To reserve any of the new works now or while they are being created, email me at soonlee.spicer@gmail.com. Reserving one does not oblige you to buy it (you’ll obviously have to like the finished result), it just means that once the piece is finished I will contact you to check if you would like it before offering it to the public. This is how most of my work is sold.
WORK 01
Protect, Prosper, Pioneer
I recently encountered several native flowers on a walk and after reading about them I decided to group these three together in consideration of the way they respond to fire. Wild-fires will unfortunately become more frequent, and our native plants are highly vulnerable. However, they are not defenseless. Kōtukutuku, our native tree fuchsia has an ability to resprout after a fire which makes it useful as part of a green fire-break to protect other plants; Mānuka, as a relatively recent arrival from Australia, is fire adaptive, releasing its seeds in response to fire; and Tikumu, mountain daisies, are able to pioneer into spaces that have been disrupted by erosion, overfeeding or fire.
So this piece will be titled “Protect, Prosper, Pioneer”, and the composition loosely echoes the form of a flame.
The picture is the design carved into the lino, ready to print the first layer. This will be a coloured linocut, with an edition of about 16 and priced at $135 each.
WORK 02
Towards Kura Tawhiti
A happy coincidence of timing – the day that expressions of interest closed for the Castle Hill Easter Exhibition was the day after I had driven to Castle Hill/Kura Tawhiti to hold a landscape sketching workshop. I had yet again admired one of my favourite views, as you drop from Ōtāneuru/Porters Pass into a vast and almost alien basin. So it was an easy decision to create a small print of this view for the exhibition.
The image is a test print, the finished piece should look fairly similar although more refined in light, colour and line. It will be a mixture of drypoint, mono-print and linocut techniques to create a small print about 20cm wide. An edition of 12 will be created for $125 each.
WORK 03
A Gift, a Garland, a Garotte
Three plants have all fruited at my doorstep over the past month; the apples in our garden, the wild plums just down the road, and the blackberries that have infiltrated the hedgerows. All introduced to our country, they have gone on to have very different effects on our motu (nation); apples are a key part of our economy and the recent floods have highlighted the part they play in feeding and employing people. Cherry plums are intended to be decorative, and have naturalized along the roads I walk. And blackberries have become highly invasive.
This will be a linocut and as you can see, I’m still deciding on design, size, colour and pricing but do let me know if you might be interested in this one and I’ll keep you up to date.
RECENTLY FINISHED (ALL SOLD)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?
This linocut features three striking yellow flowers that all come into bloom at spring; Kōwhai, Gorse and Dandelions. This piece is part of a conversation around the way we anthropomorphize plants and imbue them with moral intentions. And how these views can shift; are dandelions a stubborn eyesore, an early food source for bees, a traditional medicine, or a sunny reminder of childhood afternoons spent outside? And how do you feel about gorse?
RECENTLY FINISHED (ALL SOLD)
Puawhānanga, Native Clematis
On forest walks I try in vain to spot our native clematis, Puawhānanga, when it is not in flower, looking for the vines and leathery leaves. But it remains invisible until suddenly, in spring, gleaming white tangles of flowers cascade and tumble down from trees and over shrubs.
This linocut seeks to portray the whiteness of the flowers emerging from dark undergrowth, achieved by choosing a very white paper and then slowly building up five layers of deepening colour. These were printed by hand from a single piece of lino which is carved away between each layer.
Soon-Lee Spicer - Artist 