with a passion for intaglio and relief printmaking.
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Christmas exhibitions 2
The work I am making now can be seen at The Bakehouse Gallery in Alnwick, Nov 21st - December 24th, Haslam's of Hallgate Gallery, Hexham, 14 Nov - 24 December 2008, and Bianco Nero Gallery, 14 Nov - 24 December 2008.
Christmas Exhibitions
I'm really pleased with the way my own work has been progressing. An extra day in the studio and less teaching this month has meant I can concentrate more on where I want to take it.
I'm doing landscapes very paired down to the minimum sometimes using well known landmarks that have a recognisable shape in silhouette. Each one sits on the horizon leaving lots of space in the foreground to play with and do interesting things with texture and colour. I sometimes incorporate smaller shaped plates which reference archeological landscape below the ground.
I've been working on two large plates, one of Dunstanburgh Castle and Lindesfarne. After a fair amount of trial and error I got two prints of each that I was happy with. Mike McFarlane (landscape photographer and friend) is photographing them for me this week before they go off for framing next week so I have some new images for cards, giclee prints and the web.
I'm doing landscapes very paired down to the minimum sometimes using well known landmarks that have a recognisable shape in silhouette. Each one sits on the horizon leaving lots of space in the foreground to play with and do interesting things with texture and colour. I sometimes incorporate smaller shaped plates which reference archeological landscape below the ground.
I've been working on two large plates, one of Dunstanburgh Castle and Lindesfarne. After a fair amount of trial and error I got two prints of each that I was happy with. Mike McFarlane (landscape photographer and friend) is photographing them for me this week before they go off for framing next week so I have some new images for cards, giclee prints and the web.
Workshops
Our "Etching with Line & Tone" workshop began this weekend. Rebecca and I share these workshops do one day each in the interests of keeping a healthy family balance between work and home on the weekends. The formula works well and our students get the benefit of two artists creative input in one weekend.
The students started with linework yesterday and there was some really lovely images beginning. If they reach their potential by the end of today we'll have them in The Biscuit Factory exhibition in the spring.
The students started with linework yesterday and there was some really lovely images beginning. If they reach their potential by the end of today we'll have them in The Biscuit Factory exhibition in the spring.
Monday, 13 October 2008
Working with my daughter
My daughter came to me the other day and asked me for help with her GCSE sketch book. She has to have her first course work completed by Thursday.
So yesterday I took her to the studio and showed her how she could develop some of the pieces she had already done using a variety of printmaking techniques including transfer monoprint, linocut and collagraphs. She thought some of what I showed her was 'mint'!
We worked away together for about 3 hours. She turned out some lovely stuff and she said at the end. 'I don't know how you do a whole day here. It's really quite tiring and I'm knackered!'
I just enjoyed spending time with her doing something we clearly both enjoyed.
So yesterday I took her to the studio and showed her how she could develop some of the pieces she had already done using a variety of printmaking techniques including transfer monoprint, linocut and collagraphs. She thought some of what I showed her was 'mint'!
We worked away together for about 3 hours. She turned out some lovely stuff and she said at the end. 'I don't know how you do a whole day here. It's really quite tiring and I'm knackered!'
I just enjoyed spending time with her doing something we clearly both enjoyed.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
My Morning
I've just spent the morning putting the finishing touches to our spring programme of workshops and beginning to plan the workshops we will run in the summer months.
It is a brain addliing process. I have to look take into account school holidays; which printmaking media courses we will run, by whom and when; I have to take into account everyone's family commitments, making sure neither Rebecca nor I teach either 2 days in a row or 2 weekends in a row to keep our spouses happy.
Once I have a plan I have to then run it past The Hearth manager for hall bookings. This is where it all gets complicated because the arts centre buildings are still owned and run by the church and quite often church takes precedence over all the leaseholders. The arts centre started because the church buildings were falling into dereliction. In order to get a massive injection of public funding the church had to come up with a plan which was to convert the buildings into artists studios and a coffee shop. The artists' studio rent, the rent from hall bookings for workshops plus the coffee shop means these buildings have been given a new lease of life. It has taken me the best part of a week to work out how the spring term will work and now I'm embarking on our plans for the summer term.
It is a brain addliing process. I have to look take into account school holidays; which printmaking media courses we will run, by whom and when; I have to take into account everyone's family commitments, making sure neither Rebecca nor I teach either 2 days in a row or 2 weekends in a row to keep our spouses happy.
Once I have a plan I have to then run it past The Hearth manager for hall bookings. This is where it all gets complicated because the arts centre buildings are still owned and run by the church and quite often church takes precedence over all the leaseholders. The arts centre started because the church buildings were falling into dereliction. In order to get a massive injection of public funding the church had to come up with a plan which was to convert the buildings into artists studios and a coffee shop. The artists' studio rent, the rent from hall bookings for workshops plus the coffee shop means these buildings have been given a new lease of life. It has taken me the best part of a week to work out how the spring term will work and now I'm embarking on our plans for the summer term.
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
My studio
My studio is based in the little village of Horsley just 10 minutes from Newcastle & Gateshead and 15 minutes drive from the market town of Hexham. The village is runs very close to Hadrian's Wall - one mile south of it.
The studio is one of 7 artists studios at a place called The Hearth. The Hearth consists of 17th and 19th century church buildings which have been converted into an arts complex and coffee shop. My studio is in the 19th century bit in what was the head mistress's office of the local village church school. It may have had many otehr reincarnations but before we moved in it was a snooker room for the local youth club with a full size snooker table in it.
I share it with another printmaker, Rebecca Vincent. Together we make up Horsley Printmakers. We started this little independent studio in 2004 to enable to make our own work which we exhibit and sell in the North East. To help pay the rent we run workshops in printmaking and we have a thriving loyal following of students from the region who return term after term, year after year and increasingly more of our students are coming from further a field - London, Edinburgh, Derry, Dublin, Nigeria and Kuwait!
The studio is my sanctuary. When I'm working there all cares and worries are left at the door and I immerse myself in colours and textures, pushing the boundaries of the media in which I work and seeing what I can get. One of my favourites is using a blow torch to burn holes in plates and make some of my materials bubble up, curl and scorch to create really interesting surfaces to take the ink.
Monday, 6 October 2008
My work
I love pretty much every element of printmaking but at the moment the majority of my work is done using collagraph techniques. I love the embossed nature of the print and the nuances of texture I can bring out in the plate when I add colour. Most of the images on this page so far are collagraphs.
For the uninitiated 'collagraph' comes from the word collage. To create a collagraph plate a variety of textured materials are stuck to a flat base. This can be anything from mounting card to very thin aeroplane ply or metal like aluminium. Each substrate has it's own unique characteristics which can be brought to bear within the resulting print. Wood ply, for example prints the wood grain. The materials you create the collage with are commonly found in most homes such as PVA, wall tile cement, tissue paper, textured wallpapers, fine sand (or carborundum), acrylic paint and much much more. These materials can be manipulated to create an infinite number of textures depending on what you use to do so - toothbrushes, card, palette knife and so on.
Once the plate is completed it has to be sealed so that ink does not just sink into the plate. Ink is applied (I do it with a brush), the excess is removed, the plate is put onto a special etching press with a damp sheet of paper laid over the top of it. This is then covered by a blanket (or 3) and wound through the press. Peel back the paper and the image is revealed. There is always an element of serendipity which is all part of the fun and fascination.
Hope you like the prints you see on this page. I will be updating them as and when I have a moment to add new ones on.
For the uninitiated 'collagraph' comes from the word collage. To create a collagraph plate a variety of textured materials are stuck to a flat base. This can be anything from mounting card to very thin aeroplane ply or metal like aluminium. Each substrate has it's own unique characteristics which can be brought to bear within the resulting print. Wood ply, for example prints the wood grain. The materials you create the collage with are commonly found in most homes such as PVA, wall tile cement, tissue paper, textured wallpapers, fine sand (or carborundum), acrylic paint and much much more. These materials can be manipulated to create an infinite number of textures depending on what you use to do so - toothbrushes, card, palette knife and so on.
Once the plate is completed it has to be sealed so that ink does not just sink into the plate. Ink is applied (I do it with a brush), the excess is removed, the plate is put onto a special etching press with a damp sheet of paper laid over the top of it. This is then covered by a blanket (or 3) and wound through the press. Peel back the paper and the image is revealed. There is always an element of serendipity which is all part of the fun and fascination.
Hope you like the prints you see on this page. I will be updating them as and when I have a moment to add new ones on.
My very first blog
This is my very first blog and I'm struggling to figure out how it all works.
I am a printmaker based in Northumberland UK. I share a studio with another printmaker in the villahe of Horsley just 1 mile south of Hadrian's Wall. See www.horsleyprintmakers.co.uk for more information until I get this up and running.
I'm hoping this blog will allow me to reach out to fellow printmakers wherever you are and indeed anyone who loves this medium of original hand made prints.
Watch this space.
I am a printmaker based in Northumberland UK. I share a studio with another printmaker in the villahe of Horsley just 1 mile south of Hadrian's Wall. See www.horsleyprintmakers.co.uk for more information until I get this up and running.
I'm hoping this blog will allow me to reach out to fellow printmakers wherever you are and indeed anyone who loves this medium of original hand made prints.
Watch this space.
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