Boots and Shoes

 It was a shock to realize in 1997 that I was 50 years old, and that I still had much work to do. I needed to somehow mark the occasion and considered how being 50 may be different than an earlier age. High heel boots and shoes became the symbol for me. I gathered all the wonderful shoes I could no longer wear; they were all too painful and this became a moment of recognition. I made many drawings of my shoe collection, finding ways to exaggerate their elegant but painful qualities. Like the stones, I saw they had a quiet simplicity resonating with other meanings and beautiful as well.

The leather off-cuts from the bag maker came in handy again and I made a collection of collages of shoe shapes with bindings, bandages, spikes and all manner of coverings to suggest pain in their wearing. The resulting prints in collographs, etchings and some linocuts were in small or unique state editions on paper. The collection was exhibited at Art Images Gallery, Norwood in 1998 along with the matrices of collages. I re-visited some of them recently in 2020, printing them and adding watercolours in bright cheerful colours.

Untitled Fold Down Boots 1998 Collograph Pastel 76 x 58cm
1. Untitled Fold Down Boots 1998 Collograph Pastel 76 x 58cm
1976 Empty Thigh Boots 1998 Collograph and Watercolour 76 x 56cm
1976 Empty Thigh Boots 1998 Collograph and Watercolour 76 x 56cm
1976 Italian Leather Shoes - First State 1998 Etching 43 x 61cm
1976 Italian Leather Shoes - First State 1998 Etching 43 x 61cm
1976 Italian Leather Shoes AP 1998 Etching 43 x 61cm
1976 Italian Leather Shoes AP 1998 Etching 43 x 61cm
1976 Leather Boots AP 1998 Etching 41 x 61cm
1976 Leather Boots AP 1998 Etching 41 x 61cm
1990 Paddock Boots 1998 Collograph, Watercolour 45 x 76cm
1990 Paddock Boots 1998 Collograph, Watercolour 45 x 76cm
Ankle Boot watercolour
Ankle Boot watercolour
Boot Still Life with Leather 1998 Collograph Charcoal 86 x 61cm
Boot Still Life with Leather 1998 Collograph Charcoal 86 x 61cm
Dancing Boots 1998 Collograph, Watercolour 45 x 61cm
Dancing Boots 1998 Collograph, Watercolour 45 x 61cm
Italian Shoes 1998 Collograph, Watercolour 43 x 61cm
Italian Shoes 1998 Collograph, Watercolour 43 x 61cm
Laced Boots AP 1998 Etching 57 x 76cm
Laced Boots AP 1998 Etching 57 x 76cm
My Tracks 1998 Lino Cut 61 x 89cm
My Tracks 1998 Lino Cut 61 x 89cm
Red Shoe Watercolour
Red Shoe Watercolour
Thigh Boots 1998 Collograph 86 x 61cm
Thigh Boots 1998 Collograph 86 x 61cm
Untitled (3 Shoes) 1998 Collograph 61 x 86cm
Untitled (3 Shoes) 1998 Collograph 61 x 86cm
Untitled I (Boot with Lace Saw) 1998 Mixed Media 86 x 61cm
Untitled I (Boot with Lace Saw) 1998 Mixed Media 86 x 61cm
Untitled II (Boot with Lace Saw) 1998 Mixed Media 86 x 61cm
Untitled II (Boot with Lace Saw) 1998 Mixed Media 86 x 61cm
Wrapped Shoe 1998 Collograph, Watercolour, Pastel 34 x 33cm
Wrapped Shoe 1998 Collograph, Watercolour, Pastel 34 x 33cm