Last workshop this academic year, especially tailored for the completion of our journals or/and sketch books: printing with foam stencils, taught by the fabulous Sara Wicks!

I was reminded how quick and versatile printing can be. The other lovely quality of this kind of printing is that any 'mistakes' can be corrected, or beautified, by carrying on printing on top of it. So, any accident becomes a new opportunity for something new and creative. Thank you, Sara.

Last, not least: the simple stencil shapes remind me of HAB Grieshaber's prints even though his preferred medium was woodcut. I can see something almost 'primitive' in these shapes and figures, and yet they are very striking and telling a clear story.

It's strange to see one's work in a different context! My 'sphere' looks suddenly small, compared to when it was hanging high up in the studio space. Can I detect a hint of disappointment?

By sheer chance I saw how the light transformed a couple of ripped off and curled up Sellotape scraps into intriguing layers of grey tones. These are just a couple of quick and rather blurred snapshots to capture the moment:

 

The simple and cheap pleasures of life!

Trying to be productive at home: organising files, preparing and binding book, catching up with journal work, emails and much more.

 

I wish I'd done this long time ago! Typical procrastination, but better now than never.

Time has flown by, including Easter and a time being unwell. However, one of the highlights has been a visit to a tiny gallery in a small country town in the south west of Germany. The Hirtwirtscheuer in Künzelsau exhibits Josef Hirthammer: Alles Natur.

I had never heard of Hirthammer before and very much liked what I saw. One of his main concerns is our lost sense for nature. For his sculptures, he often uses two different kinds of media together, eg flower petals and wax, wax and concrete, wax and wood.

Ergänzung 3 (Complementation 3): wax, concrete, nature (2015)

The petals are sorted and preserved, either in wax or in clear fluid.

Colours of nature (2011-2013)

His seed pods are enormous in size.

Big nature: styrodur, 300 cm x 200 cm x 40 cm

One of my favourite installations was this:

Blue pieces of happy nature: wax and flower petals (since 1995)

Detail

The hues of blue and grey, including seeds and petals cast in the top layer of each block of wax, looked like a precious collection of metal. The shape of each piece, long and rectangular, gave the impression of something man-made, which seems to contradict the fact that the focus and concern of Hirthammer's art is nature.

The exhibition encourages me to carry on experimenting with the combination of different materials.