I recently found this description of ‘experimenting with line’ in a book written by Gemma Guasch and Josep Asuncion, with the most appropriate title ‘Line’

“The painter, when she decides to experiment with line, goes deeply into the work of self-acknowledgement. This is done first through gesture, by which the artist liberates her own energy and with it her passion, desires and fears. Gesture is the hallmark that reveals the artist’s personality, their personal view of the world. Second, through the dialogue with matter, the artist integrates the message contained in the gesture.”

It is line and gestural line that draws my attention every time and a key part of my art practice.

With hindsight line is a thread that has been running through my work in some shape or form since I started creating ‘leaf lines’ , stitched lines and infinity nets in my textile work …. finding these images proved quite a trip down memory lane!

It has strongly re-emerged in my collages and mixed media painting. In the ‘Songs from the Garden’ collages the lines are the star and there is a freshness and freedom I find very pleasing.

You can see a collection of this series of work HERE.

When I made a move to work on larger canvasses recently, I lost that freedom and freshness and the lines became somewhat lost!

A return to playing with gestural line in the February Project with India Flint helped me recognise that my intention is to keep the freshness, freedom and a sense of wildness in my work, with the focus on line. This project led to me marking gestural play part of my studio sessions. I now work on a large sheet of paper, making marks and gestural lines, in an intuitive way to start my studio practice.

Below is my February project in book form ….