sticky situation...

 in the studio

I've been arranging those bits of paper

and sticking them down

so with the addition of a few bits and bobs

I go from this...

to this...



I love how you can start a collage without any real intentions
and as you stumble over random images and paper bits
*something* emerges



One of my ways of working is to start with an interesting image

and see where it takes me...

add a few bits from maps and a pocket ready reckoner?

draw some lines?

(and I think it's done)

connections. ecosystems. community. economy. history.

At other times things get a lot messier and layered

with gesso and fabric

and rice paper and 'bits'

(and more gesso and more bits)

until I ask myself - is it finished yet?

(hmmmmmmmm....)

looking looking looking

and while I look and think

I work on another piece...

what more does this need?

do I add things? (or take things away?)

hmmmmmm


looking looking looking

long looking is one of my main strategies in art making -
I may make rapid movements at times -
especially when the glue is drying out on my brush

but I take a looooooooong LOOOOOOONG time

looking looking looking

and 

thinking thinking thinking

in between the sloshing of paste and paint...

 Sometimes, rather than layers and layers
of paper and paint and concept and meaning

 I just play with the original image by filling the voids with patterns...

I find it therapeutic and soothing
to systematically fill in a white space

and let go of all that thinking

....