Yes! The sublime Columbian in action at Swansea Print Workshop. Here’s a short video of this gorgeous antique Victorian printing press. I’ve been using it all week, printing the first colour of a set of 8 reduction linocut prints. I’ll cut the second layer away from the blocks early next week and then get back to the lovely Columbian to print colour 2. Enjoy it. I do.
I spent this afternoon down at Swansea Print Workshop, printing the first colour of a series of reduction linocuts I’m making for a forthcoming exhibition at Oriel Ceri Richards at the Taliesin Arts Centre next month. There will be 12 linocuts in all and although I’ve started printing them, I had one left to cut ……. so I quickly drew it and made the first cuts this evening, ready for printing tomorrow.
I’m using a small, square vinyl ‘softcut’ by Intaglio Printmakers and a Faber Castell Pitt pen to draw the image. I use Flexcut tools for the cutting.
The softcut is very easy to use but not suitable for fine, controlled work. It’s great for my expressionist approach though and prints well onto the fine Japanese paper I’m using.
I sent most of today at Swansea Print Workshop, working on some small reduction lino blocks. I printed on the Victorian Columbian press; it’s my favourite and it’s beautiful.
I used Intaglio Printmaker’s softblock for the cutting and a lightweight Japanese paper for taking the prints.
I was on my feet all day. Art is a very physical job and I’m shattered.
Goodnight 🙂
I travelled up the Rhondda Valley this evening to The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir where Leanne Wood, the leader of Plaid Cymru (The Welsh Party) chaired a debate between academics Simon Brooks and Daniel Williams about nationalism in Wales . It was very interesting although a bit on the academic side for me, but I guess that’s what academics do. I’m not affiliated to any particular political party but I am very impressed by Leanne Wood who is an intelligent, educated woman from a working class community who went to an ordinary comprehensive school, not from a background of wealth and privilege like a lot of politicians. She is also the first woman to lead Plaid Cymru in its 90 year history.
Of course, I had to have a scribble. I was sitting at the back which means limited vision, making it hard to see a lot of detail, which restricts the drawing to main outlines. I used a dark graphite stick and a white conté crayon into my A4 hardbacked sketchbook that I had prepared with brown wrapping paper. It was a very quick sketch because she was moving as she chaired the debate; it’s not a bad likeness but it would be nice to have been closer and had a bit more time.
Older women shouldn’t be invisible. I’m combining my daily practice sketch with drawing from pictures of elder women because of the ageism that their generation suffers. I know that elders of both genders have problems to face, but it seems that they are compounded for older women. Not so long ago the BBC dumped a female presenter for the crime of being in her mid-50s after an arrogant suggestion that she should get Botox. Disgraceful. Why should we, male or female, be expected to wipe the story of our lives from our faces in order to be visible? Wrong, wrong, wrong.
This beautiful woman is drawn into my A4 hardbacked sketchbook prepared with brown wrapping paper, using black and white conté crayon and grey and black graphite.
I am carrying on with the 10 minute sketches of heads of older women, this is the seventh and I’m relaxing into it. I’ve chosen to focus on women of advanced age because it’s a group of people that doesn’t seem to appear much in visual cultural references. Of course, there are iconic older women, like the actress Helen Mirren and the late Mother Theresa but in the general imagery around us, advertising, magazine covers, television and films, older women don’t feature much. Even when they do, they’re often Photoshopped to look much younger. It’s no wonder that so many women feel the pressure to have facelifts and botox in order to remain visible. So in my own small way I’m saying, “Hey, look here. Here are some older women. And they’re fab.”
It’s useful as a technical exercise; by limiting myself to 10 minutes I have to focus on the essence of the image and not concentrate on too much detail. This helps me to be much looser than if I was doing a formal portrait with more time on my hands. Because I’m working into a sketchbook, I’m not so precious about the drawing either, I’m far more willing to experiment.
I’m working into a hardbacked A4 sketchbook that I’ve prepared with pieces of randomly ripped brown wrapping paper, glued with Pritt stick. I do a brief outline sketch with a pale graphite stick, then put in the highlights and lowlights with white and black conté crayon, then I have a final scribble with a dark graphite stick.
A short video showing the process of printing a drypoint with a recycled pasta making machine. It’s easy. The video is just over 4 minutes long and features my cat as well.
Please try it, it’s very easy and convenient 🙂
I’m really getting into doing these 10 minute practice studies from photos of elderly women. It’s a big departure for me to work from photos as I love drawing from life so much. I can develop a different style with these drawings though as it isn’t imperative for me to get an absolute likeness, so I can improvise and experiment and really let go. It’s like a musician jamming I guess.
I’m working on an A4 size, into a hardbacked sketchbook prepared with randomly ripped brown wrapping paper stuck in with Pritt (it’s the best I find). I sketch roughly in a light graphite stick then pick out the highlights and lowlights with white and black conté crayon and finally scribble over the ‘detail’ lines with a dark graphite stick.
I really appreciate the beauty in these faces, they have lived a life and tell a story, yet are largely invisible in our culture. What a shame.
I’m getting really enthused with these 10 minute sketches from Googled images of elderly women. I started just as a quick bit of practice but after 4 or 5 I find myself really getting into it. There are so many beautiful older faces to choose from and it dawned on me that for me this is a feminist issue, this is an age group that is usually invisible, ignored, marginalised in our youth obsessed culture. So I’m going to carry on drawing them. I don’t know who they are, there is rarely any information about the people in the photos but it doesn’t matter; I think the important thing for me is to focus on them and draw them and make them visible through my art. I might not do one every day because I am working on other art projects as well, but I think I’ll make this a long term thing.
I’m drawing into my A4 hardbound sketchbook, prepared with brown wrapping paper, ripped and stuck randomly, to give me a midtone to work on top of, with graphite and conté crayon. This woman had an extraordinarily lined face, covered in patterns from her life’s experiences. As I was drawing, the scribbly markmaking became quite psychedelic. I want to fill the whole sketchbook with these elder women and then maybe do something with them digitally, because otherwise it’s just about impossible to display a sketchbook without taking it apart.
I’m really enjoying the 10 minute head sketches from photos I’ve been doing recently. As well as helping me to practice accurate speed sketching, my chosen subject, elderly women, is fascinating. I look forward each evening to exploring the heads I find on Google, they are so full of character and experience. This elder woman has extraordinary eyes, so full of life. She is beautiful.
I drew her with graphite, white and black conté crayon into my hardbacked A4 sketchbook that I prepared with ripped brown parcel paper, stuck in with Pritt stick. I always use Pritt because it doesn’t buckle the paper and it stays stuck. Cheaper versions don’t. The brown paper gives me a mid-tone ground over which I apply highlights and lowlights which is quite dramatic. It also gives a good texture when I rub my conté over it.
scribblah 