I am a visual artist who works with a range of mediums and my process varies.
I use which ever vehicle helps me to express my ideas. Each work informs the other and leads onto the next idea.
The collages I’m working on at the moment are a follow on from my hand sewn fabric pieces and with more experiments I can see 3d objects creeping in
The process of transformation. Time, change, erosion and decay are qualities I like to celebrate. I examine and explore, the properties and possibilities, of my material and want to push the boundaries of something to get a deeper understanding.
In my latest project, I’m working with textiles over a 100 years old. I want to work with the worn and deteriorated textiles and collaborate alongside those, who in the past, so carefully stitched, mended and created, the pieces for comfort and warmth.
Each piece was once, carefully hand -stitched and now, breaking down and worn. I have very selectivity pulled apart and unpicked areas, and kept some intact.
Some areas of fabric, are so badly worn it breaks in my hands, so I have to reinforce it. Most pieces though are just left in their original state.
I then, like to push the process further with, natural & rust dying methods, mark making, hand stitching and painting with caste iron, botanical paints.
Numerous times, I expose the materials to the elements to experience the changes.
Getting to the essence of my material helps me to translate and describe its being. I rarely know the outcome of my projects and just go with the flow.
Wanting to know how to rust – dye? Please see my free rust – dyeing tutorial
100 yr old cotton textile fragments, vintage found objects, oil pigments,vintage card, linen thread, linen cloth.
The pieces of cloth are extremely fragile so each piece
needs to be reinforced and sealed and stitched into very carefully
before being attached to book board.
Sometimes, when I’m stuck for ideas making artwork and it’s just not happening, I like to throw a heap of things together and arrange them near my work.
The items, may relate in colour, texture and type or be opposing which, I find much more exciting. Your brain will automatically try to come up with solutions. Expanding your ideas and creating new ones.
The flow on of ideas is sometimes amazing. It can lead to, resolving the artwork in front of you, as well as, give you ideas for a whole new body of work.
Juxtaposition and connections of items together seems to work for me.
I believe there is a creative force that is connected to everything we do.
Small Abstract Oil Paintings. Still & Interruption.
I spent a lot of time trying to get the surface just right, on these 3 paintings, as I wanted each piece to stand on its own, as well as, together as a whole. I also wanted to convey a feeling of stillness. A space to sit awhile.
The 3 below have colour and movement. I feel they are not yet resolved and will probably work back in with more layers.
I’m enjoying, the smaller scale paintings at the moment, especially after all the large ones I did over the past year for my “Wallmatter” exhibition.
Its a whole different way of working. Large paintings have huge sweeping strokes, where the whole body is involved. Smaller artworks allow me to come in close and are not so hard on my body. I can work longer on them, without too much pain to my back and neck.
Digital Collage and Photoshop.
When making my art, I rarely follow rules. Not knowing, techniques, materials and technology, doesn’t bother me and can be a blessing. It gives me more freedom to play around and discover things, that wouldn’t otherwise, be found.
A few images of recent experiments in Photoshop and other programs using my own artworks.
Do you always follow the rules when creating?
Château of Versailles and the beginnings of something.
Walking through the hundreds of rooms at Château of Versailles, I couldn’t help but notice, the old, stuffy smell and the sound of squeaky, footsteps upon the ancient floors. So, I made a sound video and took close up shots of the wallpapers and other surfaces.
I mainly had a fascination with the “over the top” décor, decorative surfaces and patterns.
Below the surfaces of this show of power and extravagance, was a history of passion, debauchery, sex, treachery, brutality, corruption, torture and death. I imagined the exotic and beautiful people, the power of the Kings, the abuse of women, Marie Antoinette and the peasants who starved in villages.
I also was taken back to my childhood, when, I enjoyed being in my own little world creating, away from the real world. My mum used to make gorgeous clothes with beautiful fabrics and trimmings and I was given the leftover’s. I taught myself to make collage’s, wall hangings, to decorate my room from a very young age.
When I was older, I decorated my bedroom with scarves, scraps of fabric and tacked up old bedspreads, made from cotton and woven fringes. The bedspreads became a wallpaper backdrop for my bed that I made into a couch.
I made heaps of cushions and would sit for hours reading, Go Set and TV Week, magazines. The pop star posters were stuck onto the other 3 walls and ceiling.
Since returning from France, I haven’t forgotten the over the top extravagance of Château of Versailles and have been playing around with a few ideas and may look into having an arts residency, nearby in the future.
Versailles palace and grounds in France are extremely lavish and over the top, with gold everywhere. During my visit , I enjoyed the eclectic mix of textures and patterns of the wallpapers, the swaths of lush curtaining at the windows and the textiles on the furniture, elegant and beautiful.
Each piece in the palace was finished off to perfection with lots of intricate patterns and pure gold, gilding. The floors were creaky, but full of character. There were, extravagant marble walls, flooring and decorative marble fireplaces everywhere.
Below is a sample of some of the surfaces at Versailles and work in progress I am making from my little studio in France.
“Wallmatter” Exhibition Progress. Jenny Davis 2016.
All my paintings are now finished and have been taken to the framers for my upcoming exhibition, in July and I managed to fit all, 17 paintings, into the car for the short trip to Healesville.
While the paintings are at the framers I have been creating and finishing off, other pieces in the show. It has also, given me pockets of time to concentrate on the written stuff, which I find a bit difficult sometimes.
My art statement has changed a million times, but I think I’m happy with it now. Id rather just let my artwork speak for itself but, finally, after many years, I’m actually starting to enjoy the process of writing the art statement. I see it now, as an extension of my work and not, just an unrelated, add on . As an artist, you know yourself, what your art is all about, but putting it out there, for the viewer, in words, honestly, without all that “artspeak”, is a whole different art, I’ve had to learn over the years.
If you need help writing art statements, here is fantastic book that has helped me. “Art-Write. The Writing Guide for Visual Artists by Vicki Krohn Amorose.” It’s a simple, step by step guide on writing, not only, art statements but also, speeches, proposals, bio, press release’s and more. Its all related to the visual artist.
The ad for “Art Almanac” magazine has been designed and sent off to the magazine and the invite/ad for “Wallmatter” exhibition, has been designed, with some help from my daughter overseas in France… Amazing Skype!
The catalogue price list has taken a long time as every detail of every single piece has to be written down and priced. It’s an ongoing venture and still in progress as I keep adding more pieces. The food and drinks for the opening have all been taken care of, thanks, to a couple of dear friends for their help.
I’m still making some flat concrete stands I want to sit my sculpture’s on. One of them broke, so I’m not sure yet, whether Ill to use them, or not. I also need to find a way to get my paintings to the exhibition. Once framed they won’t fit into my car. Something I didn’t think off:)
The last thing I will need to do is photograph and document all the pieces, before they are sent off to the gallery. Encase they don’t come back home again:) Hopefully!
More details of what? when? and where? coming very soon!
Experiments with Concrete Cloth and Rust. Sculpture.
Just a quick update about what Ive been doing lately.
Work for my exhibition was almost finished, until, I discovered a bunch of rusted textiles Id forgotten about. Now, I want to make more sculpture. A solid form with thin wafers of cloth, concrete and rust.
Today, I’m heading into the studio to work out how to achieve this. Wet concrete is very formless so pouring, layer, upon layer of cloth then, concrete, in a mold, just wouldn’t work. The cloth would get covered with concrete on the outer edges and I want slices of cloth sticking out and visible on the outside.
Funny thing is, when I Googled it, all I came up with was my own experiments and work with concrete, cloth and rust.
So, I’m now in the process of inventing how to do this:)
More details about my “Wallmatter” exhibition coming soon!
Experimental Painting. Industrial Materials and Methods.
Its been almost a year since I started this group of paintings using traditional, non traditional, industrial, materials and processes. There are 20 paintings altogether.
After several months of research and practical experiments, I finally discovered how to make my textural, gritty surfaces, stable and permanent for a flexible base.
Concrete. Rust. Textile. Sculpture. Work in the Studio.
Experiments with concrete, rust and textiles in developing sculpture.
Junk packaging for mold making
Taped up packaging filled with concrete, rust and cloth.
Poured wet concrete sculpture
A series of 3D objects in the making
The first raw reveal after 24 hours. At this stage, I need to make my final decisions and changes to this sculpture, while the concrete is still soft enough to work with. I discovered in some of my earlier experiments, once its rock hard, its more difficult to work with.
I am still working on this series of sculptures using concrete, rust and textiles that will be part of my “Wallmatter” exhibition.
Rust & Shibori. Vintage Cigar Tins. Work in Progress.
A heap of vintage cigar tins in the process of change.
Vintage buckle, Japanese Shibori dyed scrap. Rusty fence wires and Victorian silk buttons were purchased from Penny’s antique and vintage mixed media supplies. Faginsdaughter
Old rusted door lock and fence wire with weaving made from beach- combed finds and indigo cotton string.
The beginnings of a textile book.
Rust and indigo dyed wall piece
Finally, another tin. Metal detector find, central Victoria, 1800’s suspender buckle, rusty wire and rust indigo dyed doily scrap. Unfortunately the beautiful buckle broke in this installation. It could be made from gold, as it was very soft.
I may use some of these artworks in my next solo exhibition, “Wallmatter” in July
I’m not sure where I’ve heard this, but fully believe in this saying,
“Just turn up and the work will show itself”
Today, I headed to the studio and let go of all the pressure, I had been putting on myself for weeks, about starting new work for my next exhibition.
I sat for awhile without any expectations, trying to connect to something.
I then started playing around with materials, I hadn’t used since art school
and after finding some leftover weathered metal from my welding days
my ideas eventually came together.
By just letting go and believing in the creative process
I now, have a better idea of where I’m heading with my project
and some of the materials I will be using.
Stripping Back Layers. Plaster. Old Wallpaper. Paint.
Taking away layers stripping back identity to get to the essence of something
is much more interesting to me than creating something recognizable
As a child I was more interested in pulling things apart to investigate the material it was made from
I then went further and tried to destroy the material scratching into it to get back the original source
I still do that today in all my work
experimenting with layers of paint plaster found papers antique french print vintage wallpapers and ink
pulling apart scratching tearing and ripping
Heat Bush Fire Painting
After 3 days of sweltering heat and bush fires nearby it’s time to relax and do some mark-making on big sheets of paper
using dyes
ink and pen
with hand painted papers
Experimentation & New Free Tutorials Page.
My blog updates have been scarce lately, as, Ive been studying a couple of arts business and creative courses. This week I created a new “Free Tutorials” page, where I share some of my favorite, creative ideas and things to do.
I’ve also, been experimenting with shellac and acrylic paints in the studio
and plan to create some textile and sculpture pieces too.
After working on many creative projects and group exhibitions, here and overseas, the past couple of years
I really think it’s time, to get back into a gallery and start exhibiting again in 2016.
So, I’m looking for suitable spaces in Melbourne or Sydney, that aren’t too expensive.
My favourite thing to make, at Free Tutorials is my large studio easel. I created it when I built my studio in 2000. I wanted something big, so I could work on many paintings at once. It’s a bit slap happy, (I’m no carpenter) but, works perfectly for me.
Gestural Acrylic Paintings. Mixed Media on Canvas.
Mixed media on gallery stretched canvas.
Acrylic paint & oil pigments.
Spontaneous gestural marks
with a play of colour
and forgotten marks
on gallery stretched canvas.
Landscapes of traces
left behind
in the environment
and mind.
Each painting measures, 40cm. x 30cm. x 4cm.
Year completed, 2015
Mixed Media Painting on Paper.
Acrylic paint
Oil Pigment
Shellac & Rag Paper
Orange and Pink Paintings. Work in Progress.
4 Large paintings
making first marks
adding colour
sploshing pink
and orange paint
adding layers
& texture
