Gallery of past work

Saturday 18 May 2013

Black and White paper

I've been playing with black and white again, cutting up squares of paper, moving the pieces apart and repositioning them. I have done similar exercises many times in the past but it now seems right to revisit them, following my recent explorations in black and white.

In the first few, I maintained the integrity of the squares....














Then I deliberately disrupted the integrity....



And last of all, I played with the shapes in a linear way, depicting something as I worked - perhaps the line of the Cotswold escarpment, with suggestions in some of the block-like shapes of Cotswold stone walls or of the mill chimneys near Stroud ...



Tomorrow, unless the weather is good and the garden calls, I plan to add stitch....





There are activities like this to be found in the excellent book, Finding Your Own Visual Language, by Jane Dunnewold, Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan.

This is a book I really enjoy dipping into from time to time for its stimulating and practical activities which seem able to be adapted to any subject matter.

8 comments:

  1. I've done this exercise a couple of times too and also have the book and should really use it more frequently. I love what you've done in the final page.

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    1. Thanks, Julie. It's fun to do, isn't it?
      Altogether, I find the ideas in this book really useful when I'm wanting to work out a new slant on something. I pick one that feels appropriate and doing it seems to loosen hand and brain ....

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  2. Great book! My last newsletter had as its focus cut black paper on white paper...using silhouettes of kitchen utensils. Lots of fun! Really love that last piece.-Julie

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  3. Very many thanks for your comment, Julie, and for reminding me of your latest newsletter. Very relevant! I've printed it out and plan to take it with me on an up-coming trip to Scotland (no internet access there so printing and forward planning needed...). Should be great occupation on a wet Scottish day or when husband heads to the golf course and I don't feel like following!

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  4. Some lovely images. Great book too.

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    1. It is a great book, isn't it?
      Julie at Thread Born's has similar exercises in her latest newsletter as she mentions above. Well worth a look if you like this sort of thing (and I do ...!). I have plans as you can see from my reply to her!

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  5. Oh, my absolute favourite !! ... black & white ... in any medium !
    These exercises are stunning as is.
    I will try to find that book ... looks wonderful !

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  6. Very many thanks for visiting and commenting again.
    I will play with the design of the long thin one and see what happens .. there will be lots of tracing and cutting, some printing and definitely some stitching!

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