Tag Archives: creative process

Type cast…

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Detail of ‘Clearing’, mixed media on canvas. © Mari French 2023
Detail of ‘Clearing’, mixed media on canvas. © Mari French 2023

Thinking about the use of typography in my abstract landscape painting…

Portions of newsprint and large fonts, calligraphy and scratched lettering – I’m finding it increasingly satisfying to use these in mixed media work. Lately the challenge has been to source larger found type for recent bigger works on canvas, as the contrast in scale is important. Smaller newsprint still works as texture, but large bold lettering adds the impact I need, adding an exciting graphic element, supporting and strengthening the composition and tonal contrast. Fortunately I recently found a suitable source and swooped on it and my work table is now awash with torn out bits of newsprint.

Studio workbook with newsprint and collage. Photo © Mari French 2023.
Studio workbook with newsprint and collage. Photo © Mari French 2023.

I’ve been drawn to typography since I was a design student at Stockport College in the 1980s. I seemed to have a facility for it and loved using it as a design element in its own right.

However, recently I’ve been considering other possible roles the use of typography might be playing in my recent works; what it may be subliminally evoking:

The dialogue in my head, inner thoughts as I explore the landscape on location, and also as I conjure up my experience and impressions in the studio.

Overheard speech from other people moving through and using the same landscape – walkers, photographers, nature wardens, fishermen, shellfish farmers, etc.

The apparently wild, natural landscapes are corralled by mostly unseen by-laws, ownership and tenancy agreements, environmental legislation governing its use, and more.

The invisible incessant dialogue of phone signals, radio waves, digital information, criss-crossing the air over most landscapes, whether wireless or via masts and telegraph wires.

New work, mixed media on canvas. © Mari French 2023
Untitled new work, mixed media on canvas. © Mari French 2023

Of course I’m not suggesting the content of the lettering that I use is relevant (apart from calligraphy, the content of which comes direct from my sketchbooks). The choice is random, although I suspect certain portions of text may ring a subtle bell with me, or just intrigue me, when I select it.

The train of thought I wanted to pursue in this post though, is that almost all landscape is affected in this manner by human language and numbers of some kind; a pervasive element in some ways as worth acknowledging as weather and light. The realisation intrigues me and in some ways will continue to inform my work into the future. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the subject.

‘Clearing’, abstract woodland landscape in mixed media on canvas. © Mari French 2023
‘Clearing’, abstract woodland landscape in mixed media on canvas. © Mari French 2023

Back to the Moors …

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Sketchbook spread: Heather remains and stones, Staunton Moor, North York Moors. September 2022.

Fresh from a week away sketching in the glorious North York Moors, I’m now back in my studio working on a new series of ink/mixed media works on paper inspired by the wonderful array of textures, colours and shapes I encountered up there.

Autumn heather moorland above Rosedale, North York Moors.
© Mari French 2022.

I was staying at Rosedale Abbey, a small village about 30 minutes drive inland from Whitby on the northeast coast. I’ve stayed there before and you can read about my experiences (and see resulting work) in this post , this post and this post.
Rosedale is a beautiful peaceful valley now, with an interesting industrial past (remains of ironworks perch above it on the steep valley sides). This time though, I wanted to concentrate on the high moorland plateau, where the heather was just going over.

View towards Glaisdale Rigg, from Beacon Hill near Danby.
© Mari French 2022.

I took mainly Liquitex acrylic inks with me as I love their intensity of colour and pigment range, and a Seawhite sketchbook as I find they will take a lot of wet media and layers without disintegrating. Not sure if I’ve mentioned it before but I used to use watercolour pans while sketching outdoors, however I was often disappointed with the resulting paler, duller colours as the paint dried.
Acrylic inks give me that depth of pigment and keep it once dry, while also having the advantage of being amenable to working over with more ink or other media. The main disadvantage of course, is the heavier weight and bulk of little glass bottles of ink in my rucksack!

Bridestones, Sleights Moor, North York Moors. © Mari French 2022.
Bridestones, Sleights Moor, North York Moors. © Mari French 2022.

I love this landscape, particularly in the changing colours of the autumn. The North York Moors look deceptively flat in these photos but are actually a high plateau above deep fertile valleys. The whole moorland is a carpet of texture and colour, punctuated with waymarkers, rocky outcrops and standing stones. The russets and pinks of the fading heather contrast with dark rectangular areas of burnt ground. These are grouse moors and selective burning encourages the heather cover for the birds. I don’t agree with shooting for sport but the resulting patterns, textures and colours do provide interest for the abstract artist.

Stony Rigg, above Grosmont, North York Moors. © Mari French 2022.

Most of the week the weather was bright and sunny, great for a holiday, but a bit undramatic for my sketching at times – I get the most inspiration from dark moody skies. So I did spend a fair amount of time chasing big cloud shadows over winding moorland roads, avoiding sheep. Fortunately there is an awful lot of scenery and heart-stopping views on these stunning moors to discover. One of my favourite landscapes and no doubt I’ll be back!

View from Beacon Hill near Danby. © Mari French 2022.
Egton Moor, North York Moors. © Mari French 2022.

Towards the sun …

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Turning year. Mixed media on paper 46x60cm © Mari French 2021

Happy New Year to all my readers and welcome to my first post of this year. I hope you had a beautiful festive season and wish you a healthy, peaceful and art-filled 2022. Thanks so much for following my blog.

As the year turns, like many artists I’m reviewing my work and thinking about where to take it next. I’m now looking forward to Spring, towards the sun. In my previous post (here) I mentioned my new series of autumn sunflower paintings and wanted to share with you some of my creative process.

What caught my attention about this beautiful field of faded sunflowers as I drove past last October, was how they looked like a subdued congregation deep in thought, or a gathering of dark suns, faces now turned to the earth. I took photos and gathered a bunch of the flowers to sketch and paint back in the studio.

Work in progress on the easel © Mari French 2021

Above is one of the autumn sunflowers series still in progress on the easel, in acrylic and ink on paper. I love to paint intuitively like this – obscuring and revealing layers of acrylic paint, scoring through or spraying with water, to create lively marks – so that the result is a complex accumulation of shades, hard and soft edges, ephemeral suggestions of shapes. Sometimes these are created by wiping through the paint layers with a damp cloth. Inevitably, much of the earlier stages will be covered up (or wiped away), but this is necessary for me to create the web of colour and texture I like.

Detail of work in progress above © Mari French 2021

In the closeup crop above you can see the soft luminous light this process gives to parts of the painting. Texture is also added with the use of drier brush marks, which contrast with softer blended paint (often done with the side of my hand – it’s great to get hands-on sometimes!).
This work in progress isn’t finished yet: I want to see less of an obvious separation between the creamy yellow areas and the lower blue/green ones; the sunflower heads are spread too evenly for me and some of the smaller ones higher up need ‘knocking back’ a bit to make it less busy; and I want to bring some of that lovely subdued pink in elsewhere to balance it.

Below is ‘Constellation’, another in the series in progress, in the studio, and the finished work below that.

‘Constellation’ in progress on the easel. © Mari French 2021
Constellation. Mixed media on paper 46x60cm © Mari French 2021

Many of my studio visitors and collectors tell me that they love that they can keep coming back to an artwork and still see more in it, sometimes even after years of owning the work. This is part of what makes it worthwhile for me.

Autumn encounter. Mixed media on paper 46x60cm © Mari French 2021