My good friend and excellent ceramic artist, Marianne Cole and I decided to hold an open studio for the public at my home studio. Marianne lived one valley away in Crafers West where her studio was located. She brought her pottery to display and sell while I covered the walls with my new prints and drawings. Her bowls, vessels and containers were remarkable in that they were in beautiful colours with fine delicate surfaces and completely resolved as sophisticated art works.
My response to them led to the beginning of a new series of prints. Marianne's works reminded me of the stones of my earlier works. In a way it became a collaboration as her forms led to a vehicle to carry my newly developed techniques of collograph printmaking. I also tried roller blends on flat perspex to suggest the three dimensions of pottery.
Gradually an entire new series emerged as simple still life arrangements in various setting along with stone like shapes and dynamic triangular vessels forms. The collections of finished prints, usually as unique states were shown widely and Marianne and I shared several exhibitions. One was in Sydney at the Ceramic Gallery as well as SALA Open Studio days. My prints from this series continued throughout the years, often as a way of developing new technical ideas within a pleasing and decorative format.
Recently I have printed some lovely bowls onto Japanese hand made papers which give the bowls a textured and rich surface. I also developed the jig saw method in these prints leading to some surprising new developments.
