- Technique -
Strataism
My work is built in layers. I use the term Strataism to describe a process of constructing an image through accumulated layers of watercolour, ink wash and thousands of individually placed ink dots 0.01 mm to 0.4 mm using fibre tip ink pens. The name comes from stratum, meaning one of a series of layers or levels within an ordered structure.
Rather than relying on a single medium, each layer performs a different role. Watercolour establishes atmosphere and underlying colour. Ink washes develop depth and tonal structure. Fine ink dots are then gradually built across the surface to create texture, form, detail and shifts in light.
The process draws from both stippling and pointillism, but is not strictly either. Traditional stippling generally creates tone through the black density of marks, while pointillism uses individual points of colour that visually combine when viewed from a distance. My work moves between these principles, using changes in colour, spacing, density and scale while retaining the physical character of every mark.
Up close, the surface breaks apart into thousands of individual decisions. From a distance, those marks resolve into feathers, fur, skin, stone, shadow and landscape.
This layered method is particularly suited to the natural subjects that dominate my work. A bird's feather, the muscle structure of a horse, the rough surface of bark or the changing colours of an Australian landscape can all be built gradually, one stratum at a time.
For me, the technique is not simply about making an image from dots. It is about allowing an image to accumulate slowly through structure, repetition and layers.
Stippling
Stippling was invented by Giulio Campagnola in about 1510, the ancient technique of Stippling has been popularly used in the fields of engraving and sculpture.
Aboriginal Dot Technique
My work is sometimes mistaken for Aboriginal dot painting because of its use of repeated dots. However, the techniques and cultural origins are very different.
My practice developed from Western traditions of stippling and pointillism, combined with watercolour, ink washes and my own layered process, which I call Strataism.
Aboriginal art encompasses many distinct artistic traditions belonging to Aboriginal peoples, communities and Country. Dot painting in particular can carry cultural, historical and symbolic meanings specific to those traditions.
Pointillism
Stippling is often confused with the similar process known as Pointillism developed in 1886. The major distinction between the two is that stippling uses a single colour whereas the latter can be created with multiple colours like George Seuret’s famous painting “Sunday on the Island of La Grande Jatte.”
