Lately, I’ve been exploring the intersection between analogue and digital through a new body of abstract collage work. What begins on my studio table with layered gelli prints ends up evolving into richly textured compositions in Photoshop — a dialogue between the tactile and the screen-based.
The base of each piece starts with gelli printing, a monoprinting method I love for its spontaneity and mark-making potential. I use acrylic paints and masks (often handmade stencils, leaves, or textured materials), building up layers of colour, texture, and transparent shapes. Once dry, I scan the prints at a high resolution — capturing all the subtle surface details, imperfections, and textures that make them so special.
From there, I move into Photoshop, where the real layering magic begins. I treat the scanned prints as raw material — cropping, rotating, and masking fragments to create a new digital composition. The physicality of the gelli textures gives the collage a sense of depth, even in a flat medium. It’s this blend of analogue and digital that excites me — using organic, hand-pulled marks to build something structured and contemporary.
Each work becomes a kind of puzzle. I often use geometric grids, overlapping frames, and subtle transparencies to guide the layout. Sometimes the original form of the print is recognisable; other times it becomes abstracted completely, taking on a new life.
This hybrid process allows me to combine the unpredictability of printmaking with the precision and flexibility of digital tools. It also opens up a world of possibilities — from fine art prints to animations and motion graphics down the track.
I see these works as a continuation of my broader practice: balancing spontaneity and structure, tactility and clarity, memory and invention. The scanned gelli prints hold traces of the studio — paint edges, fingerprints, torn paper — and I love how those moments carry through into the final digital piece.