Summer

 

After some time on the canal, I’m spending this month travelling around in the van, fitting in family events along the way. I’ll be sketching as I go, so will hopefully be posting as I can, or more likely catching up here later in August.

Currently I have work on display still in Northern Ireland until the end of the month, and was really delighted to receive the award of ‘ Highly Commended Whole Submission’ from the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists for all three Fieldwork prints,  currently on display as part of the Friends Exhibition at the RBSA gallery in Birmingham until the 16th July.

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More about the inspiration and the making of the prints here and here.

 

My pastel painting ‘the pathless wood’ has been selected for the Weston Park national open art exhibition, showing for the month of August in the Granary Gallery. When I started exhibiting two years ago, this was the first gallery to accept my work. I was very pleased to receive their support then and now, a great confidence-booster and a fabulous exhibition to visit.

the pathless wood, 2015, 75cm x 37cm, pastel
the pathless wood, 2015, 75cm x 37cm, pastel

Fieldwork printing process

In response to a couple of questions I’ve had about the process, here is some additional info and a couple of slideshows showing the multi-layer printing process I used for the fieldwork prints.

I used the reduction method on linoleum, where you cut away the block between each inking of the colour to reveal the ones beneath. Using this method is not for the faint-hearted… there is no going back! I also cut stencils and masks in the initial layers, wiping and overprinting to create painterly marks in the later layers. I created additional texture by embossing the paper throughout. This isn’t noticeable within the depth of the colour, but adds additional interest on the parts left white.

I used Caligo washable oil-based inks and mixed all the colours including the darkest one from the following: Diarylide Yellow, Napthol Red, Cyan, Raw Umber, Opaque White. (I did not use Black). The paper is a firm and smooth archival 220g from Seawhite of Brighton.

I started with 25 and ended up with a satisfactory edition of 18 for each, plus a random number of the usual chaotic variations (where I printed the wrong plate in the wrong colour on the wrong print, where a stencil changed shape, where I printed upside down, where the paper slipped, where the registration didn’t work out etc).

25 pieces of paper x 6 colours x 3 prints = paper going the press 450 times. Add in the sampling I did in order to check plates and colours + 450 + 30 = 480 times. With the setting-up, cleaning-up and drying time, approx 8 working days. Great fun!

Fieldwork 1

Fieldwork 2

fieldwork

I have just finished these three small reduction linocuts, based on some quick watercolour and pastel sketches I did in Wiltshire last year. The open landscape there is one of rolling downs, long bare ridges dotted with copses of trees (‘hedgehogs’), slow rivers, ancient market towns and stunning neolithic and medieval monuments.

The soil is chalk-based, providing glimmers of white to pewter shining through the crops and grasses; the cloud shadows and sunlight fold across the contours of the land adding subtleties of colour and tone. Endlessly changing but eternal.

I printed them on my much-longed-for, brand-new etching press from gunning arts. There’s no stopping me now.

Prints:

Fieldwork 1, 10x10cm, 2016, multi-layer reduction linocut
Fieldwork 1, 10x10cm, 2016, multi-layer reduction linocut
Fieldwork 2, 10x10cm, 2016, multi-layer reduction linocut
Fieldwork 2, 10x10cm, 2016, multi-layer reduction linocut
Fieldwork 3, 10x10cm, 2016, multi-layer reduction linocut
Fieldwork 3, 10x10cm, 2016, multi-layer reduction linocut

Sketches:

watercolour and pastel sketch
watercolour and pastel sketch 1
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watercolour and pastel sketch 2
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watercolour and pastel sketch 3

Two of the prints have been accepted for the Seacourt International Mini-print Biennial at the Centre for Contemporary Printmaking in Bangor, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, showing from 7th April to 20th May 2016. I hope to get over to see this exhibition, very much looking forward to seeing the work of all the participating artists.