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Experimental and technical processes |
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Searching for new ways of expression
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A wide range of experimental and technical processes,
in conjunction with traditional oil painting, have been explored. Some
of these are briefly discussed below.
Alternative supports and found objects are also continually being
utilized – searching for new challenges within a traditional medium and
genre of ‘landscape'. Examples include: Vital Points (2005); Sign,
Symbol, Metaphor (2004); and Spirit in the Material (2002) .
These experiments included the use of natural materials such as bark,
thorns, leaves (materials found within the landscape) and a range of
paper, including paperbark, cardboard, tracing and tissue papers.
Minerals from the earth have also been utilized, copper, zinc, aluminum
and also gold, copper and silver leaf. The exploration of these metals
and their tarnishing and transformative capacity into greens and browns
over time inspired a series of experimental drawings - Drawing with
Silverpoint, Ferric Chloride, bleach and fire. Experiments with various
sulphurs and chemicals have been explored, to attempt to speed up the
decade of tarnishing. ( Frequency Exhibition-2004).I have found drawing
with gold, copper and nickel point to be extremely subtle and delicate,
not being ideal for my purposes at this point in time.
Charcoal sealed and worked into oils offers deep rich blacks and a
brooding nocturnal atmosphere which can be seen in Mars and the Moon and
Medi(c)tate (2005). These blacks reflect no light and seem far more
absorptive of light than that of oils – ivory black or paynes grey for
example. The contrast of the charcoal tones with pure light (titanium
white oils) provides a graphic impact and strength to the paintings.
Covering paintings with papers and wax, burning the surface and
controlling the fire with water to prevent burning though the canvas
adds a rich texture, layers of oils below and scumbling and glazing over
the textures, this is best seen in Old Man's Karma (2005). This work in
particular was carried to the river site, worked on in situ and taken
back to the studio, to and fro continuously. This seems to add another
strange perceptual aspect, where the viewer experiences a shift in
position by moving to the left or right of the usual frontal vantage
point.
This involvement with ‘process', the activity of creating, experimenting
and searching for new ways of expression is what excites me within the
context of landscape. |
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