Bronwyn Brady, ‘From the Lookout’, 2014

Black ink and salt on paper

150cm x 94cm

This work developed in response to British landscape painter John Virtue’s urban scenes.  I was inspired to explore his ink techniques to create organic and abstract shapes, which I have united reflecting the natural landscape.  The landscape I chose is a lookout point in bushland near my childhood home.

I have minimized my involvement as much as possible to allow ink and water to speak for themselves.  Instead of brushwork, the process involved watercolour techniques such as wet on wet, sponging, dripping, flicking, dropping, using salt, and reserving areas with masking fluid.  The process was also shaped by material difficulties with different papers yielding unpredictable results, as well as practical limitations of working with paper at this scale.