Art Steps by Al Munro

Hi, my name is Al Munro and I am an artist who lives and works on Ngunnawal and Ngambri land, which is also known as the ACT.

In my art practice I am interested in colour, space and pattern and how these things can work together.

Colour is always my starting point and I love the way colours come together to create a painting, a print or a weaving. I even find it interesting to use colours that make me feel a bit yucky and I often ask myself why I feel that way. Do you have a favourite colour? Is there a colour that you don’t really like? Are there some colour combinations that make you feel calm? Or happy? And are there some that make you feel excited or even uncomfortable?

I use colours to create spaces in my paintings – colours help me to create shapes that seem to sit on top or behind each other. I really like the way that some colours in a painting seem to come forward and some seem to go backwards.

And I like how the one colour can have examples that are dark or light or bright or dull or vibrant or pale or gloomy. I like looking at the ocean which sometimes is a bright blue, sometimes a dull gloomy blue, sometimes a pale, shimmery blue, and sometimes a dark and scary blue. All these different versions of the one colour help me think about how different colours can work in my paintings. Sometimes I like to paint with different versions of one colour to create spaces and shapes in my paintings. Even using variations of a single colour can offer so many possibilities!

Activity

1. Look around you for objects that are different colours. Name all the colours you can see. Can you see any objects that are the same colour, but still different? For example, you might look at some leaves which are green, but each leaf is a different sort of green. You might have a dark green and a light green leaf, or a bright green leaf and a dull green leaf. See how many examples you can find of colours that are the same but a bit different. Think of words to describe the different colours you find. The words might be about how the colour makes you feel or how it looks.

2. Find some coloured paper and some scissors and glue. Choose 2 or 3 colours and find as many examples of these colours as you can. If you don’t have sheets of coloured paper, you can use scrap paper from magazines, catalogues or wrapping paper, or even coloured fabric. Or you can paint some colours onto paper and use these when they are dry.

3. Cut out lots of different sized circle shapes in different colours. They don’t have to be accurate circles, so don’t worry too much about getting them perfect. The main thing is that you have a variety of sizes and colours.

4. Choose a group of 5-6 circles. You might choose circles in different shades of the same colour, or a variety of colours.

5. Glue the largest circle onto a sheet of paper or card. Then arrange and glue the remaining circles on top from largest to smallest.

6. If you have more circles left over, repeat this process to make a series of circle collages.

7. Once you have made a circle collage, or even a few collages, put your artwork somewhere so that you can stand a bit away from it to look at it. What colours look brightest? What colours look darker or duller? Do some of the colours seem to sit forward in the collage? Or do some seem to sit in the background? What combinations of coloured circles do you like best? Why is this?