Tread Lightly Exhibition

Shannon Wilson of Contour Clayhouse and I have teamed up again for the third time, to bring you a new collection inspired by our local, natural environments.

When Enoggera Creek flooded at the start of 2022, the run-off and debris that thundered downstream particularly from the Reservoir, dramatically changed the look and course of the creek. Roads, footpaths and bridges were damaged and nearly 15 months on, areas are still in disrepair. As a regular walker along the creek this has affected me more than I thought. These artworks on paper are a direct expression of how our little reach of the creek is different and how it's bouncing back in new ways.

A series of smaller works are an attempt to define what has occured along the creek, hence the use of single word definitions from an old school dictionary. I leave it up to the viewer how they interpret these words alongside the images. They are created using a gel-plate and monoprinting process that allows multiple layers and unique results.

In contrast to the subtle nature of the smaller works, these slightly bigger pieces have the added drama of machine stitching with metallic thread. I haven't added free motion stitching since the Stitched Blooms series so it was nice to run paper through the machine to achieve a striking result. I played around with zigzag stitch length and width to give a fuller effect and I really really love the result. I tested stitching the entire plant image but it was too heavy for what I wanted to achieve.

By far my most ambitious works to date are A View From Here (I-IV). These are a celebration of mixed media on A2 heavy watercolour paper. I began similarly to the Fragments series with lots of water media then slowly building up layers of paint and crackle medium, then tissue paper and leaf printing, machine stitching and dry mediums of sand and Geraldton Crushed Garnet. These gave me so much joy despite the long working time and I'll definitely be using the dry mediums in future works.