INGENIOUS INTAGLIO

I have just spent a very pleasant weekend teaching an etching workshop in the studio at Hampen Factory.

The process I passed on was the use of a gun arabic transfer as a resist to the biting effects of copper sulphate on aluminum.

It all sounds technical, but once mastered it is an easier way of creating a photographic style etched image without the fuss of light boxes and expensive photo sensitive plate. It creates an image that is one step removed from the photographic original. The technique also leaves room for hand drawing, the crow and washing line I drew in after applying the transfered image.

After only 2 days and with very little previous experience of etching these are some of the

images produce on the course. I am delighted with the results, there is alot to get your

head round on this workshop, but everyone stuck with me and they all went away with a

print they were pleased with. I am so lucky to have such lovely creative people coming on my courses.

The next weekend at Hampen Factory is October 17-18, Mixed media techniques and gum arabic transfer.

EXPERIMENTATION

I have been having a bit of a play here really, in fact this is the third plate I have made to get these images right!

The base is tile cement on card with Carborundum on the birds, lots of wood glue washes to create the light tones.

Both plates have been inked up using the viscosity method. My worry is that sometimes work looks better here on screen

than they do in the flesh...?

Just a quick kitten update:- Henry and Iris are settling really well and Frank seems to be taking it in his stride!

CARRY ON COLLAGRAPHING

I find myself having to print a few more of these images due to Christmas orders from galleries. I will commit myself to a finite number of prints per edition, but will print 5 at a time, when

5 are sold. I will then print 5 more until I reach my edition number. This means I am not holding large stocks of unsold work. But I do get into a bit of a panic when I get low and orders rush in. It also means that the next 5 will be significantly different to the previous 5 as my memory is not as reliable as I would like and I forget how I printed the first lot (despite copious notes).

SKETCH BOOK WORK

I have just spent the last couple of days playing with some non chicken ideas in my sketch book,

I have started to make collagraph plates of these 2 finches. These 2 drawings are tonal plans, when I have finished the tile cement plates I am hoping to experiment with viscosity inking using the experiments I did earlier in the year as a starting point.

It is good to have a few ideas in hand, I always feel bereft when I have finished a printed piece.

I do have a backlog of drawings which need to be converted into collagraphs or etchings. How do the rest of you cope with more ideas than time or is it that I am managing things really badly?

All these drawings in my sketch book have been achieved using printed acrylic paint, ink washes and bits of collage here and there.

CONTINUING TO COLLAGRAPH

It has been a long and enjoyable summer break, but now it is back to work for me.

After a break, even a short one, I face my sketch book with a feeling of panic. But after a days intensive drawing and 3 days plate making and printing these 4 chicken collagraphs

are the result. The plates are made from card and woodglue.

They each measure about 7cms x 11cms.

Hopefully this will make them a set.

Still lurking in my sketch book are these 2 drawings.

Both additions to my ugly bird series. It is so good to get back to work, the more you do the more you feel like doing...don't you think?

Let me introduce you to Iris(on the left) and Henry, they have come to live with us from the Hampen Factory litter I posted about weeks ago. They have been with us for 2 days now and are settling in beautifully.

ARTEA PARTY

Things I like best...spending time with my arty friends and cake! To this end I invited chums around for an Artea Party today. In exchange for a cup of tea I challenge them to bring a decorated fairy cake. Here are some of the results.

My son Jack and his girl friend Alice rose to the challenge with this Monty Python inspired piece

and spent the morning making desert islands complete with palm trees and parasols.

My offering was Picasso inspired and Toby my youngest son who will be doing 'A' level art next

term created his own take on the Damian Hurst's piece Mother and Child Divided.

The variety and imagination was fantastic, print based sculptures, paper cut spiders,

delicious cream and chocolate confections.

Wonderful food sculptures from flowers to itsy bitsy teeny weeny polka dot bikini.

All creative and spirit raising. I am so lucky to have such creative family and friends.

If today was anything to go by, I will certainly repeat this, we should all have an Artea Party from time to time. Thankyou everyone.

CONTINUING TO COLLAGRAPH

After a summer break it is a relief to get back to some work. Over the summer I have been working on flamingo images and this week I have completed these new collagraphs.

I use grey board as a base, then apply wood glue for the whites and Carborundum for the deep colours and areas of black.

I have had some good news this summer, the largest collagraph I have ever made has been selected for the Royal West of England Academy's Open Print Exhibition in Bristol.

'Heads Up' measures 180cm x 85cm and is made in a similar way to the flamingos. The exhibition is on until 19th September and is well worth a visit if you are interested in printmaking, it has a comprehensive collection of national and international examples of the many processes used in print.