New Work 12 Oct 12

Back in the Studio. New Year. New Work.

Susan Buret, Untitled(as yet), 2012 from the Inequality Proposition Series, Acrylic on Linen, 70 cm x 100 cm.

Circumstances largely beyond my control have kept from the studio, and this blog, for most of the latter part of 2011. 

When I returned to the studio I resolved to start blogging again and this raised heaps of questions. 

Should this blog only focus on my work and if so should I include new work which may form part of my next exhibition? If I show most of the work on the blog the exhibition will hold no surprises.

Should I talk about personal matters on a blog which is a professional platform? In my last post I mentioned the fact that personal matters do often, without any conscious decisions, inform the work I make.

The questions still remain unanswered so I am beginning this years blogging with a new work. I have decided to return to the geometric works begun in 2006/7 as part of the in her high heels series. I enjoy  making these works as of resolving the image is very different to the repetitive process of making the collage works.

Stargazzy 2

Stargazzy 2. 2009. © detail.
Oh how I struggle with documenting my work! Here are two images of Stargazzy 2 my newest work. I experimented with using pigments instead of diluted acrylic to get a luminosity to the background. I'm not sure about the texture to the background but I am very interested in using this pattern to make some bigger works.

Susan Buret. Stargazzy 2. 2009. Acrylic and Pigment on Linen.35cm x 35cm ©

I am hoping when I get into my new studio I will be able get the tripod out and find the right camera setting for the lighting.

Thoughts About New Work.

Susan Buret. Bower Birds Steel the Crabapple Blossoms. 2009.

Watercolour and Pigmented Ink on Canvas. 10cm x15cm.

This is one of a series of postcard sized works I have been producing lately in response to my new environment. I have written about the works in the artist statement that accompanied my recent exhibition.

I have been thinking more about these works and what they share with earlier bodies of work. How I continue to use the same almost viral repetition in all my works. I am often aware that visually my works often look like textile designs and that my manual assembly line process, obsessive and repetitive is for me a path to some sort of transcendence. Many artists talk about this aspect of their practice which Baudelaire describes as 'sacred machinery' and the process includes not only repetitive patterning but also the practice of painting the same object over and over again.

For me I use concision and repetition along with the irregularity of the hand drafted to build rhythms which are not ordered or predictable to create shifting fields. I do this constantly to create images I enjoy. So despite changes in the conceptual bases of my work which occur over a period of time I continue to pursue the same image.     

Stars My Father Showed Me

Susan Buret. Stars My father Showed Me. 2009. Acrylic and pigmented ink on paper. 78cm x 56.5cm.

I recently received the CD of images from my current exhibition from Carl Warner to whom I am eternally indebted for documenting my often unphotographable works.

This work with it's really sentimental title recalls my childhood memories of lying on the front lawn with my father on a summer's night using star maps to find planets and constellations.

The work is one of my favourites as I love to paint in 'greys' made from mixing Ultramarine Blue with Burnt Sienna. Working with water based media diluted to wash consistency also results in yummy sedimentation. I hope you'll click on the image to see a bigger version that really shows the sedimentation.

The Joys of Exhibiting

Last week I travelled back to Brisbane, seven weeks after leaving, to exhibit my work in a group show with Lyndal Hargrave and Jacinta Howard.

Madness you might think, especially as I have yet to cover my expenses, but it was a really great experience.

Firstly, I just love showing with Lyndal and Jacinta who are not only very good artists but are also great to hang out with.

The exhibition gave me the opportunity to look objectively at the new work I had produced while at Ragdale and since I have moved to New South Wales. I also got some feedback from peers whose opinions I value.

I will soon post images of the new work on my website but in the meantime here are some hanging shots of our work.

The exhibition at Doggett Street Studios, 85 Doggett St Brisbane 4005 continues until 5 September

Studies for new work.

Here's one of the small studies I've been working on in my first week at Ragdale. To see more check out my other blog.

Weather, Life etc

As you might notice weather observation have crept onto this blog. It seems easier to record everything here rather than separate weather images for a separate blog.When I get more images of the work I am making I will decide whether they should be here or on pink squadron.

New Geometry

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