Helen Cook | Experimental

Experimental

This series of watercolour paintings is an experiment in pushing the boundaries of watercolour. I am combining wax resists, painting loosely with granulating pigments and an extreme amount of water, and watercolour frottage, using plants from my garden to emboss the page.

All of these works are painted in reaction to natural processes that I let develop. I am not prescribing an image from the beginning, but am allowing the image to develop slowly as I add layers.

Watercolour using transparent pastel resist to form round shapes giving the impression of a pair of tornadoes, or an octopus

Watercolour using transparent pastel resist to form round shapes giving the impression of looking up into a 5 cornered tent, or into the petals of a petunia.

Watercolour using transparent pastel resist to form round shapes giving the impression of the underside of a bolete mushroom

Watercolour frottage in the shape of tomato sepals, formed from dried tomato vines

Watercolour frottage in the shape of a tomato leaf, formed from dried tomato vines

Watercolour frottage of a tomato plant in red and green, reverse side

Watercolour frottage of a tomato plant in brown

Watercolour frottage of a plant inverted to look like roots

Watercolour frottage of a tomato plant in blue and orange

An abstract painting of a lake at sunset, glowing in an impressionist manner

An abstract painting of blue and brown pigment running from the sides of the page towards the middle. A pale blue dot is on the left, and a glowing crescent is on the right.

An abstract painting of blue and brown pigment running from the sides of the page towards the middle.

An abstract painting of a purple and yellow background with lines carved into the paper, taken from medieval graffiti found in a church in Kingston

An abstract painting of a purple sky and drybrushed greenish, spindly clouds

An abstract painting using line that's carved into the paper to resemble an egg shape, on a maroon and blue background