I've had the prints I've been working on for my patchwork piece for the interim exhibition stuck on a long piece of glass (set into the wall) next to my desk upstairs and been sure that there is some missing element that's going to pull the whole thing together and improve it somehow. I kept staring at it, without stressing about it, or thinking about anything in particular, just staring and looking at it in it's parts and overall... pondering.
I want for a walk alone on Tuesday, the first solo walk since the Thursday before 1/2 term as my daughters junior school will insist on extra days off before and after half terms just to add an extra layer of complication to getting the infant school pupils into school - "it's so unfair" when the big sibling isn't in school! Then you have to drag the big sibling around the forest to walk the dog! All in all Tuesdays walk felt like a treat so I armed myself with my sketching backpack and even remembered coffee AND my little tripod stool. I did a couple of sketches and on the way back I noticed several absurdly bright orange logs. They clearly had some sort of rust growing on them and I can't think how I hadn't noticed them before but wondered whether the rust changes colour due to weather/temperature/other unknown variables. I'll be paying closer attention from now on! Anyway, I sat down and sketched it, trying to get just the right shade of orange. On the path just before the forest entrance I them noticed a full tree in just the same colour! I must have walked past it countless times!
I realised as I was pondering the orangeness and what an amazing colour it was, and how it is reminiscent of the grasses in late December and early January in sunlight that ORANGE WAS THE ANSWER! Some little pops of that orange would lift my patchwork and add little bursts of excitement which would seem to me to emulate the forest completely. They're also reminiscent of the beautiful sunsets I've watched from the forest, and based many of my prints on.
I found some more lichen and decided to ink it up and add it to some of the prints that I had already printed with lichen. I also inked up two etchings in orange (this was partly to test out the effects of my new burnisher).
I'm rather pleased with the results. I think the etchings may end up being cut out with a scalpel or added to with an extra layer or two...they're not satisfactory as they are. The colour is great - I'm really pleased with it.
It's very interesting to see the two etchings side by side and compare the different methods used to create the imagery of the trees; the left hand one is far more realistic and true to the textural qualities of the trees, the right hand one is more simplified. Both could be useful in different ways so I will make a note of this in my workbook.
Overall I'm so pleased with myself for really slowing down and letting this work take shape in a considered and informed way. I'm often so keen to get on with projects that I find it hard to pause and work on a couple of things at a time, but this has proved really useful here. I must remember to trust my instincts and take time to ponder.