Working with what I have

I know I'm not the only one who has days sometimes when nothing works, I have no ideas and I feel like I should just give up trying to be an artist.  Last Friday was one of those - just terrible! (It didn't help that I was trying to print in greens. That, I think I should give up on!)
At least I have other creative interests and after giving up for the day I could do some knitting!

I have had a couple of much more positive days in the studio in the last week and also have to remind myself that part of the issue at the moment is that I'm working under the self-imposed restriction of working with what I have. As a printmaker who doesn't often work on a large scale I have lots of small pieces of 'leftover' paper and this year (being somewhat financially challenged!) I am attempting to use up what I have.

Also, I suppose part of the problem at the moment is that I have been working on a body of work that will hopefully have several  groups of outcomes - a series of square format prints in different (smallish) sizes, some larger works that will be pieced from yet smaller squares and a series of small artist books. So currently I have a lot of work in progress, but at times have difficulty in seeing how I will get to a finished state with much of it.
So these are some of the pieces that hopefully will eventually be part of something!

And trying out some possibilities for a pieced work in blues...

or this

(Most days) I have enjoyed experimenting with colour and layering forms both natural and manmade, using stencils on a gelatin plate, working with cardboard collagraph plates, and finally overprinting some with linocut text - fragments of Leonard Cohen lyrics/poetry.
Still a way to go!

Workshop with Lorna Crane

This time last week I was deep into a very stimulating workshop with artist Lorna Crane from Pambula.
It was part of the FibreArts Australia forum held at Ballarat Grammar - almost of week of art-making and mixing will lovely like-minded people. It was excellent!
Lorna is primarily a painter, but her speciality is that she makes her own brushes from a range of found and natural materials.  The brushes are themselves works of art, but are also the means for some very expressive, gestural mark-making.

So these are some of the brushes I made....

 and these are some of the first marks...

After a bit of messing about with the ink and the various brushes, we began to make some books...
working on different types of found papers and fabric, which we were then encourages to tear up and use to collage.  It was all very liberating experimental.  A bit like play...in a good way!

There was also some stitching (as this was a fibre foum).

Most days I went for a late afternoon walk around Lake Wendouree, which was very close and much bigger and more beautiful than I'd realised.

Work in Progress - and some finished!

I have been working!
I've been enjoying experimenting with collagraphs and gelatin printing, layering and experimenting with colour.

The main collagraph plate I've been using recently - a bit steam-punk!

Building up layers - gelatin prints and collagraph.

Recently got to the point of finishing some small  (18 x 18 cm) works off - with some linocut text for an exhibition with a 30 x 30 cm size limit.  The size they will be when framed.
Still a bit Leonard Cohen obsessed!

For Leonard 1

For Leonard 2

For Leonard 3

For Leonard 4