reworked figure studies

I've started reworking some of my figure drawings and creating new works with some of the great papers I've collected over the years. After doing so much printmaking in the past year, it's really great to do something totally different. Initially I've taken ripped up parts of figure drawings - mostly quick sketches, and used them as the basis for a new image. I've been kind of making it up as I go along, and trying not to over think things.

As they are all charcoal images, I've been slightly touching them up where they are really smudgy, and then applying white acrylic to accentuate light areas, and pasting handmade paper to create shadow and depth.

I still have to master the amount of paste I use - some of the finished images are really wrinkly and I haven't figured out how to lessen that. I tried putting one in the press - it worked for a while then went back to it's bendy self. I also wonder how to 'finish' them - should I mount on card, or more paper or leave as is...

But what I'm really enjoying is the cutting! Give me an x-acto knife, some paper and I'm happy! Lots of ideas bubbling away...

meditation in glass

I have neglected my blog for far too long...and now I'm going to make admends, lots of thoughts and ideas but the best thing is to dive in with a new post. Just write. Perhaps it's a bit early but I'm already reflecting on this year. One of the key things for me is getting myself organised, especially where my artwork is concerned. Buying a plan chest, though not cheap, has really been a key to getting me a lot more organised. It's been a great investment. I can keep all my artwork and paper safe - safe from cats, away from dust but most importantly it's in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. What this all means is that I just don't see my work much - it's all my work is carefully wrapped in acid free paper and carefully stored in drawers. That is fine by me, although eventually I'd like my work to find a 'proper' home somewhere.
I visited a friend's home a few months ago and was almost shocked to see one of my prints up on her wall. I guess I was taken aback as I'd forgotten she had this piece of work, but mostly it was just how different it looked in its new surroundings. It fitted in so well in her home, the subject matter and colours blended in really well - to be honest it was a real joy to see it there. And really when it comes down to it, art doesn't really belong in a drawer, does it?
Not all my work is paper based. A few years ago I did alot of stained glass, and it's something I am sure I'll return to. I made the 'meditating man' in the photo a few years ago and now it lives in my friend's glass studio in India. I am especially happy that it lives in another artist's studio! I took some classes with Anjali when she lived in Singapore and she's a real inspiration - totally committed arist who makes wonderful original glass work.
Here's a link to her website: http://www.anjalidesign.com/

Presentation at the National Geographic store

Seems every day it rains torrentially in the late afternoon at the moment - the sky goes a deep grey, then all hell breaks loose. It's all very dramatic but it means it's almost impossible to get a taxi, especially at rush hour. We don't have a car at the moment and I would have got drenched even getting to any public transport from where I live. Anyway, last Friday I eventually got down to the National Geographic Store in Vivocity where the editor of ScubaDiver Australasia, Diego Garcia, was presenting the winning photographs and videos of the ADEX Voice of the Ocean competition. I only managed to catch him discussing the videos, but even so it was really interesting to hear his critiques.

All the winning photographs and artwork were on display in the store aswell and I'll go down later in the week to take a closer look. I really liked how they displayed my prints in a glass case - looks very classy!

And here's me (on the right) being presented with a certificate and bag of goodies from Laura, the Event and Marketing Manager for ADEX and Asian Geographic magazines. A great end to the week!

ADEX Ocean Artist of the Year!

I am really thrilled – last weekend I won first prize for one of the prints I entered in the ADEX Ocean Artist of the Year Competition! I entered three original prints as a series, all inspired by the mandarin fish (Synchiropus splendidus). The prints combined two relief printmaking techniques which I will talk about later. This is the winning print.


I thought I'd tell you a bit about the background to this and the other two prints. As many divers (especially those diving in Asia) know, mandarin fish are quite shy, hard to spot and challenging to photograph. Although they seem to have a fairly wide distribution (Australia, tropical Indo-Pacific up to Japan), they are not the easiest fish to find. Their habitat is generally in shallow water in coral rubble, and they are quite skittish in their movements. I’ve seen them only a handful of times (all in Indonesia) at dusk when they come out to mate. I had always assumed that this is the only time you can really see them. Not so! There is a colony of mandarin fish who inhabit a rubbly slope in Ambon Bay who seem quite happy to hop in and around the rocks grazing, and are fairly willing photographic subjects.

Along with two friends, my husband and I were in Ambon over Christmas last year and visited this particular dive site two or three times. Marcel took many photographs of the mandarin fish and I used these as reference material. Here's one of Marcel's photos. These fish have the most wonderful faces - bulbous eyes which swivel around, and a little pointy mouth they suck food up with. They use their pelvic fins as a sort of balance when they hop around.


I was interested in the idea that for such a seemingly shy creature, they have such flamboyant colours and markings. Their body is predominately orange, with irregular turquoise blue band markings, their face and lower jaw area is yellow/green with blue stripes. (I have since discovered that the vibrant blue in the mandarin fish are caused by very unusual blue pigment-containing cells called cyanophores.) In contrast to the brightly coloured and bold designs on the body of the fish, the pectoral fins are delicate, and slightly transparent blue/green. They are really exquisite, though a little hard to appreciate the beautiful undulating movement with the naked eye.

I found out that their common name was due to the fact that their appearance was somewhat reminiscent of the robes of Imperial Mandarin court officials. I decided to use the robe motif as a ‘canvas’ to display the colours and patterns inherent in different parts of the mandarin fish. (The Mandarin court officials had different robes depending on the occasion and so I named each print after a different robe). I really wanted to incorporate the delicate pectoral fins in some way and in the end decided to emboss a design of the fins into the paper.

I’m also really pleased that my prints will be shown at the National Geographic store (#01-19 VivoCity, Singapore) along with other winning photographs and videos of the ADEX Voice of the Ocean Competition until the end of the month!

margaret river cow parade

Ah, the brilliance of the cow parade! Give a bunch of artists a blank canvas (or rather a blank cow), and set them free to create. You can find the results (all 85 of them) dotted all around the Margaret river region, in wineries, galleries, lighthouses, outside shops, all sorts of places, even the airport (yes, I know not technically the Margaret river). This is such a joyful project, full of humour, creativity and I love that these cows are all in public places. Bad cow puns abound (there's plenty you can do with 'moo', 'cow', 'herd' and 'milk') and they provided some of the inspiration for the cow designs.

Left to my own devices, I would probably have gone out of my way to see all the cows. Not wanting this as a reason for divorce I contented myself by seeing the occasional cow we stumbled across on the way somewhere, and just one or two we’ve gone out of the way to see.

What I love about this idea is that so many of the cows are so associated with ‘place’. I could write an essay here. But I love that about this regional exhibition, I learnt quite a bit more about the area. Anyway, here are some of the cows I came across.

SW Australia has a rich history of cattle farming and that came out in some of the works such as the one at Redgate Wines by artist Sue Codee who grew up on a cattle farm near Albany. It's called Cow in Transit.

Margaret River is a mecca for surfing and at least three cows paid homage to a surfing. I love this cow by Rod Egerton on top of the Settlers Tavern in Margaret River. It's called Cowabunga - Hang a Hoof!


I particularly liked this cow (Karta Warra Cow) by Matriarchal elder Ms Vivian Webb-Brockman at Moss Brothers Wines.

I admit we did go out of our way to see Jacques Cowsteau (see what I mean about bad puns!). Created by Geographe Marine Engineering, it was outside a cafe at Port Geographe Marina. Quite a lot of the dive gear looked real to me - apart from the oversized mask!

A few cows paid tribute to other artists. Dreams of the Daliesque Bovine was fabulous. Made by Suzanne Horton, it was on the main street in Augusta.

Also in Augusta was the cow below created by the AMR Shire Team. Being slightly obsessed by maps and all things aerial, this one really appealed to me. Called In the Scheme of Things, it shows a bird's eye view of some of the areas around Margaret River.

Last but by no means least, artist friend Graham Stove’s cow ‘Constance’ at Gulyuyp galleries. Love it!

fremantle doctor

I am really having my fill of perfect days this month (oh and last month too). I started writing this a few days ago when I was down in the Margaret River, it started: "I’m sitting here with a glass of zinfandel, listening to the new album by the sublime Swell Season who I saw playing live last weekend - one of the most amazing acts I’ve seen for a long time, after a day clambering over huge granite boulders, (getting more than a bit scared) watching massive waves on the Leewin Naturaliste National Park in SW Australia." Honestly, there aren't many days so perfect for me! Then I stopped. Just wanted to live the moment and could not write anymore...

Now I'm back to thinking and writing, and on my way to Singapore less than 24 hours, so a bit of time for reflection. What I love about being in Australia is that there is art everywhere. I am going to miss the sculpture that's just across the road from the apartment (on the quayside in Fremantle), a sculpture honouring the famous Fremantle Doctor, the south-westerly wind that blows inland.

In some ways it is quite unassuming, an old sea buoy with metal seagulls on top, a little quirky, with a strange string arrangement on top. This sculpture really takes off when the wind starts up – the wind ‘plays’ the strings. This sculpture was designed by Tony James (assisted by Pierre Caponi), and the wind harp designed by Alan Lamb. I love the fact that this sculpture responds directly to nature. It doesn't move, but it responds.

I stayed long enough to witness quite a few weather (and wind) changes. Some times when the wind was really blowing you could hear the wind harp from the other side of the road! Other times, there was barely a sound. What's nice about this sculpture is you can get really close and put your head between a static kind of pair of earphones which amplifies the sound. Yet again, I'm reminded that I want to get some sound recording gear! This sculpture really became part of my landscape for a few weeks, I will miss it.

more sea tales

Here are some more test prints for my 'sea tales' series. The first one has a slightly sinister story behind it. As a child in the 60's and 70's there was a strange little character on the TV, and to this day I don't know if it was a programme or a film. Anyway, this small male leprachaun like character lived in a whelk shell. For some reason I found him very scary indeed and recall having more than one nightmare about him. I have created a much more benign character in this print, my hermit is quietly reading. The spanish dancer is my interpretation of the largest type of nudibranc (or sea slug). I've been lucky enough to see a few of these whilst diving, and they are quite exquisite. Free swimming in open water, I can understand how they got their colloquial name.

The next print is of a frog fish and an unsuspecting victim. These really are clever fish - they have a lure somewhere above their eyes which they wave around to attract 'food'. They are also known as anglerfish, which is a better description. They don't tend to move around a lot, although I have seen some swimming. They usually wedge themselves between rocks using their pectoral fins for balance and wait.
Years ago I got to learn alot about seahorses as I designed a website for a seahorse charity. I've got quite good at spotting them now underwater - they don't often look this 'perky'! For the most part they cling onto a piece of sea grass and sort of flop, oh and turn the other way if you try to look at them carefully or take a photo! I had the idea of a sort of yin/yang pair of seahorses - I thought it might work graphically with lino. I also checked with Marcel - have we ever seen seahorses use each other to cling on to instead of just sea grass? Apparently yes... and there is a photo somewhere which I'll see if we can find.

My late father was very keen for his eldest daughter to be inducted into the world of science. I have a clear memory of one of the experients he set up one on more than one occasion. In a large glass jar, there was a diver which would slowly rise and fall. Sadly my Dad is no longer around to ask what scientific experiment he had set up here. I don't think it is a Cartesian diver as that involves a plastic bottle. I will do some investigating... I wonder if in some subtle way this got me interested in the world of diving.

mini prints

I've been working on a mini print series for the Pameran Poskad show in Singapore. Perhaps because I'm staying right on the quayside in Fremantle that I've beccome preoccupied with all things marine (but all things marine are not usually far from my mind anyway). I've called the series 'sea tales'.

Being away from home my challenge was to create something that didn't require a press and would be relatively easy to make and transport. I bought with me a small roller, a couple of perspex plates, already torn printmaking paper and just one small pot of printmaking ink. Here are my test prints, not great inking and some on lined paper but it's just to give the idea.

My first print fell onto my sketchbook easily - a tiny mermaid baby in a sac. I have to explain right now I am a lifelong beachcomber, addicted since a child (I could write a book about beachcombing...) but to keep things short, it was always magical finding a 'mermaid's purse washed up on the beach. They are in fact egg capsules holding the eggs of a species of dogfish. But what if they lived up to their name in some way?

My second print is related to a story my sister posted to me recently about hundreds of starfish washing up on a beach in the UK. The link to the story is here. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/8572741.stm The image of hundreds of starfish on the beach stayed with me. The moon gazing character? Up to you...

Ahh... sea angels. What a lovely name. There is a tiny illuminated display at Underwater World in Singapore with some sea angels (Clione limacima) and next time I go I will take some photographs. They are swimming sea slugs and live in the Arctic and Antartic Oceans, so not much chance I'll be seeing them anytime soon in their natural habitat. They are almost transparent and have that ethereal quality like jellyfish - except they really do look like little angels with their 'wings' beating. One thing I love about them is that they have little 'horns' (head tentacles) so they are little angels but a bit devilish too! More images to come...

new website

phew! It's been a long time coming but finally my website is up and running! Here's the link: http://www.alison-wilson.com/
The majority of work in the site has been made in the last two or three years, but I did put in some old favourites like the batik pieces. My intention is to update with new work, and either take older work down or archive it. Think I need to link my blog to the website next update I do aswell... Either way, I hope it'll be a site that's worth returning to.
Big big thank you to Marcel, my ever supportive husband in so many ways :)
And thank you to my mac for making it easy.

the business of being an artist

Last year I met a woman who was halfway through an arts degree. The programme she was following had already given her many of the practical tools she would need as a professional artist. She knew how and where to look for funding (and had already done so), she had a polished artist's statement, business cards and so on. I sincerely hope that her experience is the norm in art colleges today.

My own experience was very different. Admittedly it was a long time ago now, it was the mid 80's, but even so - there was absolutely no career guidance. No discussion about how to approach galleries, how to sell work, how to support yourself. Nothing at all! I was ill-equipped for the workforce to say the least. The underlying message was that if you were good enough you'd make it (no matter what). I felt defeated before I even started and eventually turned my back on art and started a whole new career. I am thankful for that as it took me around the world and opened up many new doors. However....it's taken me years to get back on track where my artwork is concerned.

I would say I've spent the past ten years gradually stepping back into making art again. At first very tentative steps, regaining lost confidence, getting angry about 'what might have been', finding my own voice, learning new skills. I'm still not quite at the place I would like to be but I'm working on it - the business side of being an artist.

nudibranc

I dug up these two small batik pieces today - I hadn't seen them for a very long time. They are based on a species of nudibranc (sea slug) called Chromodoris magnifica - quite a common nudibranc but still very beautiful. I am not sure why I didn't do more of these... I like the idea taking a small area to examine the colour, patterns and textures, rather than the whole thing.

taking stock

literally and mentally....

I have amassed a lot of artwork these past few years and little by little it's been stored in the spare room, crept into my room, into cupboards, wardrobes, drawers. I've collected gorgeous paper from various travels and that is scattered all over too. I decided a week ago that things just can't go on like this - and so I've ordered a large plan chest and have embarked on sorting out all my artwork. 

Well, I thought it might at a stretch take me an afternoon - how wrong could I be?! I have photographed the majority of my work now, but that took me a whole day. Now I am going through everything section by section - deciding what to do with it all. I just cannot hang on to all this artwork. Apart from anything else, I'd like other people to see it! Also, I think it is time to reflect on what I've done, and move some of my work to new homes and move on... I reckon it will take me a week or so to really figure things out. In the meantime, here are two monotype prints I made about three years ago. 

batik baby

My niece is a fan of my batik! I made a wall hanging for her a few months ago - I intended it to be mainly primary colours. In the end it turned out to be mainly burgundy red and deep autumn colours - hardly traditional 'baby' colours! But my sister assures me my niece is entranced by it! I loved the little turtle tjap (stamp) I used in this piece. I used it over and over again - I was thinking of the urgent run baby turtles make to the sea after they hatch. 

north sea coast

I started a long windy description of Kijkduin, Scheveningen and the harbour, but have decided to let my photos do the talking instead… Here are my eight favourite and inspiring things about this lovely stretch of coastline in Holland:

1. strolling along the beach watching seagulls, oyster catchers and terns on the breakwaters

2. walking over the dunes at Kijkduin

3. watching the sunset over the North Sea

4. looking at coastal paintings by the Haagse school of painters and ‘seeing’ the coast a hundred years ago

5. eating pannekoken (pancakes) and steaming hot chocolate after a walk on a cold day at a pancake house in Kijkduin

6. buying fresh fish and seafood at Scheveningen harbour

7. eating fresh fish and seafood at one of the harbour’s restaurants

8. seeing hundreds bikes line the paths leading to the beach

celestial vault

This August I'm here in The Hague. Last Sunday we walked through the woods at Oxenburgh to the Kijkduin dunes, a few kilometres from the city. A leisurely stroll, we stopped now and again to take photos of ducks slicing through the weed covered canals, water reflections and rose hips at their fullest. 

Out of the woods and near the dunes, we climbed a short flight of steps to reach what looked eerily like some kind of tomb. Apparently we’d been there before, some years ago. How had I missed this? There was no inscription, it was puzzling. Marcel said it was an art piece – oh, ok. It was slick and monumental, and did not move me particularly. I stood and looked at the view in front of the tomb - it was impressive – to the left you could see all the way to the Hook of Holland and to thee right the beach resort of Sheveningen. 

Further on was a short tunnel leading to a wide bowl with an identical tomb like structure in the middle. A man sat on the rim of the bowl pulling out weeds while his dog looked on. Was he the guardian of this place? It seemed strange to be pulling out weeds when all around the ‘tomb’ were shards of glass.

Then it all clicked into place. Not so much sculptures, these are places to gaze at the sky and experience changing light and colour. These two pieces are ‘The Celestial Vault’ created by one of my favourite artists, James Turrell. Lying with your head resting on the stone plinth, your view is shaped by the manmade landscape in the 'bowl', and the restriction of your head - your field of vision is severely limited. We were there with the sunlight drilling into us so we didn’t stay too long on the plinths. From the top plinth you could see the horizon to horizon view and upside down the sky became more magnified and majestic. With blood slowly traveling to my head, the focus was not what was on land and tangible, but what was in the sky - intangible and ever moving. In the bowl, the angle of the plinth was parallel to the coast and the sun directly in my eyes made it impossible to experience the full effect. The plinth resting in the bowl shape gives the illusion you are looking at the sky as if it were indeed a dome. Given less harsh sunlight, I can imagine this being a wonderfully meditative place. My field of vision was somewhat wider than the photo below, but this gives some idea of my view from the top plinth.

marbling

Lucky me - I am spending a week in Melbourne, one of my favourite cities! There's always so much going on and around just about every corner you can find something interesting from the fabulous street art to offbeat little shops.
Yesterday I was on a mission to find a new photo album - sadly the leather cover of our lovely wedding album has fallen victim to Singapore's humidity and kind of gone mouldy. At least the photos are alright. I headed up to Brunswick Street in Fitzroy where there are loads of interesting shops - in fact I had already planned to visit Kami, a shop specialising in Japanese paper, specifically Chiyogami (decorative designs which are silk screeened onto strong mulberry paper). They sell fabulous albums, photo frames, notebooks - I could spent hours in there, and I found our new album there. Then made a fantastic discovery.
Just next to the checkout was a pile of papers - I took a closer look - marbled paper! This was not the usual psychedelic swirls of colour, but a limited palette of blues, greys and golds on white. It was exquisite. Organic, earthy, otherworldly, this marbled paper contained so many elements I love - especially the contoured lines, I ended up buying two (A1 size) sheets. I have no idea what I will do with them - they look great behind a light (though you lose some of the colour), and look lovely just loosely hanging on a wall...I found out that the paper is not Japanese at all, it was made probably near Chiang Mai in Thailand.
One of the joys of the inner CBD are the laneways of Melbourne - Desgraves Street is the first one I ever discovered. Just as you turn the corner it's like being transported into Europe. Little cafes line the street, the smell of coffee permeates the air and there is Il Papiro! This tiny shop sells Italian marbled paper products, notecards, notebooks, photo albums, you name it. The marbling couldn't be more different from my Thai paper. The swirling designs are far more controlled, intricate and colourful yet also very beautiful. I have to admit seeing all this marbled paper has made me want to try it out myself - and find out more about its history.

natural orange

Wow! My first attempt at natural dyeing produced an amazing orange! It's quite incredible. I don't know how 'fast' it is (time will tell), but even when I rinsed the fabric very little colour washed out. I am very excited about this and hopefully this will make its way onto paper in a short while. This orange came from the seeds of the Annatto tree (Bixa Orellano), which apparently is used as a food colouring agent for margarine amongst other things. It certainly is pretty orange - I haven't tried to use any mordants with it yet, just keeping it simple for now.
I am also experimenting with eucalyptus and mango leaves - let's see where this takes me! I've go the fans on full but even so there's quite a strong smell of eucalptus...

ship building

One afternoon last week I spent making some paper boats with a couple of friends for a fundraising event in Scotland ( http://www.joannebkaarpaperboats.blogspot.com/ ). I might make a couple more before mailing them off... Mine were made from banana fibre paper I bought in Yogjakarta, a bohdi leaf, and also some paper with a tjap of a wayang kulit (traditional Indonesian puppet). I knew all that practise paper with wax stamps on would come in useful one day... I covered one of my boats with hot wax - this boat is seriously heavy! There's a few months to go before the deadline and if I get time I'll make a boat with fibres from the garden - I have a long list of experiments to do!

sandstone

I had looked forward to seeing and being on those long beaches that seem to go on forever and yet it was a fairly modest beach that stole my heart in Tasmania. The 'big' beaches were certainly impressive and all consuming - and yes, I could have walked for hours and hours. I guess I like beaches where I can stop often, pick things up, scrabble around in rock pools. I can't remember the name of the beach we found down a dirt track. The tide was out and we watched tiny crabs burying themselves in the sand and found fresh oysters hanging on to rocks. We started noticing the sandstone - pebbles turning into rocks, into boulders, into a cliff face. Sheer beauty.

fruit of the fish tail palm

I passed by a wonderful fish tail palm yesterday - along the length of its trunk were fruits in various stages of development. Luckily I had my camera with me - a habit I am trying to cultivate as much as possible. There's something really pleasing about these great bundles.