A collaboration of joy and exploration

A project working with another artist on a joint concertina sketchbook has unlocked a new world of colours and mark making

This year I plan to write a little more about my art process and inspiration. I am currently involved in a fabulous collaboration project, through the Prime Women Artist network. We have been paired up with other artists, and I have been lucky enough to be partnered with Mary Price (Artist in the Shed) who is based in Bristol but a regular visitor to Cornwall. Our styles are very different but this has been one of the key successes in the sketchbooks we have worked on so far.

The unfolded concertina sketchbook - here I am working over the top of Mary’s initial marks, deciding what to keep, what to cover, and how the colours will complement.

We decided we would develop two sketchbooks and post them at regular intervals. I found it very liberating to have the sketchbook open alongside other paintings, and I would add to the layers with the current colours on my palette. This tended to be a mix of oranges and pinks from my dawn and dusk Helford paintings, plus neutrals. I have really enjoyed the process of painting without thinking too hard, and the initial marks hovered between abstract and landscape – definitely elements of headlands and dawn skies crop up.

The collaboration with Mary has been just wonderful and magical. Like Mary, I did wonder how it would work, we live far apart so it would be remote collaboration. We work in such different mediums and styles. But there was a common thread in our work of the joy of expression, celebration of life, and also in our mindsets for this project which was to have fun, not be precious, and be open minded. This has been the critical ingredient.

I have been delighted and amazed to see Mary’s response to my initial layers. I tend to work with either very luminous colours, such as rose pinks and tangerine, and often apply translucent veils to obscure parts of the painting, scraping back in to reveal layers below so that the paintings build up a strong sense of history.

With Mary working over the top, a new visual vocabulary has been born from the marks created by the wax resisting the acrylic. My own process uses a lot of “chance” to see what happens when paint is scraped back, or dripped on with solvent. These chances then create the elements that inspire new marks. I loved how Mary worked with both chance elements, but then also applied very direct mark making over the top of the glazes, to create magical new worlds suggesting moon dust, birds and light.

Working the other way, where I paint over the top of Mary’s first layer, has been equally educational for me. I have discovered that oil layers, in rich, “grungey” colours, are very exciting paired with strong, bright acrylic shapes beneath that burst through. I am now planning on using acrylic for my own initial layers to play more with this.

I have discovered that oil layers, in rich, “grungey” colours, are very exciting paired with strong, bright acrylic shapes beneath that burst through.

I have also found that obscuring strong marks, but then digging back in to reveal them again, like an archaeologist, is also a different way of working and bringing together two styles harmoniously:

I think this project with Mary is giving me a new confidence to play with new mark making, materials, colours and themes and I am really looking forward to us spending time together in my studio in January to see what else might happen as we work collaboratively in real time.

Mary also had this to say about the experience:

“The sketchbook collaboration with Sophie has taught me how to embrace a completely new way of working. Through responding to the  cold wax painted ‘treasure’ that Sophie sent to me I have learned how to manipulate two very different media. At first I felt quite reluctant to spoil Sophie’s beautiful work - her atmospheric landscapes were to me pretty much finished paintings. However we had from the beginning agreed that we would give each other freedom, to release any preciousness and to treat the collaboration as a big experiment.

‘I think with a collaboration of this kind it is important to let go of any kind of ownership and to treat the experience as an opportunity to have a bit of fun and to stay in a place of curiosity. Luckily we are very like minded spirits and we just went for it.

‘As I moved through Sophie’s book I became more familiar with the way she was using the cold wax and also began to enjoy seeing how the acrylic paint responded as the wax repelled the water based acrylics. The chemistry between the two opposing media fascinated me and by exploring using the paint watered down or applied thickly I began to anticipate the reactions that would happen. It almost felt scientific but as I relaxed into the work with an attitude of non of this matters exciting things began to happen.

‘I am very much looking forward to visiting Sophie’s studio in January where we will be doing some real life collaborative work. This experience will certainly influence how I work in the future as the exploration of combining the two media has opened up a possibilities to develop a whole new way of working. I would wholeheartedly  recommend this kind of collaboration to other artists - it is an excercise in letting go of the control but once you  open up to this all kinds of magic can happen.’

Mary Price - www.artistintheshed.com

A truly wonderful project, and I recommended to any artist, and would also suggest that seeking out potential “opposites” is a great way of opening yourself up to new ideas and influences.

You can read more here about the collaboration as seen through Mary’s eyes on her post here (link).