I have been exploring some repetitious mark-making in my more recent works and these are proving to resonate well with others. Over the last week, 3 of these works have found homes, which was very exciting indeed!
I first attempted this style of work when I had one artwork that I couldn’t resolve. Instead of painting it with Gesso and starting again, I decided to put lines all over it and see what happened! I was actually really pleased with the result.
"Friday feels" ( pictured below) was the end result.
In my day job, I meet people with complex needs including trauma and poor mental health. This process of repetitive mark-making reminded me of some mindfulness activities provided to them, such as mindfulness colouring sheets.
Activities such as this require the brain to slow down, focus on the paper and colour in repeatedly with full intent. When doing this style of art, I feel present in the moment and calm in my mind. The repetitive nature of the lines becomes meditative and flows out onto the canvas.
I liken each line to a mark in time, a moment, a memory. A line etched into our brains of experiences, trauma, and feelings. These little bits, like scars, make up the person we are. All those years of life experiences have shaped the person we are today. I look forward to exploring this type of mark-making further and developing my style in this way.
"Wabi-Sabi I & II"
In 2023 we will be going on a family holiday, travelling around Australia, experiencing some amazing landscapes and natural wonders. I'll be bursting with inspiration on my return! I would love to experiment further with these lines and mark-making, to see how I might incorporate them into very abstract style landscapes inspired by my travels.
If you love these works above, they are available as prints, both on paper and on stretched canvas and are such a beautiful quality you won't even know it's a print! They are available in a range of sizes and framing options.