Jazz Green : Artist Journal

Posts tagged ‘mixed media’

mouldscapes, in more detail

September 22nd, 2010

nine mouldscapes; these are mixed media on wood panel, 15cm x 15cm x 4cm…

here are three of the panels, photographed at a jaunty angle…

mouldscape I (side-ish view)


mouldscape II (side-ish view)


mouldscape III (side-ish view)

and all nine mouldscape panels, full on…


mouldscape I


mouldscape II


mouldscape III


mouldscape IV


mouldscape V


mouldscape VI


mouldscape VII


mouldscape VIII


mouldscape IX

these small paintings on panel are currently on view in the artworks exhibition at blackthorpe barn,  open daily. 10am – 5pm, 11 September to 3 October 2010…

why only nine? well, i only managed to complete nine in time for the exhibition – i have plans to do at least twenty five… which would give me more opportunity to develop patinas, textures, surfaces, etc – i also like very much working on this smaller scale – they become extra tactile objects – the gaze extends to the touch…

is it real mould? no! i would never entertain any kind of mould in the house – it can be deadly – no, these are  just creatively adapted from nature…

why mould, exactly? am just endlessly fascinated by things that are simultaneously beautiful, a little bit ugly in the wrong context (or eyes) and equally a little bit in awe of, not quite knowing if it is good or bad, a sign of life or death…  it’s quite existential stuff, really…

perhaps they also act as visual antidotes to all things sterile and clinical in our western culture – and the persistent culture of fear that the media (especially the daily mail) continually perpetuates – and the environmental pollution and health issues that evolve as a result of seeking to eradicate all signs of a natural, biological world… have i said this before? nature is quite cruel really, we must respect its ecology…

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another journey into colour

February 8th, 2010

It is very curious where this virtual journey into colour is leading, as every made-up colour combination finds its corresponding place on earth…


Tsavo, mixed media collagraph on paper and canvas


Tsavo East National Park, Kenya  (image courtesy of flickr)

The blue sky and scorched red earth give this vista some aesthetic appeal, but without fauna it looks to be a barren wilderness. I can imagine the occasional roaming herd of elephants emerging from a clearing in the trees, or seeing buffalo drinking at a water hole, but there will also be the parched bones of the less fortunate ones hidden in the scrub, savaged by the lions. This image gives no indication of a highway much travelled by the safari-hungry tourists, although a quick search on youtube returns more than enough shaky videos, with the resident wildlife often appearing less than amused. This is still a hunter’s landscape, of man and beast.

…


[Tsavo, detail]

I am not sure how long I will pursue this idea, mapping colours to a location, but at the present moment it has its rewards, with the added gratification of getting one’s work out there soon after it is made. These works are very small at 5″ x 5″, and are, in effect little objects (but not objet trouvé), faux tablet mementos to places that I have never visited. The larger canvases (the edgescapes) are distilled vistas of places I have been to, but to me they resonate with more distant and imagined landscapes scarred and ravaged by the elements. The farmscapes have their obvious mechanical, minimalist geometry, but on some days I question their formality, they seem too detached from their source. Making larger works also takes up all available space, so the work gets restricted by its surroundings and develops much more slowly. I guess that all artists have to deal with those if only moments – of a lack of space and resources. You can adapt your ideas or your work, but there is always a doubt inherent in that decision, in that it is a compromise, not a solution. That perpetual lack of space issue forces the change for now…

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intaglio, to go

January 4th, 2010

i have been feeling somewhat under-the-weather (by the cold, with a cold) during my break from the day job … so after christmas i have really pushed on with something that i have been meaning to do for some time.. to make something of all the prints from my collagraphs (i constructed them exactly one year ago; you can see the digital scans of the collagraph plates here, i played a little with photoshop)..

my background is in fine art printmaking and it’s always been there in my work, one way or another (papermaking, embossing, monoprinting), but i’ve no real desire to make pretty editions, it’s just the processes that i like.. here are a couple of artist proofs or A/Ps together with the original scans of the corresponding plates, printed using oil-based etching inks on hahnemühle 300gsm paper..

collagraph - intaglio print

the only problem being that you do get through a good lot of quality paper..  after fifteen or so pulls from the plates i ended up with about six clean, sharp prints, so the rest i have decided to handcolour…

here is one altered collagraph print close-up, showing the textures of the surface embossing..

they were first sealed with a varnish and then i carefully adhered them to some small canvas blocks… [no frame required]..

there is something about prints, surfaces that are so tactile and appealing (due i think, to the printmaker’s close engagement with surface from the very beginning of construction) – it is no wonder i have a myopic vision with surfaces, i’ve been consumed by them for years (see some of my art college days work here..) – all this tactility is lost behind a box of glass and wood..

i had the idea that i wanted to reconstruct the malleable 2d print (the twin or ghost of another surface) into a three-dimensional form.. actually, this is an idea that i have been harbouring for years, wanting to make the printable surface the artwork, but when looking into etching on copper it was too costly for me..

i have cubed six of the altered intaglio prints so far (very time-consuming).. not even sure if they are intaglio prints anymore, maybe this is the middle ground, part painting, part printmaking, part object.. here are a couple more of the collagraph printing plates with residues of ink; they will never be discarded..

collographs or collagraphs, sometimes called collotypes or collage prints: the printing matrix is constructed from a base of strong card into which you can incise, carve or texturise with fillers, powders, sand, tissue paper, glue, paint or collage (anything goes, just musn’t be too deep or hilly).. they can be printed relief (as in woodblock) or intaglio (as with drypoint engraving or etching).. collagraphs are essentially very eco-friendly printmaking, and a little bit arte povera, with recycled or found materials..

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The website of British Fine Artist Jazz Green MA RCA. Abstract landscape paintings, fine art photography. All images and text copyright the artist.