Art in Action visit

On Thursday we took a trip over to Art in Action at Waterperry Gardens near Oxford (www.artinaction.org.uk).

We had a great day, the event is bigger than I expected. If you haven’t been before it is a large event showing artists and their work. Many of the artists demonstrate and all are happy to talk about their work and their techniques. There are classes and talks and a Market.

A couple of chums were there, Sue (suebrownprintmaker.blogspot.com) was demonstrating/selling her amazing bird collagraphs in the lovely Nature in Art area, and Sharon (blog.sharonmcswiney.co.uk) was selling her metal work and jewellery in the Market.

I took a camera but unfortunately didn’t think to use it, but the web addresses will hopefully illustrate it for you.

I was particularly impressed by the drawing tent. It was very quiet in there but there were some very talented people who were clearly forging their own path, and so it was one of the least commercialised of all the tents.

I had a lovely chat to Julia Polonski (juliapolonski.com) who does wonderful large scale work based on the human figure, with compressed charcoal and pencil. The work appears to have large elements of frottage incorporated, but in fact it is all drawn. She is very inspired by renaissance artists, and some of the patterns come from a study of these paintings, but she gives her work an incredible contemporary twist by the way she uses these ancient images. I hope you enjoy looking at her website, she really inspired me.

I was also very impressed by Sarah Morpeth (sarahmorpeth.com). We went to visit her on Sue’s recommendation and I came away with a gorgeous small scale seabird book.

If you weren’t able to go this year, make a date for next July, and I hope you enjoy looking up some of these links.

An experimental etching

The Nags Head brook

I spent a while in this meadow at a place with the wonderful name of Nags Head taking photos exploring, sitting and looking. I also did some sketches. Sketching fixes a place in my mind - I can still feel the weak sun on my back, and taste the tea that I took with me.

sketchbook - a morning at Nags Head

The plate that I made in response to this place was very experimental, as you can see there are a number of different mark making techniques employed: brushing, sponging, drawing through with a brush end, and finally dripping, with a bit of splashing!

'washed out' stage 1

I also put a hard ground on and drew in the tree shape and branches. Then using white spirit and a fine brush I drew the spirit on where I wanted the tree trunk to be and where I wanted a suggestion of trees on the horizon.

'washed out' stage 2

For the final proof I mixed sepia with the black ink. The result has warmed the image a little, just as a spring sun had warmed me when I visited this location.

More Laser Wood Engraving

For my second attempt at Laser engraving I found a lovely arched piece of wood which led me to think of all the photos I had taken of trees meeting over a path.

I had a look through my sketch books and was reminded of the footpath to the west of the village that leads away from Woodstock lane.

In looking through photographs of this walk I found the downhill view offered better tree shapes and a nice turn at the occlusion point; the point where the path turns out of view.

I made a drawing which fitted the shape of the wood exactly. Having done the previous laser engraving I was much more aware of the sorts of marks that the laser translated well – lines, tone when next to an area of white, areas of strong contrast and the close tonal differences that were more difficult to translate.

I then created a visual of the, hopefully, final effect on photoshop. Then the image was uploaded and the laser cutter went into action.

The result, below, is a different effect to the previous engraving because of the different types of wood. I used Ash this time, initially because it is a paler wood, but of course it burns very effectively, hence its name and therefore the marks did not have quite the same tonal range.

The laser engraved deeply into the surface, which gave a beautiful 3 dimensional quality to some areas, particularly the top branches reaching across the path to meet the trees the other side. Some of the cutting on this area was achieved on quite a rounded section of the wood, and on an unprepared surface, but the marks have retained their focus and sharpness.

The watercolour splashes that I had left on the surface of the lane in the drawing translated very effectively. A friend pointed out to me - such an intriguing paradox, the heat of the laser using burning to create a watery mark! Water from fire... something to mull over...

I now have to decide how much further I go with this, but the potential for turning drawing into something entirely different is intriguing and tempting.

Exhibition update - the Westonbirt print

The first week of the exhibition has gone reasonably well. The weather gods have been against us (and most of the rest of the country) and there are a couple of roads in the area which are shut. Both things have undoubtedly had an impact. Nailsworth has been quieter than normal, but people have commented about how much easier it is to park than normal, good news for any of you intending to visit. The visitor’s book is filling up nicely and there have been a couple of sales, can’t wish for than that.

This smaller print has gained a lot of interest.

'Westonbirt morning'

It shows a clearing in a local visitor attraction, Westonbirt Arboretum. I did the sketch on a lovely sunny Sunday morning; we had taken a flask of coffe with us and sat on our favourite bench. The shadows were very strong across the shorter grass and the sketch has cried out to become an etching.

Many people in the area have annual membership to this beautiful place full of champion trees and national collections and use it as a place to walk and meet friends. We are members ourselves and our dog loves chasing the scents of squirrels through the trees.

The etching is made from a zinc plate etched with copper sulphate crystals. The trees were drawn in with sugar lift and then I left the plate to open bite, stopped out the trees and shadows to some extent and did a second open bite. My original wax ground was applied over slightly sticky sugar lift which provided an unsecure ground and lots of lovely foul bite – a perfect woodland floor. The background detail was created with a soft ground and textures, - several stopping out stages created a back drop which was not too uniform.

Westonbirt is a magical place, and I can see it featuring in future work.

Exhibition - doors open!

Having seen the weather forecast for our opening on Sunday we delivered all the work to the gallery on Saturday. Thank goodness we did!
Our opening day became one of the worst days imaginable for June, gusting winds and driving rain all morning made us doubt our sanity, but we went for it all the same.

After an intensive morning the gallery looked like a welcoming space and at 3pm we 'opened'. A quarter of an hour later we had our first visitor and then a steady flow of friends and colleagues, until 6pm when we gratefully closed and headed off for a quick half across the road. I was very pleased to see a couple of my ex-A level students - how lovely to have the tables turned and for them to be able to comment on 'Misses' work!
I would like to say a very big thank you to my intrepid friends who ventured out on such a truly horrible day, your company and support was very much appreciated.
The day did not look quite so bad from inside the gallery, and Mum's cups of tea kept everyone's spirits up. Thank you Mum.

Here are some pictures to whet your appetite, hope to see some of you over the next fortnight.

The exhibition continues until 25th June at Cotswold Craftsmen Gallery, Market Street, Nailsworth, Gloucestershire GL6 0BX, 10am -5pm (closed Sundays and Mondays)

Exhibition opens on Sunday!

After some hectic weeks of preparation artwork is now framed and ready to go. Labels will be written, and scones sliced for our 'cream tea private view' starting at 3pm on Sunday June 12th.

The poster above has all the information.

What a busy and nerve racking time it is preparing for a solo show... but exciting too.

Hope to see some of you over the next two weeks.

Laser wood engraving experiment

For the lats few weeks I’ve been taking slices of wood, sourced from Westonbirt Arboretum, into the lasercutting department at UWE where we’ve been trying to get a drawing engraved. There have been a couple of technical issues but we have now succeeded in creating a wood engraving.

 

the sycamore slice before engraving



First I created a drawing, below, then I scanned it and stitched it together on Photoshop using photomerge. The important thing here for me is the ability to turn a drawing into a multiple. There is no point for me in engraving an etching image because it already exists as a multiple, but the ability to reproduce drawings in a new medium is exciting.

I took this file to some very knowledgeable tutors who were able to set the lasercutter. It was important to experiment with both the speed and the power of the laser – too slow and too powerful and it will burn very darkly, too slow and less power may burn just as darkly depending on the wood as the laser is focused on one small part of the wood for too long.



cropped detail showing wood grain within image



These details show how the grain of the wood can be enhanced with areas of the image and how even subtle shapes like splashes of watercolour can be engraved to create interesting effects.



'Looking back', on sycamore



The final engraving has a reasonably good range of tones and makes an unusual art object, but there is room for a good deal of improvement. I like the effect of the natural shape of the wood as a support for the drawing. Having seen what is now possible I’ll make a new drawing which will use the marks and tones the laser engraving seem to like. I also have a nicer shaped piece of wood, Ash this time, a paler coloured wood which will give a different effect, could be interesting...