2016 - a busy autumn

The autumn seemed to go by in a flash. there was so much to do and not a lot of breathing space.
Here's a flurry of a round-up:

'Near and Far' -  a little solo show at Ruskin Mill, Nailsworth

The Shetland large scale drawings had an outing...

...keeping large scale work from the local area company

It was great to see them all in one place

RWA 164 Annual Open

'Turning for home' - (centre left)

20:20 Print exchange

'West Burra Coast' - A starting point for some Shetland inspired etchings

The Masters - Etching

I was thrilled that 'Surface Layers' was chosen for this prestigious show

Diversity in Print - Tewkesbury, Roses Theatre

Thank you to Phil Johnson and Jono Sandilands for curating ...

...this exhibition of UWE printmakers

Phew!

Drawn to print

Over the last month or so I have had the enormous pleasure of curating 'Drawn to print' at the Printmakers Gallery, Griffin Mill, Stroud. This light and airy gallery is a small but lovely space housed on the premises of Gloucestershire Printmaking Co-operative

While we were hanging we were sustained by coffee and cake. Many thanks to Lucy Guenot for all her hard work and brilliant support.

We had beautiful, excellent quality work to hang; the printmaking community are a very generous group of lovely people.

Large scale etchings from Ros Ford RWA and Ian Chamberlain ARE

Etching and sketchbook by Jason Hicklin RE

Dramatic print by Emma Stibbon RA

Andy Lovell's gorgeous sketchbook

Smaller works by Jane Walker, Meg Buick ARE, Catherine Greenwood and Terence Millington

...and my contribution

The exhibition aims to show how drawing supports printmaking. Its been fascinating to see  such diverse approaches to drawing - glimpses inside the artists thinking.

'Drawn to print' is open until 30th March, open Mon, Tues and Thurs mornings and all day Saturday.

Printmaking Today

This is something new that has shown me just what you can do when you put your mind to it... I'm delighted to have an article published in the printmakers magazine 'Printmaking Today'

The article links into my research work and is all about Jason Hicklin; a fabulous landscape artist whose passion is for etching.

Jason Hicklin's etching studio

 I was able to visit Jason at his studio; it was a privilege to be able to discuss his working methods with him and to gain something of an insight into his practice.

Jason Hicklin - Castle Skerry from Burwick

Jason works entirely from sketches made on his walking trips to remote corners and outposts of the British Isles. These drawings ensure that his etchings have an immediacy which captures the atmosphere of each place he visits.

Jason Hicklin - Old Man of Hoy

I am very grateful to both Jason Hicklin and to Printmaking Today for this fascinating and rewarding opportunity.

The home run

This was how the big print looked when I thought it was finished...

... then I put it up in the studio, and I looked again and realised it wasn't really what I wanted.

I wanted the wall, centre left, to blend better into the background and the background to be darker, so back in the etching tank it went.

This looked better when the image is viewed as a whole. The focus is re-directed better onto the path.
Then I needed to sort the gap in the textures in centre of the lane and the post which wasn't quite there.

After a final judicious use of aquatint the lane textures are linked together and the eye is drawn along the lane more effectively.

And now I think its finished... maybe...

'Turning for home' etching 66 x 44 cm

I do wonder if I might still give this plate the chop - my favourite areas are the main lane leading backwards; in these areas everything has worked as I wanted. A Photoshop crop gives the general idea...

Sometimes less is more?

A big print getting nearing to completion

Following the progress of this print which took a long time to get anywhere near resolved...

A lot of stopping out allows details to be created with an open bite, gradually less and less metal is left uncovered. This part of the process takes a long time; the stopping out takes its own time and then theres the waiting for the varnish to dry. A full day's work, hopefully rewarded when the plate comes out of the ferric.

The bite at this stage was quite light (not quite so rewarding! but that's printmaking...) and revealed that some of the underlying textures were too strong. A bit of strong scraping/burnishing helped to put the balance right.

The proof from the next stage shows how the structure has overlaid the organic sugar lift marks, hopefully bringing the focus onto the shape of the lane.

Another layer of open bite textures provides better contrast of light and dark, distance and focal points. But is it there yet?

Time to stand back and think.

20:20 Box of delights 2015

Its a wonderful thing to receive a box of prints from fellow printmakers across the country. This year's 20:20 print exchange event hosted by Hot Bed Press in Manchester has brought me a lovely selection of techniques and approaches.

My box of delightful prints fell into 2 main categories...

Pattern -

and Landscape -

Am I allowed favourites? Here they are ... 

I love the etching 'Estuary' by Lynne Thirkell and Kate Thornton's circular screenprint. 

Thank you also to June McHenry for the terracotta seaside, Alison Craig for the jade 'Dyfi Pools and Jade Emma Ellis for 'Population 139,403' the potopolymer intaglio.

Thank you to Hot Bed Press for hosting, Looking forward to next year.
Follow this link https://www.flickr.com/photos/hot_bed_press to see 20:20 prints from all over the UK

20:20 hot off the press

I left this print needing more tonal variety. The last stage was therefore a spit bite aquatint. I stopped out with all the usual varnishes but also used a chinagraph pencil in the bottom left corner to add the suggestion of tractor tyre marks, below

One quite well organised (for me) day later and I had the edition printed. Pre-soaking paper makes the world of difference on editioning days.

Multiple happiness - all 25 prints plus a few to ensure consistency

Signed, numbered and ready to be packed off to the lovely people at Hot Bed Press in Salford

'Tug of war' etching, 10 x 10cm on 20 x 20cm paper

The final print - The title had always been there, not a tug between the telegraph poles, nor a remembrance of a war zone. Not even a farmers battle with current economic pressures - although all these interpretations are quite satisfying - but, more prosaically, I was talking to my brother on the phone while I did the original sketch. He told me about winning a tug of war competition - I always think of that when I look at this sketch. I'll leave it up to you which interpretation you want to go with...

20:20 time!

I've been preparing my plate for the great 20:20 print exchange organised by the lovely people at Hot Bed Press.

This year I decided to try a slight variation on the sort of image I often make - I've gone for a more open view. Those who know my work well will hardly see any difference but, for me, it is moving forward.

I always start with sketches, drawn on location 10 mins walk from my village

First a quickie, then one to firm up some details and tone

The first etch, - hard ground line, allowed me to get a fairly accurate drawing

The next etch - open bite through thinned stop out, is all about tone....

Not bad, I've got some structure as well, but its going to need a softer use of tone to create distance and properly describe the foreground. I'll want some atmosphere too, a lot to ask of a small 10 x10cm plate, but a good chance to explore new ground.

Thank you RWA...

...for this fab photo on both their facebook and twitter pages which shows my print in the background.
Image can be seen @GemmaRWA

Other images are drawings by Debbie Locke and Fiona Robinson. The visitor is looking at a great etching by Ian Chamberlain.

Etching - below the surface

The surface of one of the lanes I walk regularly has gone through some rough treatment this last year or so. There are loads more lumps, bumps, ruts, puddles and often rivulets of water to negotiate. (Even now in July!) The surface has been excavated in places, stones have appeared and channels have been eroded.

Fascinating drawing fodder. This sketch provided the impetus for the etching below.

'Surface layers' - etching 40 x 20 cm

The top half stays true to the sketch while the lower half of the plate allowed me to explore the whole notion of surface.

This close up shows a dramatic aquatint intervention which tries to convey the idea of lower layers under the surface becoming exposed.
Fun to move beyond the sketch.

etchings with an edge

A couple of weeks ago I caught this wonderful exhibition of Jason Hicklin's etchings at Eames Fine Art in London. These moody etchings evoke the brooding power of nature; the markmaking draw the eye across sweeping stretches of water and threatening skies.

They are full of foreboding yet mesmerising beauty.

The techniques used make the viewer feel that the prints exist on the edge of the possibilities of etching. The surface of the plates are deeply bitten, the image is worn into the plate adding to the illusion of depth and distance.

An inspiring exhibition visit.