A level talent impresses at GPC

My talented A level students from Katharine Lady Berkeley's School have been invited to show at the Gloucestershire Printmaking Co-operative studios in the Printmakers Gallery

The prints shown in this exhibition have been selected from students who are studying 

Fine Art, Graphic Communication or Photography at AS and A level. 

Print is introduced to the students as a creative and flexible tool 

allowing them to explore and develop imagery. 

 Printmakers of the future

up the steps to the Printmakers Gallery at Griffin Mill, Stroud

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.

Lucky escape

Last week almost saw the demise of the print co-op due to a massive chemical factory fire next door to where we are housed.

Griffin Mill and the Nu-Pro factory remains

The red brick mill building houses not only the print co-op but many artists studios, arts businesses and Pegasus Art suppliers.

Gloucestershire Fire Service did the most amazing job cooling the mill with water while foam was used to suppress the fire. No one was injured in the fire. There has been some water damage which has affected a few people, and for them it has been a traumatic week, but we are all thankful that it wasn't much, much worse.

The fire ravaged factory

The factory now looks like the remains of a large boat. The walls have curved inwards and the front area, which looks like like it has been cut open with a tin opener, now looks like the bows. The power of fire is awe inspiring. A lucky escape indeed.

A mini peek at Mini-print

Gloucestershire Print Co-operative Mini Print show is open!

 

 

 

 The Printmakers Gallery looks fresh and bright, and the prints make a colourful splash.

 

Beth, Danuta and Barry's work made the most of their materials; rich colour and textural depth.

 

Open, weekends only, until the first weekend in June.

Griffin Mill

Thrupp, Near Stroud,

Gloucestershire, GL5 2AZ

 

PS: Stroud Open Studios are on at the same time,
and there are some studios open to

 look around in the same building as the Mini print show.

Colour trials

I've bitten the bullet and continued my mini adventure into colour for the Gloucestershire Printmaking Co-operative Mini print exhibition.

These two plates were top rolled with a colour I hoped would be reminiscent of fading leaves and filtered light.

The plate, below, was viscosity inked, a process whereby a loose consistency of ink is rolled over the plate followed by a stiffer consistency. The results can be unpredictable but often provide surprisingly interesting results.

...and here are two more variations on the one plate. Its fascinating to see how different inking and colouring techniques can make such a difference to an image. Everyone will have their own favourite, mine was the viscosity inked version above... I think...



Gloucestershire Printmaking Co-operative Mini Print exhibition runs from 3rd May - 1st June, weekends only.

Chine colle - natural dyes

This must be a bit of shock for those of you used to looking in on my blog... Colour!!, really...??
Its given me a few wobbles I can tell you, but nothing ventured and all that...
The reason for this sudden change of tack is Gloucestershire Print Co-op' Mini print show is coming up and last year it struck me that small prints often benefit from a splash of colour.
Chine colle seemed to a viable solution for me, I can't muck up the colour too much that way.

I tried painting tissue paper with watercolour, but that involved too many colour decisions. After a quick re-think I decided that as I was making images of the natural landscape I should really use natural dyes. The selection of papers above are beetroot, paprika, tea and turmeric.

 

The beetroot proved to be very strong, but when combined with other colours a bit of red added strength.

Controlling the density of the red became my prime focus. Turmeric proved to be a lovely sunny yellow tone, paprika was very weak.

  

This image with a strong wedge of earthy tea paper drew very positive comments.

 

 

Always good to see a multiple of mini prints.

 

 

Gloucestershire Print Co-operative Mini Print at

the Printmakers Gallery, 3rd May - 1st June, weekends only.

GPC Affordable Art Fair

Gloucestershire Print Co-operative has its very own Affordable Art Fair in full swing in our dedicated gallery space at Griffin Mill, Stroud.

There is a lovely variety of work available all under £100, much of it well under!

If you are coming along to look, please note that it is only officially open on Saturdays.
See you soon!

Stepping out

The mini print show is ticking along nicely, the team at the Co-operative have notched up 10 sales on the first weekend, not bad given the current retail climate. I invigilated for a few hours last weekend and it was great to hear how interested people were in technique as well as subject matter.

Overwhelmingly the visitors were drawn to the most colourful prints that the Printmaking Co-operative were showing, or those featuring animals and insects.

So flying in the face of any thought of popular preferences I have gone on to complete my set of black and white, landscape mini prints!  - the thing is we can only enjoy making what we ourselves love, and be glad we are all different.

Two more views along Steps Lane...

'Step up'



'Step out'

Mini Print is open!

Gloucestershire Printmaking Co-operative launched the 'Printmakers Gallery' officially on Friday evening with the start of the Mini Print exhibition.

The Printmakers Gallery is up the steps, on the same floor as the screenprinting area,
downstairs are the etching and relief printing areas.

The banners are out the prints are dry and framed.

The gallery is a bright, white space which shows the work off really well

 

A fabulous selection of high quality work

and an eclectic mix of styles ... something for everyone ...

... my two little framed prints hanging on a section featuring monochrome work

If you're in the Gloucestershire area, we'd love to see you, and if you know anyone who may be interested , please pass this along. The gallery is open at weekends, throughout May.

Mini Print Exhibition

Mini Print opens this Friday.

Here's my favourite little print that I've made for this show


'Snowy steps' etching 10 x 10 cm

I'm fond of this print because I captured the scene in just two 'takes' and because there is something of the essence of the place:

 

'Likeness can be obtained by shapes without spirit, but when truth is revealed, spirit and substance are both fully expressed'

(from a story about the Chinese artist Ching Hao)

 

It's what we all aspire to.

 

 

 

Mini Print is open throughout May, in conjunction with Stroud's major Site Festival

Getting organised for Mini Print

I'm underway on making a series of mini prints for an exhibition at the Printmakers Gallery at Gloucestershire Printmaking Co-operative.

Over the last 6 months or so I've been doing a lot of sketches in a lane above the village, and I've decided this is the lane for the mini prints. Its called Steps Lane, a great name for all sorts of wordplay opportunities. Each print has to be a maximum of 10 x 10 cm, here's the first completed one:

'steps ahead' Etching 10 x 10cm

I've been really pleased with the sketchbook feel to these little plates - I've been getting freedom in the marks which I'm very happy with.

I recently read this by Brett Whiteley, "a great drawing is either confirming beautifully what is commonplace, or probing authoritatively the unknown."

I'm not so confident about the 'confirming beautifully', but I love the idea of aiming for it by drawing the commonplace, which in my case are the everyday views I share with lots of other people in the village. Allowing the freedom in the marks is definitely probing the unknown, I'm never completely sure if I've quite got what I hope for.

I'm sure there are going to be lots of interesting little prints, please make a diary date for:

IMPRESS 13 Festival - Highlights, week one

The IMPRESS 13 Festival has launched in style at Stroud's Museum in The Park with an inspiring talk given by Painter/Printmaker Hughie O'Donoghue. The artist shared many anecdotes about his process and inspirations.
The large collograph shown below was made using 3 plates, printed onto a single sheet of paper, and shows the swimmer life size.



large scale Collagraph by Hughie O'Donoghue

The INC print show at Stroud College unveiled a massive installation of woodcut prints made by the students at the college under the tutelage of Printmaker Simon Packard. The installation, below, reaches approx 20 ft up the curved atrium wall of the main staircase.

At Ruskin Mill in Nailsworth is a joyful group show which celebrates print in some of its most diverse forms - fine etching, digital print, and print fused into glass. My favourite image however was a return to etching: Terence Millington's dog 'Prince', for its genuine character and clearly evident love of the subject matter.

 

This is a small glimpse of a very good collection of Prinmakers exhibitions in and around Stroud and Cheltenham for the month of March, I hope some of you can get to see some of them. Please check out the Gloucestershire Printmaking Co-operative website for all the details, and the diary.