ABOUT THE ARTWORK
2011
Pen and ink
A3
Most Victorians know of Miss Marple’s Tea Room - and a good number will have eaten there at some point. It is one of the iconic places to visit in the Dandenong Ranges on the outskirts of Melbourne. Generations of people have stopped in there to partake in a Devonshire Tea and drink in the quaint English ambience and memorabilia from Agatha Christy’s detective stories featuring her much-loved sleuth, Miss Marple.
Growing up in Ferntree Gully, at the base of the Dandenongs, Miss Marple’s Tea Room was a very familiar sight on family outings. In 2011, I set pen to paper (a 0.1 fineliner pen) to capture the iconic building. Of all the different media that I use, fineliner pen allows for the finest of details. Images, tones and textures are created using lines, dots and squiggles. The closer together the marks - the darker the tone. Varying the size and shape of the marks creates different textures. The more detail that is packed into an artwork, the longer it will tend to take to create. Hence, fineliner drawings take longer than most other media that I use. While it takes more time and can be intensive, working with fineliner is an enjoyable process - the rhythmic strokes of the pen can be quite therapeutic.
I took the photo that the drawing was based on back when I was studying Visual Arts at the University of Melbourne. This was before Digital photography had really taken and I developed the film and printed the photo myself in the darkroom in the Arts Centre building. ‘Miss Marple’s Tea Room’ shows the building when the front posts were covered in ivy (it has since been removed). A couple of patrons can be seen in the window seats - warming themselves in the cozy interior and no doubt partaking in some of the tea room’s specialities. The artwork invites the viewer in.
This is one of my most favourite artworks of mine. It was definitely one of, if not the most, technically challenging things I’ve attempted. I love it for its detail, nostalgia and all that it conjures up of warm hospitality and fellowship.
This image will be printed on Hahnemühle Photo Rag® paper (308 gsm) to best suit the original medium.