Humus Ink Drawings
I have made a really robust humus ink from the compost, which creates a range of values and is an interesting sepia colour. It was surprisingly easy to do, just mucky and required turning the compost upside down, straining the goo that came out and that was it. Straining it further through muslin really helped (forgot to video it) as it smells much less and is less lumpy. Clearly I have no idea what will happen to the ink over time and exposed to light but whatever the nature of it will have to be OK, as the whole idea around the CH is around regeneration and impermanence so creating archival humus ink is an oxymoron.
The first attempts at the drawings were a bit contrived but I enjoyed working with the humus ink and the marks created were of interest. I am definitely keen to continue on this vein but I need to find a better process for the actual drawing element. I felt a bit lost about how to make marks and it felt a bit self conscious, which as a first attempt is fine.
Next attempt involved putting lumps of compost directly onto the paper and allowing the exuding humus to sink into the paper. The results are interesting and it reminded me of the work of one of the MA Art and Science pieces at the Interim show - image below left. The student’s name was Julian Udine and I really enjoyed talking to her about her process and I related to her challenges around irregular edges and relevant hanging apparatus. She printed with stones found in the Mediterranean by rolling them across the canvas and then drew round the printed marks. I felt personally that the canvas might have been more integrated into the piece and that would be an important part of the puzzle for me: to create drawings using materials entirely from the CH. Udine’s piece felt to me authentic and beautiful and it was possibly the only piece in the Interim show that left a mark for me.
Another artist whose work is of interest with these drawings is Mairin Hartt’s drawings that reference microscopic cross sections of human tissue. There is clearly an aesthetic I have in mind, although I would have told you I didn’t have an aesthetic in mind until I started writing this. I like the scientific layer of these works and I keep making reference to the science of the CH although I have been deferentially keeping to my side of the fence. Maybe it’s time to climb over it…
Process video of the compost lumps directly on paper. The paper does need to be fairly robust and the paper sheets I have made definitely would not stand up to the soggy goo, which is a challenge for another day. For now, I am interested in how to develop the drawings visually now that they are dry and the marks are visible. I really, really enjoyed this process and I like the way that the marks have created themselves. I am now wondering about drawing into them with the humus ink or even commercially available ink such as acrylic just to see what it does. Clearly acrylic ink isn’t authentic to the CH but I do want to make visually interesting drawings so i will try various approaches and if the visual transpires to be something I want to pursue then I will have to figure out how to make a wider range of inks from the CH.