Lynne Blackburn

I make abstract monoprints, often involving text, using a silkscreen as the matrix and either painting directly onto it, exposing hand drawn or painted marks, or using simple torn paper stencils. The substrate is integral to the work and I like to make use of off-cuts of various papers I have in the studio, the back of used paper, or vintage papers – all of which come with a ‘built-in’ history which I feel adds to the concept and depth of the work.

Making art is, and has always been, my way of processing emotion. The process of creation allows me to pause, clear my mind and find space for thought, meditation and transcendence. I’m interested in themes of aging and the passing of time; feelings of impermanence brought about by loss, grief and absence and my attempts to come to terms with these issues and to rebuild, recreate, piece together and grow.

The prints usually happen in series’ with each individual piece developing in its own way during the process of painting, printing, layering, collaging and mark-making. I allow the prints to lead me as they progress while looking for relationships and tension to arise between the printed shapes and the empty space around them or the surface and texture of the substrate or manipulated collaged papers. I encourage ‘mistakes’ by letting the ink bleed under the stencil, or allowing the ink to dry in the screen to cause a solid shape to become faded – ghostly & ephemeral, suggesting the transitory nature of everything.