When storms take over

For the second project of my final mixed media assessment, I chose to illustrate an instrumental piece of music by local composers Harvey Welsh and Chris Holly. I have responded before to this work with poetry and photography and no matter how many times I listen to it, it makes me think of storms. 

The "playlist" brief called for execution of a mixed media piece by using at least two surfaces and two techniques.  

My artwork is an instinctive response to the music and it doesn’t have any other concept behind it other than imagining a storm at sea, watched through a window. 

I chose to use collaged elements: paper, bark vinyl imitation of wood and tracing paper. The window is overlaid on top of layers of painted clouds and stormy seas. A boat made out of bark is adrift. The onlooker is alone with their thoughts. They open their window and watch the storm. I illustrated the act of opening the window by creating a lift-the flap look. The strips of vinyl make the shape of the window, the tracing paper is the window opening, looking out to sea.

The surfaces used in this project were Archers paper, Canson paper, tracing paper, bark and a wood-imitation vinyl tile. I kept the colour scheme simple, with only a few colours: blue, grey and brown. To create the storm, I used Prussian blue and neutral grey acrylic inks and ultramarine and white watercolours.

I didn’t have many challenges illustrating this idea or executing it because it was an instinctive response and I didn’t have to think about how I was doing it. I knew how I wanted the work to look just by listening to the music. My main challenge was my minimal experience with watercolours and inks. Another challenge I didn’t predict it will be as time-consuming, was creating the lift-the-flap effect by cutting precisely the tracing paper to create the open window. I managed to rip quite a few sheets before the window was in place.

If I had more time, I would have liked to use real wood instead of vinyl and I would have experimented more with creating the clouds and water textures and with the fluidity of inks and watercolours. 

I would have liked to work on a bigger scale (ceiling to floor), to draw the audience straight into the eye of the storm and I would have liked to add a silhouette next to the window, as a separate layer – possibly realised in a charcoal sketch. Given the time constraints, I think it’s a good trial run but it’s a work I would like to re-do in the future.

Songs from my Grasslands

I had some lovely feedback from friends and even from people I haven't met before, regarding my poetry reading at the National Multicultural Festival. 
Many thanks to the dedicated ladies at Mother Tongue - Multilingual Poetry who are tirelessly ensuring that multilingual poetry is alive and well.

For those of you who didn't make it, here is a different version of "Bajo el Mismo Sol" (Under the same sun). I spent a good part of last year developing "Stories from my Grasslands", writing poetry and recording with ArtSound FM.
I am very passionate about synaesthesia, about combining different disciplines in order to enhance an artistic experience and when composer Harvey Welsh proposed a collaboration, it seemed like a very logical next step, to join his music and my poetry. Thus, "Songs from My Grasslands" is born.

Harvey's music speaks for itself. I felt a deep connection with the way he embodied my vision; the instruments he chose, the way the grasslands sounds are juxtaposed, everything is connecting so well.
So. We have a little announcement. Stay tuned and pen the date in your diaries 'coz soon we will be launching the "Songs from my Grasslands" CD. And because we truly believe in synaestesia, we will have a mixed media exhibition too, with some of Harvey's paintings and some of my photography. We are honoured and delighted to announce that Ginninderry Community will be our host from the 26th of April.