Light, Surface and Colour: Sauerbier House A.i.R. Practice Post #7

Photograph by Suzanne Mustan

Photograph by Suzanne Mustan

The main and concluding series of paintings on canvas are designed to push my practice boundaries within a two fold reasoning. Firstly, to respond to the opportunity of a three month block of uninterrupted studio time (as an international resident regular routine is left behind) enabling an unusually focused time to concentrate only on the work in progress but also because crucially to the new series made during the residency, I had reached a point in my practice desiring a greater flexibility in the handling of paint and form with less overt geometry in realisation.

Photograph by Suzanne Mustan

The final works were to be made on the 19 canvases that I had brought with me from Wales and two further selected here in Noarlunga, all with basic standard pre-primed and ready to go surfaces. The 19 are in two sizes 20.5 x 25.5cm (9 canvases) and 35 x 45.5cm (ten canvases) with the two larger at 100cm square and 75 x 100cm. The square size is inherently challenging presenting four equal sides.

Photograph by Suzanne Mustan

The Australian acrylic paint systems used here has included varying paints of viscosity, spectrum and value including some fluorescent hues. The final paintings on canvas demonstrate the shift of my painting language to new levels of vibrancy and expressive application. The series of ‘scapes’(involving multiple facets of landscape) has evolved with the task of making new exploratory work, different and challenging in terms of previous, yet also to make a definitive exhibition. I feel also the process may have compounded future directions for my painting practice.

Initial paint application was to put down a base colour and get a feel for the canvas. The fluidity of the paint is noticeable yet pigment intensity high. (See previous post for further paint analysis) They work well with the canvases that are basic standard pre-primed surfaces.

Supported by an International Opportunities Fund Grant from Wales Arts International