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I've been reviewing some of the experiments I've done recently to work out what has been successful and what hasn't worked. The first set of collagraph prints with my new press have been really useful in starting to understand how to achieve the results I want. This is an on-going process, but I spent a few hours going through what I've done and noting down anything of importance.
I've also been re-visiting what lies behind the work I've done in the past few months. The starting points are all based around coastal landscape, and that looks set to continue as a theme for my work (see the Spurn blog). This coastal thing has roots in visits to Runswick Bay in North Yorkshire and visits to Wales and Scotland in the last couple of years. One big influence was the Old Fishing Station at Red Point, Sutherland last year. Over the period of a week I visited this place a number of times and it became a focus for some intensive creative activity that week and ever since.
I gathered together some of my key images the other day and laid them out again. I'm not looking to re-produce any one image but all these textures and marks feed in, along with the man-made objects that I found at the different locations.
This was a useful exercise. I now need to focus on producing work for a range of events later this year and it is helpful to be clear in my mind where things have come from and where I want them to go.
Last week I completed three small pieces for the Miniatures exhibition at Cupola Gallery in Sheffield, which is made up of works smaller than a twenty pound note.
Here are my three framed and with detail from each:
They all are made up of a combination of rust prints, collagraph print and hand stitch, which plays about within and around the marks of the prints.
The exhibition opens on 16th March and runs until 22nd April.
I would like to introduce you to my exciting up-coming project. I will be Artist in Residence at Spurn Point Nature Reserve during 2012. This is something that I've been planning for over a year now and I've been itching to announce it but held off until things were a little more certain.
Although I'm still waiting for the outcome of a funding bid, I felt it was time to let you know about what I'm planning. The project will start properly in April and run through to September, when there will be an exhibition weekend at Spurn in the old lighthouse. There will then be a gallery tour during the following months. More on that another time.
You can find out more about previous Spurn artists here and follow the project once things get going. You can also see some of the photos I took last time I visited Spurn here.
I've been stitching into some of the prints I made earlier in the week. This one has a tea and rust print and then a collagraph print over. There are embossed and printed marks from stitches on the collagraph plate and my little seeding stitches play about amongst those marks. I'm really pleased with the effect and some late afternoon sunshine (it rained most of today) enabled some good photographs.
I've been making some first experimental collagraph prints using my new printing press. This first lot are really about getting the feel of the press and the process in my own studio (I've only ever done this kind of printing before either at college or on a course so this time I'm on my own!). I've also been experimenting with how stitches react to being made into collagraph prints and the kinds of effects I might be able to achieve.
Here are a few of the first results (hot off the press!)
The prints are all still drying and I had to order some thicker blotting paper this week as the stuff I had wasn't coping. Later in the week, once I'd got my head round things a little I started to layer collagraph prints over some rust prints I'd already made. Some of these are really interesting and I'll show you more once they've dried off properly.
You may have noticed that there are new links appearing on the right hand side of the page at the moment. I'm in a period of starting projects that have been in various stages of planning for some time.
I've been involved in the interdisciplinary group Textiles & Music Interact since 2009, when we created and first performed/showed the work Fifteen Images. We are now developing our third project, Remembering Britten. We've set up the blog to record the development of the project. This provides a way for the members of the group to share developments as well as forming an archive and information point for anyone interested in finding out about our work and following it.
I just opened a shop on Etsy. I've never done anything like this before and so I'm feeling my way with the whole thing: pricing, shipping, describing etc. So far I've listed the three artworks that featured in the 6 Inch Cube exhibition at South Square Gallery. More to come soon, including some new cards I hope.
