Low Relief Construction – finished
Tag: repetition
Low Relief Construction
A whole series of my work has been inspired by a drawing of my father’s from 30 years ago. His original was based on visually extracting shapes from a classic Tumbling Blocks schema used in drawing, painting, patchwork and many other formats.
This is his drawing on paper in ink and two thicknesses of line.
I have made a number of drawn versions of my own.
Here are some of the stages I have passed through. Hopefully tomorrow it will be finished.
Origami Paper
There are lots of possibilities of combinations of colours and patterns with these lovely origami sheets.
Yet another homage to my mother’s work from the 70’s.
Striped Polygons
A painting by my mother dating from the early 70s, it is 1.4m square and hangs on my living room wall. The pattern is based on a complex series of rotations and mirroring at more than one level as well as another set of rules governing the colour changes. I’ve spent many hours trying to decipher the rules and have made progress but there is still some areas of mystery.
My parents experienced first hand the theories behind abstract art in the 70’s whilst attending the unique Barry Summer School in South Wales set up by Lesley Moore, educator and painter. Geoffrey Steele, Kenneth and Mary Martin and many others shared their ideas and theories in a series of workshops.
It is a great privilege to have this painting on my wall, maybe I am biased but I think it would stand its ground in the Tate Modern.
Jewellery
For the last year or so I have been directing my creativity towards painting, sculpture and creative writing. Designing and making jewellery has been my main occupation for some 10 years now but the time has come to follow other paths. The jewellery shown here will be the last pieces I make barring commissions, so if you like bold, geometric, sculptural jewellery, take a look at my collections and visit my online shop.
All Photographs by Matthew Booth unless stated otherwise.
The geodesic Dome pendant can be worn rolled into a partial sphere or spread out flat like a cobweb as seen below.
The matching earrings which can be re-arranged in the same way.
Royal Academy Summer Show
This is the second painting I submitted for the Summer show at the RA, the first being the portrait of of my uncle Peter.
A completely different kind of painting altogether, I wanted to explore pure colour, to find the clearest, strongest ways to show its true nature and behaviour in watercolour medium. Only three colours are used, cyan, magenta and yellow, employing juxtaposition, overlay and tone as well as wet and dry paper and re-wetting techniques. Each colour is laid on individually, not mixed.
As a jeweller my work is very much about control, my designs are geometric and ordered, serendipity is a rare and welcome component, usually appearing whilst pushing the limits of the material. This process follows through in the “Dots” series of paintings. I begin from a precise positioned grid of marks, working on wet and/or dry paper, overlaying in several passes following a strict order whilst allowing accidental or material based irregularities to occur. Colours are applied with droppers or with broad washes laid over dried dots, allowing the colours to soften and run at will. 
This following painting uses another technique, I laid down intense drops of colour on dry paper and allowed them to dry out completely before brushing over them with clear water and a large brush, spreading the colour and making the colours run.
Creating Shadows
Here are the Quails eggs which I am going to cast in order to set up some new shadow structures. I shall be making a mould of them in Chromium Alginate bought from Maragon, who sell everything one could need for casting in plaster and are the most helpful people. I am surprised at how much the eggs vary in size, shape and in texture, some are quite rough and gritty feeling and a few are very smooth. I have coated them all with petroleum wax to help with the moulding and I shall choose the nicest shaped ones with the smoothest surface. I do like the mottled colouring, they look good on the blue vintage French plate but Ido like to see them in black and white too. 
