Return II 2016

Detail of "Return II"

"Return II"

My love affair with paper and eco-dying continues with this work furthering the exploration of my connection to my geographical environment as it supplies my physical reality with the essentials for life. The physical world is created in layers, strata, deposits  and in this work I have been overlaying transparent papers with plant pigment deposits on in a technique like painterly wash layers. This way the pigments have built up in different densities and textures across the underlying surface of the work. Superimposed and imbedded into these layers are the skeletal leaves. I have collected, cleaned, dried and pressed these remnants of life's passage from my surrounding physical environment.  They feed the layers below as in the past the layers below fed their growth form. The cycle of life continues with their return. 

"Tectonics I" 2016.

 "Tectonics" speaks to the earth and its movement beneath us. Natural materials have been used to convey compression, uplifts and lateral changes.

Close-up views of Tectonics. 

Tectonics 2016

This is the first in a new body of work looking at my physical world, the cliffs and rock outcrops I see in my immediate surroundings. The materials I have used are all naturally dyed with plant and mineral dyes that are also taken from my immediate surroundings. This work is exploring how I am physically connected to my surroundings and how I can use very simple natural materials transformed within my surroundings to create a visual expression of my connectedness. The work is informed by slow making methodology and ecologically sensitive considerations, aligned with the underpinning fundamentals of my practice.