COLLAGRAPH COMMISSION

This is the first of a set of four images I have been asked to make.
The collagraph plate is made from grey board and wood glue with the details cut and carved. I very rarely work to commission, so this is an interesting experience for me and I am enjoying making fish again.

NON-TOXIC ETCHING EXPERIMENTS

So... I come back from participating in a one day etching workshop a bit frustrated. As you can imagine there is little one can achieve in a day using a very traditional wax hard ground and a slow biting ferric chloride on copper plate when the weather is cool. I manage a very unsatisfying, thinly drawn paint brush, which although it was in the ferric for 2hours did not achieve the richness I am use to with quick biting zinc and aluminum in copper sulphate.
I brought the plate home and was inspired to get my ferric chloride tank going again so that I could rework the brush. My tank has an outer tank of water which is heated, this speeds up the biting process, I also have citric acid added to my ferric, it gives a cleaner bite. I made an extra piece from deeply bitten aluminum and re printed using viscosity inking for the aluminum plate.

Happier than I was but not completely satisfied! But it is this bit that really interests me, I can see myself dispensing with the brush...watch this space.

I apologise for this post, it has been a bit technical, it has been aimed at my fellow non toxic etching enthusiasts. Let me know what you think?

A ROOM OF ONES OWN

Woman's Hour, a Radio 4 show for all those who do not listen to British radio, are asking for women who have rooms of their own to work in, to send in photographs to put on their web sight.

They are running a feature based around Virginia Woolf's premise that creative women need a room of their own or perhaps a sanctuary away from the mundane domesticity of their daily lives.

I tend to agree, but then as a printmaker I have rather a lot of kit which would be just awkward in the middle of the dinning room.

But the room of ones own is only part of what Woolf was trying to get across, the whole message is , 'money and a room of ones own', the two are obviously linked.

I would love to see everyones working spaces, it says so much about us, the green chair is where I have the odd nap as the sun streams in through the window in the afternoon...that might change your image of my working practice?

SKETCH BOOK EXPERIMENTS

I have been spending a few weeks making work for my galleries as earlier postings have shown, chickenless heads and little birds. This stock of work has meant that I can give myself some experimental time, hence these images.
I spent Sunday morning locked in the shed with gum arabic transfer, ink and acrylic paint. Deep down I long to do abstract images, but I am constantly drawn to the figurative, this is why

all these paint brushes have appeared. I quite like the idea of the printed wall paper texture

appearing from an implement we associate with a more spontaneous mark...sorry that sounded a bit arty!!!

The celebration of tools, check out Bridbird's latest posting.

I am not sure where these will go if anywhere, but it is useful to look at them dispassionately through a screen.

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).