This is the photograph of lovely Scots Pine trees over at Glen Affric which I worked from to create my etching 'The Goo-Ass Parade, Glen Affric'
Scots Pine trees at Glen Affric
My etching 'The Goo-Ass Parade, Glen Affric' inspired by the beautiful soft shapes of the Scots Pine trees
and here is the photograph of the exposed tree roots I worked from to create my etching 'Roots & Rust'
My 2 plate etching 'Roots & Rust'. It had been my plan to describe the forest behind the roots on the second etching plate, but I ran out of time. So I described the blooms of rust which had formed on the steel etching plate instead, hence the title Roots & Rust
It feels important to explain how I discover all of these little beings as it enables people to better engage with my work. And from experience, this openness and honesty about my working process enables people to better engage with their own surroundings and see their own little beings hidden within the trees, the rocks, the moss
It feels sooooo good to connect with nature this way
At the start of 2021, I questioned what my art would look like if I didn't use the trees as my creative guide and point of reference. So I took a piece of paper, and began to create tone on the paper, rubbing out areas which created a texture, and then drew on there some more. I repeated this process a few times until I began to find a familiar within the tonal textured pattern, making me realise I could create the pareidolia process on my own
I used this process to guide the illustrations for the Belle and Sebastian lyric book, and for the creation of my exhibition work this year
Here is (hopefully) a helpful example. The first image shows the tone and rubbed out texture on the paper
and here are those smudges all drawn in and looking pretty
This really is such a fun way to create