Scrolling

Thin Ice - WIP - scroll artist book

I’ve been stitching and scrolling. The anticlimax of a cyclone has kept my creative juices almost in paralysis. I catch myself scrolling mindlessly, it’s a self sabotaging activity which has kept me in the doldrums, a hard place to break out of.

I figured if I’m scrolling I might as well harness that energy and start work on my scroll artist book. I’ve had it on the side of my studio desk waiting for the right time to start. When I unrolled the cyanotype rice paper scroll, I found that there were very noticeable ridge creases in it.

I’d spent some time mending clothes with strange bird feet type stitches which remined me of cracked ice. Perfect for this project. Once I started stitching on the ridges of the paper, the words suggested themselves and the stitches became cracks in the ice.

Starting from that point led to collaging white tissue paper on the blue cyanotype print. I had tried out this technique to reconfigure other Iceland/Greenland inspired artworks and found that the transparency of glued tissue allowed the blue to come through like icebergs and icefloes.

Also on the other side of my studio bench were two square canvases which were half finished but I hadn’t worked out what to do next. They were the perfect size for the upcoming 30x30cm group show Micro 30 at Gallery 3 in Byron Bay so I stopped stitching and started playing with them.

I applied some tissue paper to them and was happy with the results. Adding the small square 10x10cm collages on top completed the artworks and they were ready to go. Back to the scroll book.

I’ve found that having a couple of projects on the go at the same time keeps the energy flowing. When I get stuck on one piece I can move to the other and they ‘talk’ to each other in some way, suggesting ways of resolution. A bit like scrolling but being an active participant rather than a passive consumer.

The scroll is still a work in progress as I unravel the blue paper it becomes melt and flood. I’m not sure yet about what form the next bit of stitching will take. I think of the way the climate is all connected. What happens in the polar regions has implications for us worldwide. Glaciers calving and ice cracking are natural occurrences. However the melt rate has accelerated through a combination of factors; higher temperatures, more melt equals more heat reflecting, creating more heat and more melt.

We’ve really noticed the warmer waters this summer, with an increase in jellyfish and more turbulent surf conditions. Add in a cyclone with possible flooding and the next words in the scroll book suggest themselves. We’ll see how it all unravels.

Ice Floes 2025 30x30cm. Mixed medium cyanotype collage on canvas

Ice Reflections 30x30cm. Mixed medium cyanotype collage on canvas