Canadian Connections

I have just returned from a holiday in Canada.  My husband and I were spending time with my family as well as a bit of touring just a few small bit of this vast country.  It was great to spend some time at the family cottage with my cousins Kate and Helen who are also both artists.  So you can imagine some of the conversations that took place about making work, trying to sell work and all the ups and downs it involves.

A week later we were walking in Algonquin Park, Ontario an area that inspired The Group of Seven, Canada’s own impressionists, educated in Europe but who returned home to develop their own unique views and language of this wilderness area in the early 20^th Century.   It is a spectacular landscape and would be a privilege to be able to observe it through the year rather than just be satisfied with the quick snapshot we were able to enjoy.

Returning to Toronto we stopped at the McMichael Collection and saw some of the paintings that landscape have inspired, alongside more contemporary visions and works from Native artists.  Back in Toronto Kate took us to see The Square Foot show, where as it says in the title all the works are a square foot on size, and Kate and Helen were both showing.  A rich and varied selection that really required more than one viewing, as they were tightly displayed with so much to look at, from floor to ceiling.

Whilst Canada is a country that does not get mentioned much in the art press here, it has its own rich history of art and a vibrant contemporary scene that are well worth investigating if you have the chance.

A few views from Algonquin

 

  

Going Large

Over the last few months I have been gradually working on some larger prints, using the same monoprinting techniques that I have used in my recent work.  However working at a larger scale introduces all sorts of additional challenges.

The first aspect was accessing the equipment in the studio to see what was feasible.  Some of the larger screens had not been used for a while so needed a bit of sprucing up to get ready.  Then the squeegees, what sizes were available, there was one at 90cm long and that proved to be the determining factor in the maximum size that could be printed. 

So I prepared a screen and exposed an 85 x 85 cm square to work with for the monoprinting area, as the squeegee needs to extend beyond the area being printed.  The smaller prints I had been working on before we just 30 x 30 cm so this was quite an increase.  Also required were larger brushes – off to the DIY store for some 3 & 4 inch brushes.

An image with two layers of colour already printed

Working at this size to start with was also a bit intimidating, it is a large area to cover and you need to be quite quick so the ink does not dry before printing.  With the screen on the printing bed, I could only just reach the top of the image when painting.  It also took a few tries to get the printing action right with a full even image across the pull.

The screen ready to print with the third layer of colour

So it was a case of persevering with it but I got there in the end and will be showing a couple of canvases at our Summer Exhibition which opens this Friday evening.

'A Certain Kindness'

Mono-printing Workshop

Dorset Art Weeks are continuing here at Othona. We have now have about 350 visitors over 5 days so everyone is still very upbeat about how the event is going.

While the Exhibition is going on everyday life at Othona continues so there are some residential visitors staying for the week, enjoying all the benefits that the place provides. As part of this weeks stay they have had the chance to get involved with some artistic activities. On Monday morning Elizabeth led a drawing session and yesterday I led a monoprinting workshop. Seven people enjoyed experimenting with some monoprinting and making use of some local foliage and seaweed to print from as well as more conventional textured paper or mark making along the way.

Everyone hard at work

We worked in the Art Room, which is a wooden hut in the grounds, which is now over 20 years old and getting a little past its sell by date, though still proving a light and airy place to work in. Plans are in place to replace it soon with a new slightly larger and environmentally sensitive building that can be used more flexibly. Money raised from the exhibition will heading towards the building fund.

This weeks guests will be off tomorrow and then some families will be staying over half-term and they will get the chance to transform the outside of the art room by painting a mural.

Dorset Art Weeks

I am now enjoying the sunshine on the Jurrasic Coastline near Burton Bradstock as I am lucky enough to be taking part in the Dorset Art Weeks at the Othona Community.  I am a regular visitor to Othona as it is a wonderful place to recharge my batteries and at times concentrate on some new drawings.  The place has had an integral part in the development of my work, so it was a great pleasure to be invited to show here alongside four other artists. 

We have made use of the chapel and library as exhibition space and have been able to show about 100 pieces of work between us.  Certainly I have never had the chance to show many pieces at once so it has been both daunting and exciting to do so.  At one point I was not quite sure if I would be able to pack everything into the car but it all managed to fit.

We allowed ourselves a couple of days to hang and prepare which went quite quickly but without being too pressured.  Last night we had a preview evening before opening our doors to the public this morning.

So we are here until the 10^th of June with cream teas each afternoon so I'll have to go easy on those or there maybe an expanding waistline to go with the suntan.

The other artists showing are Sue Kemp, Edward Robinson, Elizabeth Sayers and Mart Tebbs.

Display in the Chapel

Two of my drawings either side of a triptich by Edward Robinson

Drawings and miniprints in the library

 

Brenda Hartill

Last Thursday we were treated to a fascinating talk by Brenda Hartill about her work and the techniques that she uses to print her collographs and etching.  She brought along a number of prints including a few example or her early etchings which displayed a high quality of draughtsmanship and an eye for the unusual.  

The natural 3-dimensional element of etching prints led to experimentation further with using etching and embossing plates within one work to give a print with enhanced texture.  This interest evolved into the more developed use of all in one collograph plates and developing her own inking methods to produce her distinctive works of today.

She also explained how a nearly disastrous though accidental use of some neat nitric acid took her work in a new direction.  The plates had been severely eroded but were left with some intriguing marks.  So she took the remaining bits of these plates and glued them onto plates coated with carborundum to produce prints that had rich deep backgrounds and intriguing abstract elements floating in the foreground.

Brenda finished her presentation with a very informative video that showed how her plates were inked up ready for printing. A process that it evidently lengthy and complex but produces some fabulous results.  Overall if was a fascinating evening and Brenda was very generous in sharing her methods and ideas of printmaking.

The Surrey Open Art Competition

The Lightbox in Woking is currently hosting the Surrey Open Art Competition which takes place there every two years.  I am happy to say that my entry, along with those of six other members of Ochre Studios were accepted and are now on display until 13th May.

Just over 60 works were chosen from around 300 entries so the studio has done well so have so many representatives.

The work I entered is below, it is a silkscreen monoprint on canvas.

#799

A Bit Dotty

Hi, I realise it has been a little while since I have written, not for the lack of working probably just the opposite.  It has been a hectic time, working on some large images, trying out a few new ideas and taking part in a wood cut course.  Not to mention a birthday trip to see the David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy, definitely worth a visit if you get the chance.

I will return to some of these themes at a later date, but to start with here are some of the new ideas I have been playing with.  I have always been fascinated by playing with visual perception.  How manipulation of lines and shapes can change the feel of the surface.  With my drawings the surface is very one dimensional, but by using printing it is possible to repeat layers, offsetting slightly and that then builds up the image surface creating more dimensions. 

The image show some little experiments with these ideas, currently pinned to the studio wall.  They use both positive and negative versions of the same drawing.  Changing the colours of the image and background and the amount of shift can make a significant difference to the final images.  In the bottom right I tried rotating the basic image between prints and again a whole new feel results. 

This is definitely an area that I will be exploring further.