The landscape throughout the year continues to provide an enormous amount of stimulation and inspiration for my work.Living in the south west of England in an area of outstanding beauty, the South Ham’s.From one season to the next the range of colours and textures moves on completing an ever turning circle.This part of the world is nestled between a stunning coastline with a most beautiful coast path and tempting beaches and the mesmerising Dartmoor. We are also blessed with the river Dart giving a constant flow to the backdrop of changing seasons, with her own ecosystems and microclimates.
Every year I try to focus on elements of each season that stand out for me, be it in the garden, out walking and drawing or visiting somewhere new or somewhere remembered. This Spring the larks, the wet fields and late crops and localised flooding was noticeable. As summer arrived, it seemed to be a little shy this year, hiding behind a cloud.The sparrows occupied the swift box on the house before the swifts had time to notice it.
Changes in the seasons are quite marked and are undoubtedly due to human activity. The pollution in the local and national waterways has got my attention this year. So too, the sustainability of the delicate ecosystems in the Salt marshes. This is an environmental project, that some of you may know that I am collaborating on, together with artists and scientists, under the umbrella of the Bioregional Learning Centre.
The importance of having a a range of materials and techniques at one’s disposal is shown in the versatility of work that can be produced. Working with found materials, pigments and tools whilst out drawing or using these treasured finds, back in the studio is at the heart of my practice.
The creation of texture has always been something that I like to do when I am making. From the substrate of various forms of paper or board, through the layering of the surface with gesso or iron powder, turmeric, custard powder and even jam. The latter materials, from a kitchen rather than a studio, were used in a show I once did based on collected shopping lists (something I still enjoy doing if I am honest). The textures and energy are such fun to explore.
(Above; a piece work on board made from shopping lists and made with some of the listed items…jam, coffee, custard powder etc. Below; two pairs of shopping lists recently gathered, two authors, peoples habits are interesting).
This fortnight has been a busy one in many ways, I bade fond farewell to a little pastel work, off for a new life, in a new home. There is always an emotional attachment to a piece of work that becomes part of me to some extent, as I make them I give a part of myself.
The pastel below Dartmoor to Yelverton with a detail too.
Continuing to work in the studio on the ripples and reflections , I used some fairly heavy paper from Daler Rowney as I had some in the studio. Though paper does have a good key to it, for my use it was too even and lacked enough texture. So I fished some gesso out and gave it go with teaspoon and broad brush. I have said before that the act of using a material is very sensual in my view, taking time to move the white gesso across untouched surface of a clean piece of paper was wonderful.
Using some Rembrandt chalk pastels very gently in order to find the ridges and dips made with the gesso was like doing tiny brass rubbings in a church. (The last brass rubbing I did were in Marrakesh about twenty years ago, capturing some wonderful Moorish patterns. I still have them tucked away in the studio somewhere). The process is magical, as the patterns are unplanned natural and organic marks emerge. I supplemented this process by adding some iron dust to the surface of wet gesso to some extent this was to replicate the bottom of the sea as I perceived it.
And with iron dust….
Lino cuts are something that I enjoy doing, the process from transferring a piece to the Lino, making up the water based printing ink colours, the sound of the ink as it mixed with a palette knife and then rolled, making sticky then a tacky sound. Then there is the joy of printing on to various paper types and revealing each layer of colour.
Here is the first of the linocuts I have started.
Submissions are always time consuming to make but they important elements of an artists yearly activity. The submissions that I make can vary enormously in format and cost so for me, the primary consideration is that the submission should be relevant to my work. Does the call fit with what I am looking to express through my work and how will it achieve this aim?
So this submission “Fauna and Flora” looked appealing and I submitted four quite varied works. Each piece submitted utilised quite different materials and was a journey of learning and exploration.
I have continued to learn to make short reels / videos using various apps and these have been fun to create. I have set up a channel to view them here just copy and paste the link. I mainly use CapCut and now I need to find someone who can take very high resolution images of some my works ….more on this next time.New subscribers to the channel are entitled to a purchase of a work from the website at 20% discount.
https://youtube.com/@ivangrieve?si=D6u2mN--kwz1H2J5
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