellent sales work they had done for a company and were off for an extended week-end of pampering and shopping at the company's expense. They were as high as kites in a cyclone.

The  company specialised in custom fitted lingerie which the ladies organised  to sell at parties. As the young lady told me, "think of us as ladies selling Tupperware for the Titties". 

Well.... had to start a new book that night.

Naturally, I did stray away from this particular subject but it was how the book started. I'll post a few more interesting drawings for you to ponder.

Who would have thought the process was so simple?

"a still life"

One of my New Year resolutions is to "finish some of my projects before starting new ones". I started this book last year but it was never finished as other priorities overtook me so I've been busy and got it done. I'll put up a few of the little mixed media pages and if they tickle your fancy, you may be tempted to check my Weebly site. 
"a still life" plays with the words and takes a light hearted look at life and death. I have taken abstract symbols from everyday life and juxtaposed them with those referring back to illness or injury - which can lead to a very still life.

In this one off,  I have made the book deliberately ordinary and used low cost and recycled materials (and Kraft paper again) from my studio to fit the idea.

inside/out

book cover

inside /out

you are

everywhere/anywhere

inside/outside

clearly/softly/vaguely

confused

within/without

happy to stay

in/out

something/somewhere

a promise/a wish

to take/make

this

inside/out

Most of my drawings and little illustrated books are pretty abstract but the ones in this book are more figurative with a focus on expressive mark-making. 

"Inside/out" is a series of drawings and a little poem about being locked in. 

"fuzzy head inside"

"Coming out! Ready or not!"

"softly locked inside"

Sometimes the "bars" are not visible.

"angry inside"

"confused inside"

"inside hidden angst"

"wonkey"

Even though these are not pretty pictures, I hope you can enjoy them.

more "smudges" in Thin Red Line

A few more drawings in this tiny book to show how they develop and change in the process. I tend to get a bit carried away and they sometimes lose their directness and become a bit busy. I'm only about half way through and can't help wondering what the last drawings will be like. (I'm trying to use more or less the same materials in each drawing)

I've started to open up the pages with holes and folds but it's a bit hard to see so I'll take some photos instead of scanning to show the spaces better.

The three-dimensional changes as the pages open offer a new and exciting visual experience.

smudges in a new book - "thin red line"

Recently, a very good friend gave me a beautiful tiny book with thin paper and a red elastic tie that keeps it closed. It was blank. She has an identical book and will also work in it when she gets a chance. When we are finished we will share the results.
At the moment, I try to draw in this book every day till I hit a snag. The other day I took a few very simple little directions that completely changed my drawings in an exciting way and thought I'd share them with you while they're still hot on the page.....

We all have different strategies we use while we procrastinate with a difficult problem. I find it useful to give my mind time to think about different possible solutions but don't like doing "nothing" in the mean time. 

So one of my strategies is to draw in many little books at the same time and keep drawing till I encounter another problem and stop. I have these books all going together and don't finish any all in one attempt. I keep returning to each book and often find the problems solved in one book unlock some in another and I can keep going forward. (I often don't "finish" some books and find them years later and continue working in them, but not always) 

Exploring the properties of various media and trying new ones, also helps me find new areas to investigate. In these drawings I was interested in having some transparent/translucent areas and was using stand oil(any oil would do but some take a long time to dry or are smelly, which could be good?) to create this. 

This works well in the collage area with text on both sides as the text from both sides is visible at the one time. To enable me to draw on the oily paper, I used china graph pencils. Being waxy, they are easy to smudge and I started to do this deliberately with a paper stub as another way of mark making.

Instead of oil, I have just started to use Shellac which also make the paper a little transparent but id darker and easier to draw into. All of these materials have been used in these little drawings for different visual marks. I hope you find them interesting and will  explore them yourselves in your drawings.

Who would think that a scrap of paper torn from the page of an old book of poetry found in a garage in Tasmania, could be the starting point of a series of drawings that break new ground for an artist.

a pencil in every knapsack

cover

I have just completed another little book of travel drawings and  hope you  enjoy some of the new media (linseed oil, chinagraph pencil and other mixed media) and abstract compositions.

"whispers"

For quite a while I have been drawing or making some work almost every day, trying hard to be more of a maker or contributor than consumer. It has become so much of a lifestyle habit that this also applies when I go on holidays somewhere. These works are always coloured by the places we visit and I usually make a little book to accomodate them as well as a diary. It makes them easier to manage in the limited space that travelling usually demands. Here are a few from a recent most enjoyable trip to Adelaide and environs. The soft wine soaked "whisper" bubbles were the result.

"cut"

cover

I have been working on a little book "cut" for a "Personal Histories" exhibition at the Redland Art Gallery for some time since early last year. I was interested in using a rather awful experience (surgery for melanomas) and  transform it into something more positive and perhaps even beautiful. 

The pages were all waxed and scratched with pigment added to give the very tactile feeling of raw skin and open wounds. The cut semi-translucent paper allows you to see through several layers at once to give the impression of change and healing.
This was my second attempt, an earlier attempt was even more gorey and powerful but made a much appreciated gift to a good friend. 
I have included this book "cut" to show how an idea can change and develop by making several versions each with different emphasis.
However, I still found the result a little too strong and organic so I explored an even softer, more delicate option for my next book "blindspots" which I think worked better in the end.  

This third and final book, "blindspots", will be the one that has made the "Personal Histories" exhibition which opens in a few weeks time so I'll post it later for those of you that can't make it to the exhibition.