I've been thinking a lot about colour in the last week or so as I was immersed in these beautiful sandstones tones at Aireys Inlet. I could just look at the blues of the ocean and sky and these gorgeous sandstone cliffs forever. There's also something about the autumn light which begins to put a more gentle feel to things in Australia at this time of year.
Anyway, as I was saying, colour.....I've been thinking about the colours I'm drawn to using in my work and even the ones I wear. And also how colours are made. It came up again over the weekend when I went to a briefing for the Arnhem Land Weavers trip I'm doing later in winter. We saw some amazing photos of the women weavers cooking up colour from the earth to dye their pandanas leaves before weaving them into glorious baskets. All those swirling earthy colours in the pots looked so rich and almost edible. Yum!
I find mixing colours to print (woodblock print, lino block print or screen print) really very challenging. I know I love a dirty colour (picture dirty red, dirty green, dirty blue); to me a good measure of black in there just seems to help ground the colour. I'm on the hunt for some good colour recipes so if you know of any or where to find some please feel free to share. I'd also love to hear what colours you're drawn to. Fluros anyone?
