Majoring in Painting at Victoria College, Prahran 1989-91 I enrolled in printmaking as an elective. From the Head of Printmaking, John Scurry and lecturer Simon Cooper, I learnt different techniques discovering that this was a medium I could experiment with and one that could inform and feed into my painting. I developed a love of the process and later began to concentrate mainly on monotypes; a combination of drawing, painting and printmaking, they allowed me a more felt response when making and reacting to marks on the plate. Facilitating rapid experimentation and subtle development of the image, the monotype has become an integral part of my art practice.
On a first encounter with Degas’ monotypes over thirty years ago, I felt driven to spend countless hours poring over his sooty, inky blacks; his drawing and abstraction leaving their indelible mark. Degas distilled everything down to its essence, reflecting life and the human condition. Powerful images that had me enthralled, he more than any other artist influenced and prodded my desire and curiosity to experiment with the medium.
The Australian Print Workshop (APW) provided a great space for working in an environment where everyone was making and engaging in a conversation about prints. I’d go there for long stints after initial drawings and usually before I’d begin painting in my studio. Since 2014, I’ve had five wonderful and productive residencies at The Art Vault, the last three working on a body of work responding to Lake Mungo. After making black and white monotypes, a number of them exhibited in solo shows at the Mildura Arts Centre (MAC) in 2020, and then at Printmaker Gallery (PG) 2021. Working in black and white helped make some sense of the structure, form and mood. Preparing the plate, I would either cover it completely or partially with ink, drawing, wiping or adding to the image with tools and rags until it spoke to me of the land. After printing a darker first image I proceeded to work back into the ghost image on the plate. Colour being integral to Mungo I experimented further. I had been overwhelmed by the colour shifts – red to burnt orange, blue grey and yellow. In my mind bringing myself back to the land, I would often refer to sketches and photos both made and taken in my time there. I worked using memory and imagination to feel the subtleties and build-up of coloured layers of sand and mud pinnacles at Red Top and the Walls of China, but also on images of trees struggling to survive in the sand and the mud, and the sometimes still, sometimes windy, blue or grey clouds and the colour reflected skies.
These coloured monotypes were a prelude; small experiments, many discarded. I used a combination of watercolour, gauche and ink, then printed on Hahnmuhle Paper. I had my last and final residency at The Art Vault early in 2021. While there I worked on larger plates; being perspex they allowed me to see the image in reverse and also discover any stubborn, unresolved areas. This time using only coloured Charbonnel inks I covered parts of the plate with a roller creating different coloured areas, working intuitively with brushes to draw, tarlatan to wipe, feel and leave texture, cotton buds to discover small highlights, rags to wipe larger areas of light or wipe out whole areas and rework. Other times I began drawing the image, afterwards introducing colour. An awareness of my tools such as brush and roller marks are evident leaving an imprint of my process on the paper. They reflect a tactile response to my subject, helping me discover the abstract elements on the plate. Robert Watson, one of The Art Vault staff would assist in lining up the damp paper on the plate. Then we’d run it through the press. I always love the element of surprise when the paper is lifted off the plate. I’d invariably use the impression of a first print to make a second or a third, redrawing the plate and reworking it until I felt it was ready; my hope being that it had something of the feel of the ancient land that is Mungo, its past, its present, its beauty and its pain. Over time with the thirty odd images on my studio walls I continue to contemplate the works, deciding whether or not they are successful, completing some and reworking a few, but the majority I leave untouched.
A version of this piece appeared previously in Tech Talk.
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