Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Explorations and the odd wrong turn

I'm having a slightly different experience this time around as I work on the second book in our (Susan and my) collaboration.  The first book had me uplifted and carried away - this second book is taking a lot more ponderous thinking.

At times I have felt as if I am wading through treacle in gum boots. Heavy going. And I'm not sure quite why I am making such hard work of it this time around, but I keep getting stuck in those lengthy conversations with myself that end up going nowhere, going backwards or arriving at dead ends.

I think, I almost think, I have found the resolution I need to make it feel like me, but just out of interest, here are some of the twists and turns I have taken...

Trying some gold dots around a tea-rusted washer on paper...


Inking over Susan's gestural marks paper and then adding a gold highlight...


Trying some gold letters against the dark background paper...


Using oil pastels to adhere silver leaf and then scratching marks out of it...


Embossing the paper...


Adhering gold leaf this time and making marks and embossing...


Threads I had stitched into the book then discarded...


Susan's rusted tracing paper with graphite and gold rubbed onto it...


It will be interesting to see how many of these options and approaches make it into the final book!  I am wondering if it's simply the colour palette that I am not used to and can't quite find my way around...

13 comments:

  1. So...how can you turn the color palette into something you can get find your way around? Actually, I drooled over all of the experiments above...especially the gold and silver leaf with markings. Can't articulate what it is about those sections, but oh! do they sing.

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    1. Thanks J - I am working my way into it now I think. Isn't it amazing the reactions we can have to colours? I love those scratches and marks as well - will see if they find a home in the final piece.

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  2. Oh, so much to ponder here for me too Fiona! Using oil pastels as a base for silver or gold leaf - how ingenious is that.... and rusted tracing paper... I want to do some of that too. These are fascinating excursions through your thinking and selection processes. Whatever choices you make,trust your instincts as I am certain they will be the right ones for this book.

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    1. Hi Lesley - I love mixing a bunch of coloured oil pastels under the gold leaf and then drawing letters or words out of it - a rainbow of kinds emerges. i hope you have fun experimenting! Sometimes I just have to go around and around for quite some time and try this and that before the right thing lands...sometimes it appears without me needing to think!

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  3. It is such a process and, I imagine, absorbing, uneasy, and rewarding, all at once.

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    1. All of the above Jo! Fascinating, challenging and intriguing could be added to the mix I think.

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  4. I know the feeling... and sometimes the things that at first seem unfamiliar and even a bit uncomfortable end up either propelling my work to new places or becoming things I really love. If they become beloved, it usually takes a long time. I love the experimentation you're doing, some beautiful textures.

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    1. Thanks for your words of wisdom and support Valerianna - so true about challenges that take us out of our comfort zones and then become something we build on and use again. I am finding my way thru this one now...

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  5. Loving all of it, but particularly the gold and silver leaf!

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    1. Hi Stregata - so glad the shiny bits make you smile! Go well.

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  6. I agree with you so much about this collaborative piece Fiona - the first felt so light and breezy and this one has been much tougher. As you say - wading through treacle. I love all the options you are putting forward. At the end of the day it will come down to what you want your book to say and how to make those dark pages feel like you. Maybe they never will entirely. I am certain though that your book will be beautiful x with the 'stuff' I have been going through the last few weeks I would have loved working into those dark pages! Yet there has been a lovely feeling of tenderness for me working into the soft pages you sent my way.

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    1. It does feel really different doesn't it Susan? Perhaps it's about where we both are or were, and how that plays into our thinking, creating and making. I have had a better run at things today so am feeling quite hopeful. Sometimes I seem to go around and around and around on a trip to nowhere - at others the path lies waiting for me and I take it. I am thinking the book is saying 'me' a bit more now! Take care, F

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