Printmakers Council at Fifty

Last year the Printmakers Council celebrated its 50^th Anniversary.  I have been a member for the last five years and have been able to participate in a number of exhibitions organised by the group.  Last year to celebrate the anniversary the Council organised a number of events to mark the occasion.

These included the publication of a book, ‘Making an Impression’, an Exhibition at the Bankside Gallery and a mini-print portfolio.  I had a print accepted for the mini-print portfolio (shown below) this was exhibited at the main exhibition and then 2 copies of the edition of 5 were included in presentation portfolios that are now held in the collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The prints all had to be within a 19 by 14 cm image size.

The organising committee worked really hard to activities which helped demonstrate the vibrancy and variety in contemporary printmaking in the UK.

Rise

Miniatures Galore

Well after the summer break I have been back in the studio still working on the miniatures.  Fortunately all the practice is starting to pay off and I’m a achieving a higher return of registered prints in any run.  I have usually been printing a set of 12 of each image at a time.  This number has been chosen for no better reason than I can cut one sheet of paper into 12 pieces of a suitable size.  The miniprint competition I am entering requires an edition of at least 10, so I have been needing at least 2 runs if not 3 to get the required number of suitable prints.  However for the first time this week, I actually got 10 good images out of a run of 12.  It didn’t last long though and my next attempt netted just 5, but at least progress is being made.

I have selected my three entries and posted them off, so now it is just the wait to see if I have been lucky or not.  Below are some of the images I have been working on.  I will probably work on a few more yet as they are an enjoyable challenge to work on.

 

 

Miniature Mayhem

The studio may be shut this month but it is a good time to review my recent work and plan for the next few months ahead.   During the year there are many drawing and print competition to try for and hope that work will be selected.  I currently have a lino cut in a travelling exhibition in the Midlands through the Leicester Print Workshop’s Smallprint competition. 

Sometimes it can feel a bit like a lottery but if choosing selectively it can also provide targets to focus on.  It is important to select exhibitions and competitions that allow you to still keep a primary focus on your own practise rather than just trying new ideas to fit someone else’s criteria.

I have recently been making work for the Printmaker’s Council Miniprint competition.  This is providing me with considerably opportunity to hone my techniques in screen printing which I have only been learning over the last few months.  They require prints that are no larger than 8cm x 10cm.  At this size registration becomes very important as there is very little margin for error.

It does have the advantage though that the screens can be small and printing is quicker, so I have been able to try out a number of ideas in a short period of time.  All print techniques have their own demands and preparation and practise are the keys to success.  So often all we see are the final finished prints that make everything look to effortless.  Oh so far from the truth, hiding the hours just working away trying to get anything to come out as you want.  

So in a spirit of honesty I thought I would show some of the many failures that have been occurring while trying to make these prints.  They are improving and with a little more work I think I will have my entries ready by mid September – watch this space.

Colours bleeding out under the screen while printing

Registration nightmare

A very uneven print on the background, flat areas can be hard to get even

What happens when you forget which way round your image is.