Icon I

Icon I 73×54.5 cm

Icon I has now been moved from a work in process to a finished drawing. It is a progression from ideas I had way back with images of trees depicted as entities to be revered, in these times it seems more appropriate than ever. At the time I tried using coloured pencils to create a luminous background but was not happy with the result. Since then I have used gold printmaking colour for my linocuts and had the idea to go back to my thoughts on trees as icons. So in Icon I (which started as a monoprint) the shape of the trees were worked out using the printmaking colour.

Pods

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So this is a landscape/animal/seed combo – not only can images be manipulated. Boundaries are being challenged – it is easy to fall into an apocalyptic mood. I have been inspired by Patricia Piccinini’s creations although I started my Fur drawings before seeing her work.

Red Landscape

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Despite their appearance I have some sort of landscape, or landscape/animal combo, in mind when I create my Fur drawings. A bit contradictory then, I admit, to call them Furs but that is what most viewers describe them as. They are in my mind ‘maps’ showing elevations, streams and other landscape features – obviously not urban environments – but what you might possibly find if you’re out for a stroll in an imaginary forest. The red colour is a sign of warning – what will happen if we continue behaving as an invasive species ….

Graphites

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The problem with photographing graphite on paper is that light bounces off the surface making even dark areas look grey and uninteresting. From a group of drawings entitled Being these came out the best. The one on the right though is called Icarus and is my reaction to seeing, in a documentary about free climbing, a climber fall from a great hight almost down to the ground before releasing his parachute. I honestly thought I was going to witness a death. The relief when the parachute opened was immense.

Blue roots

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Came across this watercolour/drawing when looking through works that I have at home in Sweden. Although it is part of a large group of ‘fur’-like drawings I like it because its landscape qualities, combined with hints of human/animal bodies, sets it apart from other works. The pools of ‘water’, I think, are quite delicate and seeps into the fur which is undulating, maybe following an underlying mountain range.