Snowdrops
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Hi, my name is Dianne Gutteridge. I live in the beautiful West Gippsland area in Victoria, and enjoy living in a medium sized town with huge rural views. The best of both worlds really.
Whilst on an overseas posting in Taiwan in the early 2000’s my first interest in art was realised. I learnt chinese brush painting - grinding and mixing the paints and inks and the subtle intricacies of design and form. A few years later and another posting before heading home to Melbourne. After settling in, I did a CAE course in botanical art and watercolour painting. I think looking back, that this had always been my passion. I enjoy nature and the little things of beauty to be found there and it satisfies my interest to be able to interpret and paint it in detail. This year, after a hiatus with family commitments, I have experimented with a long held desire to learn screen printing. I have never been interested in computer generated images, but always wanted to be able to use my sketches of nature, plants, animals and flowers in my designs. Hence, I have started to make hand drawn screen prints of these images. I love natural fibres, silk, fine gauzy cottons and linens. I have experimented with hand dyeing backgrounds and then screen printing. In the last six months I have started to print on linen, which is ever evolving and is very exciting. Of course the difference in texture and weave in textiles leads to a difference in the printing process too. I am hoping to continue to develop my style in this area and to also experiment with other textiles and patterns. There are many challenges in having one’s own business. I think importantly it is to stay in touch with what people want whilst staying true to your own design style. I particularly like the fact that I can spend days or weeks working on a new idea and not be held to deadlines etc. I think it frees up your mind to be creative when an idea strikes and then to take a break when you need to. I just love what I do!! |
