I was working with an artist friend, we were exchanging modelling hours and I built up a large collection of life drawings of her and started wondering what to do with them, whether they could form the basis of new pieces of work. I also had some large sheets of very good paper thatContinue reading “A Friend, A Kitten And A Lot of Old Prints.”
Tag Archives: printmaking
Etching with Hogarth!
I like to draw from life and always carry a small sketchbook. I’m enormously inspired by the work of William Hogarth, who catalogued daily life in the 1700s with his meticulous metal engravings. This is a drypoint from a paper plate based on a sketch I did in a tiny Cotman sketchbook. It’s theContinue reading “Etching with Hogarth!”
All Day at the Print Studio.
Very busy day today at the printmaking studio in Swansea. Made two full-colour monotypes, plus two ‘ghosts’. Have been on my feet for 7.5 hours and I’m shattered, but reasonably happy with the results. I based the monotypes on drawings made from life with a professional model. The prints are made in oil-based pigmentContinue reading “All Day at the Print Studio.”
Pooped at the Printfair!
A drawing in my Tate Postcard sketchbook from my trip to NYC to see the International Print Fair a couple of years ago. We had been walking around Manhatten for days, going to exhibitions, talks and demonstrations of printmaking and we were pooped! We holed up in this very modernist cafe near the BloomsburyContinue reading “Pooped at the Printfair!”
Japanese Barens [artgeeky stuff]
When I visited the International Print Fair in New York City a couple of years ago, I went to a demonstration of Japanese woodblock printing by the artist Takiyi Hamanake [I hope I spelled that right]. It’s a different way of printing; instead of rollering oil-based ink onto the cut block, you brush glue ontoContinue reading “Japanese Barens [artgeeky stuff]”
Scribbling Kitties
Sometimes it’s nice just to scribble. I normally have a very structured approach to drawing; very analytical and finished. Now and again it’s good to loosen up and have a scribble. One day I was sitting an exhibition at elysium gallery and I started scribbling randomly in a tiny sketchbook. The scribbles built upContinue reading “Scribbling Kitties”
Enter Rocky The Dragon and The Suicide Method.
This is a very geeky blog today. I was chatting to some printmakers on LinkedIn earlier about the ‘suicide’ method of block printing [we love talking technique], where you produce a multi-coloured print using the same block, by progressively cutting away each colour. You end up totally destroying the block, so there’s little roomContinue reading “Enter Rocky The Dragon and The Suicide Method.”
The Elder in Art. Having a Rant!
We live in a society that does not, in my opinion, value our elders. They are marginalised from mass media; stereotyped when they do appear; and shuffled off into ‘care’ homes when they become too inconvenient. Our civilisation has an unhealthy obsession with youth to the extent that barely middle aged people have their facesContinue reading “The Elder in Art. Having a Rant!”
Busy Day Making A Monotype [nude image: Parental Guidance]
I spent the whole day at Swansea Print Workshop, making a new large full colour monotype. Here it is. It started life as a sketchbook drawing done during the weekly life drawing group at the Workshop. I redrew it, scaled up onto a much larger sheet of paper in conté, charcoal and white pastel. IContinue reading “Busy Day Making A Monotype [nude image: Parental Guidance]”
Artgeek stuff – Continuous Line and Direct Monotypes [nude image – PG]
I’m a frenetic scribbler, always sketching and I have thousands of drawings done over the years. It’s fun to go through old sketchbooks and see what I can do with the images. The drawing style I use most is the ‘continuous line’ method, where I keep the pen on the paper without taking aContinue reading “Artgeek stuff – Continuous Line and Direct Monotypes [nude image – PG]”