CHOUGHED AT NATURE IN ART

I heard yesterday that Nature in Art, Twigworth, Gloucestershire - www.nature-in-art.org.uk have extended their exhibition, Choughed by an extra week. This gives anyone who wants to see it until the 21st November. A bit last minute I know, but worth the effort.
I have to say for those who like all things Corvid it is a gem of a show, sculptures, prints and paintings are on display, I feel really honoured to be part of it. Here is a taster of what you will miss if you can't get there this weekend.

I have a collagraph, an etching,

and this enamel in the exhibition. But the show is just full of treasures, this reproduced drawing by Terence Coventry

together with the bronze inspired by the drawing. Both capture the argumentative nature of Choughs, the Cornish cousins of crows.

One of my favourite sculptors at the moment is Harriet Mead, I saw her work at the Society of Wildlife Artists exhibition at the Mall Gallery, London this summer and I am delighted to be able to take a closer look at her work in this exhibition. I am intrigued by the way artists use scrap and see images in them.

This sculpture is by Nathan Jones, there is great strength and character in this raven and I particularly like the rust and the red...something I am exploring in my own work.

There are several lovely prints on show, a number of Greg Pooles block prints. I like this lino print by Thelma Sykes, after seeing this I was inspired to be more creative with the use of orange in my own work.

I really like combining materials and this piece of ceramic sculpture works so well. Rook, by Simon Griffiths puts together, ceramics, wood and found barbed wire.

Bryan Hanlon has shown the less attractive side of the magpie, nature in tooth and claw. The way he has incorporated the metal shears together with the egg in it's beak gives this piece a narrative. This bronze is available to purchase, as are many of the other pieces in the exhibition.

If you cannot get to Nature in Art this weekend I urge you to visit it another time, there is always interesting work on show and the cafe does great cake.

RUST

At last I have found time to finish my latest enamels.
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I wanted to experiment with combining the enamel with the rusting qualities of the steel.

I have not been disappointed, the rust adds a set of warm orange tones to the pieces,

giving the work that sought after shabby chic quality I like so much.

Scraping enamel away, layering and applying transfers, firing and refiring a piece

to distress the surface, suddenly my sketch book pages are turned into glass and metal!

COMPLETED COLLAGRAPHS

In September I made 2 collagraph plates during my residency at Nature in Art, I have finally completed them.
Locked in my shed for 4 hours this morning I have spent the time printing the collagraphs onto the screen printed colour. These 2 images are a bit of an experiment for me.

They are perhaps a little tentative and I should have had the courage of my convictions and

made stronger marks at the screen print stage, but I have learnt a great deal.

With the screen made up it takes minutes to try a different colour, so I decided to use a bonkers orange, but surprisingly it works quite well. I should have used both colours on the same image.

I am looking forward to trying out this process again and with a bit more gusto.

SKETCH BOOK EXPERIMENTS

I have wanted to spend some time working back into the acrylic transfers that have been building up in my sketch book. I also wanted to draw some moths and beetles.

I spent a happy afternoon working on top of these pre-prepared backgrounds, but started to feel that the drawings were becoming laboured.

So rather than abandon the exercise I took out my scalpel and set about cutting and lifting the wings and

carefully working around legs. This has made a complete difference to the way I feel about the pieces.

I know that the names are not accurate for the moth they are with, but I love the names moths have, there is something moralizing and serious about them, butterflies have such frivolous names, moths have sturdy, worthy labels.

ENAMEL EXPERIMENTS

I can only experiment with small luggage label sized enamels in my kiln at home, I have the opportunity to make larger work at the University of the West of England.
Using this drawing as a starting point to experiment on a slightly larger scale I set about making a post card sized piece on steel. My intention was to use the techniques I had been trying out over the summer.

The first thing that struck me was just by tripling the size of the piece how it threw up a variety of technical difficulties. Applying the grip coat evenly to the steel being a major factor. I wanted to leave areas of steel bare to rust, so using a stencil to achieve accurate drawing I scratched away the enamel at the edge and in the body of the composition.

I used the same technique to place the bird. The white numbers are stamped and sifted, this makes them pale and they will melt into the surface with subsequent firings.

A wash of watered down black enamel, scratched into gives me the grey. But in hind sight I wish I had made the mix stronger, there is too much contrast in the finished crow.

So I thought at this stage the piece was resolved, I like the composition, I like the light quality that bare metal contrasting with the smooth coverage of the enamel gives. But it needs more, this is why it is good to have a week between stages, it slows things down, gives me time to think and I avoid the rash over work that I am prone to.

In week 2 I add transfers to the crows body to try to knock back the white...I should have used a darker black wash. I add red stenciled and sifted numbers, the addition of red gives the piece punch. I reinforce some of the white numbers and finally add white transferred text, the addition of these white elements help to make sense of the lightness of the crow...which is still too light.

I can't wait to see how it changes when the steel rusts, this will add another colour dimension and give the piece a rough natural quality.

OCTOBER

I love October and this weekend has been glorious. I spent Sunday morning walking in the Autumn sunshine being inspired by all the natural colour.
I am drawn to the gorgeous reds and oranges in the hedgerows.

The berries are like jewels encrusting the branches and

dripping from surfaces.

The leaves are beginning to turn.

These ladybirds looked like walking berries. My Sunday was a relaxing time after a very energetic Saturday running a mono print workshop at Hampen Factory.

I had 6 talented people for a 1 day workshop where the creative possibilities of mono printing were thoroughly explored.

The first 4 images were made with a single pass through the press.

With the group becoming confident with this technique and lots of exciting images appearing

it was time to start working into them by inking up shapes and wall paper to over print the initial images.

With the backdrop of the Cotswold countryside around us at Hampen it was no surprise to see Autumn colour in the work. It was fantastic to work with such a talented group of people.

PRESS GANG EXHIBITION

Press Gang

an exhibition of printmaking at Hampen Factory

9th & 10th October 2010

open 11am - 4pm both days

On Wednesday afternoons in term time I facilitate a group making large prints and this exhibition is a celebration of their exciting and experimental printmaking.

The exhibition is at Hampen Factory Arts Centre, Hampen, Andoversford, Cheltenham, GL54 5RH, where the group makes the work. The exhibition shows the various plate making and inking techniques used to make collagraphs.

Tile cement, wood glue, wall paper, grey board together with a number of inking techniques appear in the show.

This is just a small glimpse of the variety of work on show. You can meet the artists during the

weekend as they will be there demonstrating their working methods. I will be there Sunday afternoon, so if you are in Gloucestershire this weekend pop in and say hello.