Pastel and collage
Pastel and collage.
I have been looking for a different way to approach my pastel work.
I often use powders and pigments to add texture and I have built up the surface before, by tearing and gluing paper to to the surface. For instance in my ‘Dancers’ series.
The idea for this painting came partly from playing around with mono-prints. I used a drawing of Mathilde and took several prints from it, a pale broken image particularly appealed to me: It looked ethereal. the texture created by the broken ink in the printing process, gave it a broken texture. It made me think of old crumbling walls..(and later lead on to an idea of ancient broken sculptures)
monoprint and pastel
When we were given an old wardrobe, and couldn’t get it up our narrow staircase, my husband, François, tried to dismantle it, and in doing so, found a stash of secret letters dating back to 1830. I became fascinated with this link to the past. I kept thinking about how precious they seemed, not in financial terms, but in the beauty of the minuscule handwriting, the care taken to make them and to preserve them. Somehow they appear to be a clear metaphor for the contrast between our societies, then and now.
I wanted to use them somehow in my work.
While walking the same week, I found myself picking up dried corn stems and grasses which were lying along the edge of the newly ploughed fields. The calm colours of the winter landscape seep into my consciousness.
The old white dress was given at the same time as the wardrobe. Far too pretty to wear, I hung it up to look at. It gave me the same feeling as the letters, a simple thing from another time, beautifully made and preserved . Putting these ideas together a ind made a pastel and collage work called ‘L’armoire’
pastel et collage
I wanted to use the letters somehow and photocopied them onto soft paper, ripped and stuck them onto the pastelmatt. Then painted over them roughly with gauche and with ink. Bringing all that surface back to a clear structured image in pastel was a satisfying pleasure.
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Love it and the story too, it is like reading a novel. Much love Corry
Thank you Corry. I feel very interested in doing some work around the history and changing nature of the rural life here, I’m thinking about the landscape and ecology too..lots to talk about when we meet in Giverny. xx