Further Developments

Moving on from the linocut I produced for the 20:20 exchange, I decided to try a similar idea but with a more dynamic form and use the plate to try some different colour ways as well.  So far I had built the colour up from light to dark, but with one version here I started with the dark brown and the the subsequent two colours were lighter.

This resulted in the three versions below.

I then wanted to try something with a finer form and explore the background shading approach further. Again I used the opportunity to try some different stages of colour layering, with two, three or four colours per print.

This is one of the aspects of printmaking that I really enjoy, that you can take one plate and develop such varying results as below.

Next I think I look at placing two of the forms within one print.

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

 

A Bit of Light Relief

Sometimes after some concerted work in one area it is good to try something else.  A change is as good as a rest they say, so recently I have been doing a bit of relief printing.  A set of small lino cuts.  With these I was looking to explore some different colours, a more subtle palette than from the recent screen prints.  There was no set plan, I just started with some light tones and worked progressively darker.  

Some were in a sort of salmon pink, mixed from crimson, golden yellow and burnt sienna and varying levels of white.  Then a green range mixed from prussian blue, raw umber and white, and finally a steel blue tone, again using the prussian blue and white but with a touch of black and crimson.

In the screen prints I have been mixing the colour primarily through an optical approach by translucent layers.  This work involves mixing the colours directly so is quite a different challenge.  Each of the prints consists of a solid colour background, from a piece of uncut lino, and then a second colour on top from a cut plate.  I have been mixing the prints with pale and dark background, and prints with different tones of the same colour as well as different colours.

This has given me quite a bit to think about colour wise as well as the development of the images themselves.  A set of the prints are now on the wall at the studio.

Recent lino cuts on the studio wall

Hughie O’Donoghue RA

Last night Hugie O’Donoghue gave us a wonderful talk about his some of his recent paintings and prints.  He is primarily known for his large figurative and abstractive paintings that explore myth and identity.  He showed some paintings that had recently been on displayed in Prague and one that will be at the RA next summer.  He explained how he felt that working with the figure it was important that the work should be life size which is why so many of the canvases become so large, one was about 16ft by 8ft.  In the photo he was standing next to it and it really emphasised the huge physical effort that must be involved in making such works.

He then moved on to some of his print works, starting with another large piece from about eight years ago, a crucifixion triptych.  This was also large scale with each section being 8ft by 2ft.  He described how he encountered working with carborundum (in a manner similar to the Gotez technique) to make these images.  Compared to direct etching he felt it offered a more painterly approach.  He also liked the way that if he made a mark and then corrected it, because the medium was drying evidence of the first mark remained, showing traces of his thoughts. He also liked the method as it allowed him to work on the plates in his own studio rather than in the printing studio.

He then showed a set of colour prints based on the lives of people from the West Coast of Ireland where his mother was born and a region he still has ties to.  These images were much smaller and a few had been lent to us to show at our Summer Exhibition.  Having seen them earlier in the year it was interesting to learn more about then as they had a great intensity of mark and colour.  While smaller, about 1 ft by 2 ft they still were life size in that they had a close up head in the image.  Hughie described how he would draw one plate, with the carborundum for printing in black, and use a second plate for the application of colour.

Finally he showed a series of monoprints that he produced during a 2 week stay in Venice with printer Simon Marsh.  During that time they were producing up to 10 images a day, adjusting and reworking plates to refine the images.  On arrival he noticed a sculpture near where he was staying of a figure carrying a drum, while carved in stone it had a metal nose, and he used this head as a starting point for many of the earlier prints.  Later also being inspired by graffiti he discovered nearby.  It was interesting to see the development of these sequences of prints as areas were wiped away or strengthened as the images progressed.

An excellent evening I feel we were privileged to encounter an artist who has evidently pursued a career producing work that is highly important to him rather than being swayed by current fashions and in doing so has created an extraordinary body of work.

Monoprints

Well I have been playing again, sorry testing new ideas, but it is a form of play really.  Trying out blends and monoprinting on the screen for some backgrounds and then overlaying some drawings to see how they interact.

Both the blends and the monoprints give unanticipated results.  Though you may be aiming to achieve something, until it is actually printed through the screen you cannot be completely sure what will arrive.  The blends are more predictable, but even then surprises happen.

The monoprinting from the screen provides quite a painterly result that I would never be able to produce by directly painting.  It is achieved by lightly brushing ink onto the screen before printing with the squeegee which inevitably moves some of the ink as it passes over.  Hence some of the unpredictability.  However that is what makes it all rather exciting and unpredictable.  I’ll have to try some larger ones next.

Using mirrored versions of the same small drawing and then overlapping them also produces some fascinating results and new conversations take place between them and different images appear.

Nana Shiomi

On Saturday we were treated to a wonderful talk from artist printmaker Nana Shiomi.  Nana came to the UK in 1989 to study at the Royal College and has lived here since then.  She described how in Japan she was always fascinated by the Western Culture and arts but once here could not quite find a way to fit.  It was whilst taking lessons in Japanese Archery in London that she realised that she did not need to reject her Japanese roots but use them and incorporate them with Western ideas and in doing so has created a unique body of work.

They reflect the similarities and the differences in the two cultures and Nana has created a very personal and individual visual language.  In a similar way she uses traditional techniques of Japanese woodblock printing but has amalgamated them with her own more contemporary methods.  Her prints use both relief and intaglio wood blocks to produce the final image.  For her the philosophy of printmaking and the reversal of the image are a crucial part of her practice and many of her images incorporate mirror images.

She showed us many of her prints and had also brought along the four blocks and step prints showing how a final image was reached.  This provided a fascinating insight into her methods which she described as simple but as we all know, that only comes from years of development as practise.

An inspiring and fascinating talk, thank you Nana.

Don’t forget we also have Hughie Donaghue coming to the studio on Thursday 20^th October

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.

Room 90

Have you discovered Room 90 in the British Museum? If not now is a good time to go while they hold the exhibition Out of Australia.   Room 90 is the Gallery where the Museum display Prints and Drawings from their own collections and they usually have at least two differently themed exhibitions each year.  This current exhibition covers works from 1940s to the current day from both indigenous and European descended artists.

From a personal point of view it is the work of the indigenous artists that is the most interesting.  As you enter the gallery there is a large aquatint called Untitled (Leaves) by Gloria Tamerre Pertyarre.  It has a glorious rhythm and movement to it as individual small brushstrokes represent leaves on the wind.  It is this striking handling of pattern within such works that has always fascinated me; there is a dynamism and fluidity that bring them alive.

A colour aquatint entitled ‘Fire Dreaming at Yanjirlpiri’ by Paddy Japapaliarri Sims strong orange and red elements that shine with an intensity that is not often seen in such a print and well worth a closer look.

The exhibition also shows some of the transition that European descended Australian artists followed from the 40s, when you have to remember that access to other styles of western Art was very limited.  Travelling to Europe would take four to six weeks by boat and so many Australian artists would spend a number of years abroad to explore and learn about the leading forms of Contemporary art.  Some would spend most of their careers, based in Europe and in particular London.  It was perhaps not until the 70s that Australian artists did not feel the same need to spend so long abroad to be part of the wider art world.

An artists whose works I had previously seen in Room 90 was Fred Williams, he spent 5 years in London during the Fifties.  When he returned home he saw the Australian landscape anew and it changed the direction of his work from realistic figurative pieces to more abstracted landscapes making a strong use of marks, which still look remarkably fresh.

Two other personal favourites were drawings by Brent Harris from 1999.  They are studies for large paintings.  Silhouetted forms are fluid and dripping and play with negative and positive space.

So remember Room 90, there are always fascinating works to be found.

New Drawings

I have had a couple of weeks away from the studio visiting Dorset.  A time that allows me to draw and while away I completed a couple of larger drawings in the new style that I have been experimenting with recently.  Instead of using just single thickness lines I have been working with variable thicknesses.  Before going away I had made a small drawing and transferred to a screen and experimented with some different colour ways.

The two larger drawings are the first I have done at this size (paper 56 x 76 cm) which allows more scope for experimentation with the form.  I’m still not quite sure where they are going and will need to do a few more drawings yet.  This is part of my process, from each drawing I learn something new and start to incorporate that knowledge into the next drawing and so on.   For my degree show last year I did over 20 drawings to reach the final five that went on show, from each one I learnt something new. So with this type I still have a long way to go.   

In the meantime I have also been trying some miniature versions that I am just starting to print, hopefully to have some work to submit to the British Mini Print competition in September. If anyone has thoughts on them, please make a comment