Safe & Free — exploring colour, shape and space through printmaking.
Prism Joy Creatives — the studio practice of Cecily Bisshop, working with printmaking and various other mediums.
I am working as an artist, recently renewed from dilettante to an excited daily practice. I explore colour, shape and space through the infinite world of printmaking and various other mediums.
Being a member of Saturday Printmakers in Toowoomba pushes me to approach my work from unfamiliar directions, with the warm support and varied knowledge of the other members. That company keeps the practice moving — someone always knows a way I hadn't thought of.
My inspirations sit in landscape, cloudscape and seascape — the natural ecosystems imbued with life and the presence of interconnected energy. Our own interior life merges with the place we inhabit, creating a multitude of overlays, and I find the work morphs constantly as I follow that.
recent work
A small selection of prints and studies. Some are quiet colour and shape; others reach toward planets, clouds and celestial bodies. Each one is a way of holding a moment of matter and energy still enough to look at.
where the shapes come from
I have always been interested in matter — planets, universes, clouds, bubbles, ethereal space, atoms, from the smallest particles to the largest celestial bodies. I love the way planets are made: gasses of chemical matter attracted to each other, accretions slowly forming until there is mass enough to hold itself together, spinning.
Spherical and ovoid forms are the strongest shapes in nature — eggs, wombs, planets. They evolved to keep the young safe. I use that shape to hold something precious: gravitas and dense meaning, but also the lightness of joy and freedom.
A recent epiphany connected this fascination with globular bodies to a childhood that was precarious. Kept somewhere above the pain, the memory of self is golden, spherical, prismatic — all that makes us the best of who we are. That is what I explore, with elation.
how i work with printmaking
Printmaking is slow and deliberate, which suits the ideas I'm chasing. Below is roughly how a piece comes together, from a first mark to a print that feels finished.
Start with a feeling
A piece usually begins with a shape or a colour that won't leave me alone — an ovoid form, a band of sky, the pull of one mass toward another. I sketch and test until the idea is clear enough to cut or draw into a plate.
Build the plate or block
I prepare the surface the image is printed from, working the marks by hand. Printmaking rewards patience here — every line and texture in the plate carries through to the final print, so this is where most of the decisions are made.
Proof and adjust
The first prints are proofs. I check how the colour sits, how the shapes hold together, and whether the balance of gravitas and lightness is there. Often I go back and rework the plate several times before it feels right.
Print the edition
Once the image settles, I print it properly onto good paper, inking and pulling each one by hand. Because it's handmade, no two prints are ever exactly the same, and I like that small difference between them.
questions
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is Prism Joy Creatives?
- Prism Joy Creatives is my studio practice as an artist, Cecily Bisshop. I work mainly in printmaking alongside various other mediums, exploring colour, shape and space. Everything on this site comes out of that one practice.
- What kind of work do you make?
- Prints and studies inspired by landscape, cloudscape and seascape, and by the spherical and ovoid forms found throughout nature. Much of it explores planets, clouds and celestial bodies as a personal iconography. You can see a selection on the Work page.
- Can I commission a piece?
- Yes. If you have a shape, a scale or a feeling in mind, get in touch and we can talk it through. I'm happy to have a quiet conversation about what might suit before anything is committed to a plate.
- How do I buy a print or find out about availability?
- Send me an email and I'll let you know what's available and how a print is sold. Because the work is handmade in editions, availability changes over time, so it's best to ask about a specific piece.
work with me
For commissions, prints or a quiet conversation about a piece, I'd love to hear from you. There's no pressure — sometimes people just want to ask about an image, and that's fine too.