AL REFFELL - blog

make ink..

1/4/2020

Inspired by Jason Logan's book 'Make Ink'. Each piece is a 'colour map' of a walk - plants foraged on that walk made into ink (and one from my garden - black tulip was an accidental and magical find..). Currently drawn to a circular shape as it has a cross-sectional, specimen or 'culture' look about it. Also the walks are always circular. Water used to lay the ink down is from water sources on each walk. The inks are dropped into this space and then make their own journey across/into it. Interact/react with each other. Mesmerising to watch. Unpredictable. Self-expressive materials. I set up the form - the colours from each walk tell their own story...

Bishopstone Glen and coast 28/12/19 sea water, oak gall, bladderwrack, wild parsley, iron.

East Blean Woods 01/01/20 stream water, elderberry, acorn cup, oak gall, holly berry.

East Blean Woods 30/12/19 stream water, oak gall, holly berry, acorn cup, oak bark.

Beltinge to Reculver 03/01/20 sea water, rosehip, elderberry, acorn cup, black tulip.

East Blean Woods 31/12/19 stream water, oak gall, black tulip, holly berry

East Blean Woods 04/01/20 stream water oak cup, oak gall.

oak apple and more..

8/4/2019

Oak apples - also known as oak galls - ar e the result of parasitic wasps laying eggs in various parts of the oak and the tree responds by producing abnormal growth around the egg and developing larvae which is the gall. These galls have a high tannin content and it is this feature which has led to their use in the manufacture of ink. Its use can be traced back at least to Roman times and was used right up until the 20th century.

Tannin alone produces brown liquid, but with the addition of iron oxide turns deep black I read. Iron oxide can literally be produced by steeping rusty nails in water. So I try it all out. Crushed oak gall inks soaked in water for a couple of weeks - rusty nails the same (crushing not necessary). Filter both liquids and combine. Sure enough I have a strong black liquid. Gum arabic to thicken and bind. Now I have ink. Relatable chemistry.

mushroom paper form

7/28/2019

Moulded mushroom paper layers. Torn edges dipped in oak gall ink. Stitched with embroidery thread. Form inspired by mushroom polypores, bracket fungus, wasp nest and the luminous mosses of the woods..

mushrooms..

7/21/2019

Birch Polypore

Making mushroom paper and starting to explore natural inks..

ink..

7/17/2019

Stepping away from the digital I have been experimenting with mark making. As an attempt to express something about the wild places I love. With the inquiry - how can I interpret these places? My feeling about these places? I start with ink and water and a line made by a feather quill. It carries a quality of mark making that other tools lack. I become mesmerised by the completely unpredictable interactions between ink and water..

WildLife

5/26/2016

WildLife
This past year or so I have become a creature of the woods, retreating into this damp and luminous place which wraps itself around me like a friend.
I watch the wildlife and it watches me. Sometimes I think there is mutual curiosity. I wonder about their experience of me, of their world.
My approach to this project has been to enquire into aspects of myself through a series of playful wildlife self-portraits with accompanying ‘identification’ swatch book. They are based (mostly…) on the creatures I encounter in these woods and are inspired by imagination, fact, folklore, poetry and prose - and by what I am continuously learning about myself from watching the wildlife that is in me….

above image: Nicholas Godsell

My first attempt at creating a lightbox to exhibit WildLife series. The series was exhibited with a play on wildlife 'identification' cards in swatch book style - hung next to the images to accompany and create something a little interactive - search for the creature and read the interpretation... View the full series HERE

repetition...

2/22/2016

" Repetition is forgetting in its most spellbinding form.." (Adam Phillips ' On Flirtation')
This leapt off the page - impressed upon me on many levels...there is more to say on this but for now I seem to have forgotten what it is...

Carved rubber stamp print

Mixed media (print, collage, drawing)

waldeinsamkeit

2/21/2016

Waldeinsamkeit (n. german)
woodland/forest solitude; the feeling of being alone in the woods

East Blean winter woods from al reffell on Vimeo.

the uses of enchantment..

2/20/2016

Exploring other selves...

'The love of a lonely wolf,
full of secrets and strange midnights-
drawn out of the darkness
from hills thick with black oaks
valleys riddled with riddlles-
that love is sharper than a bed of thistles;
each kiss pares away flesh

The love of a wolf
can eat you up all the better.'

Sandra Kasturi

Sandra Kasturi

rewilding...

1/30/2016

'InstaStag' AlReffell

' Homo Capitalistus' (Museum of the Future) AlReffell

"Since ancient times the near impenetrable forest in which we get lost has symbolized the dark, hidden, near-impenetrable world of our unconscious. If we have lost the framework which gave structure to our past life and must now find our way to become ourselves, and have entered this wilderness with an as yet undeveloped personality, when we succeed in finding our way out we shall emerge with a much more highly developed humanity."The Uses Of Enchantment: The Meaning And Importance of Fairy Tales, Bruno Bettelheim.
The wilderness we find ourselves lost in now is not that of the ecologically, resource-rich forest environment but the ecologically deserted, resource-depleted late-capitalist desert - degraded on all levels...
Rewild verb, present participle: rewilding
restore (an area of land) to its natural uncultivated state (used especially with reference to the reintroduction of species of wild animal that have been driven out or exterminated)

How would a possible future look if we stepped out of the social political environmental wilderness that we now inhabit - into a rewilded environment - mapped our way into a wilderness which supports life..reclaiming our inner and outer environment from a death-oriented (dis)enchantment to a life-oriented enchantment.
How would we look as a species now to our future rewilded selves?