Ever heard of the rock cycle? It’s a model of how rocks are formed, get weathered, get deposited, get pushed down to the centre of the Earth and come back up as igneous rocks. Here’s a nice visual. All models are an abstraction. Usually the simpler the model, the further from reality it is. There are lots of different paths and time frames in the rock cycle. But one thing you won’t see is cobbles becoming mountains without passing Go or collecting 200 bucks.
But I did it anyway.
I found some rocks in my garden, things I’d picked up over the years with interesting textures. I coated them with latex to create a mould. You have to brush on at least five or six thin layers to create a mould that’s strong enough to work with. I did mine on a hot sunny day, so the layers dried quickly. Then leave it for about a day or at least overnight before you remove the mould. You should probably let it air out and cure otherwise it will become tacky and stick to itself. It will look like some kinda weird sloughed-off skin. If you ever applied white glue to your fingers and then made little weird fingerprints and enjoyed it, you’ll love this process.
Then Mark and I found some outlines of mountains, chose where we’d put the faults (yeah, these are made up mountains, but y ou can’t just go CRAZY) and I made a collagraph – basically a construction that you print from. Both skies are chine collé, watercolour paintings on thin paper glued to the support paper. But the mountains are printed directly from the plate, which was thick enough to leave a nice emboss on the paper. I made a sunset and daytime version. I have to say that the the overall look of the mountains were probably a bit inspired by these more realistic drypoint etchings from southern Israel, but are entirely fantasy. I did look at a lot of sunsets over the Negev.
I made the shape to fit a specific spot I have in my kitchen. We did some rearranging and a gorgeous oil painting of an Irish cottage no longer physically fit the space. It’s wide and thin. I took some flack in my art class for designing a picture for a space, but hey… why not? I didn’t compromise on anything. And why not let the space inform the constraints of the work.
I still need to frame it, but I’m looking forward to seeing the daytime version on my wall.
