Ink Work - Plants
I love plants. My love for plants is mostly rooted in my distance from them, though. The only knowledge I have is as an outsider-human laying claim to nature: Genus, Species, subspecies… names attributed, characteristics listed and value allocated. Through this series of paintings, I seek to weed out my preconceptions and to trim back my human inclination to categorization and to laying claim to plants.
I want to celebrate the endless variousness and the peculiarities of plant forms. In monochrome and extra large with simple compositions, these ‘flower paintings’ are less gorgeous or festive and more ponderous and mysterious. The convoluted forms of the most humble flower belie its lowly status. I've blown the format up big to explore their fascinating shapes and immerse myself in the patterns, texture and curl of each petal or leaf. I've worked with ink that starts off messy and chaotic and needs restraining and cajoling into some sort of tribute to the splendor of the magnificent plant. Each plant type carries a reference to an aspect of my self-identity and my life experiences and possibly, hopefully, each painting suggests personal associations for every viewer too.
Celebratory, life-affirming and in praise of nature, I have extended the series to include people with the plants. My daughters and their totem plants - assigned to them at birth. Garlanded Flora and baby Amora sleeping on a pillow of Buffalo grass and others, binding these two kingdoms together.
February 2023
Medium/process for Ink Paintings
The paper used in both the Plant and the People series is called Yupo. It is similar to photographic paper before an emulsion is applied and it provides a very dense substrate that keeps the ink on its surface. I’m able to spend a lot of time, working horizontally, manipulating the ink. I use sponges, paint brushes, cottonwool, old rags and my fingers and hands to push the ink around. The paper is resilient enough to allow for prolonged work and can withstand quite severe scrubbing in areas that I want to return to a clean, white surface.
I use various water-based inks but mostly India Ink and China Ink. Both allow for reworking as they are quite slow drying. I use acrylic based inks in some of the colour ink paintings.