I’m in the middle of doing a large charcoal and chalk drawing on black pastel paper. I’ve always had a penchant for working on black surfaces. During my MA I projected videos onto black perspex, lay thick printing inks onto black watercolour when I made monoprints.

I attended an Arvon writing residency about arts writing and we were invited to choose an image to write about in first person. I chose this:

and wrote this:

I just looked for some of my old work in my portfolio and found these old friends. After all these years I can see a connection in my artwork. Landscape. Virtuality. Space. Trees.

Worked in many mediums, woodcuts, lino cuts, etchings, ink washes, charcoal, photography, projected shed snake skins (yes, that’s my self portrait!)

So here they are, a blast from my past, and a work in progress now…..(click each for full size)

A1 image on watercolour paper, made in dark room, photographic gel brushed onto paper. The image is one of many I made by making glass projector slides with shed snake skins from Bristol Zoo, projected onto my face and body. It was the time of Dolly the sheep – wondering whether we could, in the future, change our bodies like this.

woodcut

woodcut A1

woodcut, A1 (detail)

etching, collograph, woodcut, drawing on German etch paper

combination of etching, woodcuts, ink washes, text

work in progress today:

charcoal and chalk pastel on black pastel paper 1 metre wide