Completing the big one!

February 2018 will be in my memory forever as 'the huge linocut' and snow. It's not the best combination as Hot Bed Press can be truly icy at times, even when you're wearing 6 layers and a hat!

Fighting through the snow

The good news is that all the prints in the edition are finished and drying. I started with 12 and I think I have between 6 and 8 good ones in the final edition. I won't know for sure until I've checked them carefully and transported them safely home.

The finished A1 linocut

The framed print for the wall of the Macmillan Centre is due to be delivered to them on Wednesday 21st March. I just need to arrange framing and decide on a name for the artwork! It's all on track but the name bit is proving trickier than I thought. News later on this.

The final stages have been gruelling, not just down to the cold. Every time I estimated 'a day' of cutting, the plate seemed to grow. In total 'the big one' has taken 80.5 hours of cutting and printing. The cutting stage after the spot colours took 10.5 hours before I could print colour 4. Strangely enough, I massively underestimated that!

The final stage of cutting the lino plate

Below you can see the final stages of the process of building up this huge original print:

Printing the 4th colour at Hot Bed Press

After 4 times through the press

 

Printing the final colour on what's left of the plate

To see a video of the final stage of printing check out this News story on my website.

Jake Kennedy has featured me and the making of the giant Macmillan linocut on his latest blog Probably Prints. Thanks Jake!

To see more of my work, please check out my website: www.carolynmurphy.co.uk where you will also find an online Shop with currently available work. Thanks!


Printing the first colour of my Macmillan linocut commission

I bought 2 pieces of A1 lino (just in case) and when it arrived it filled the studio with a strong smell of fresh linseed. I had to clear the space entirely to spread it on the big table. It took up most of the table, but was difficult to work on there. Eventually I’d reorganised the spotlights and set up on a different table, easier to move around. It was clear I'd be standing all the time to cut this plate!

The pristine A1 lino from Hawthorn

I started by lightly sanding the whole surface. Then I redrew the image onto A1 tracing paper, tweaking elements, based on learning from the prototype stage. I then transferred the image to the lino to reverse it and marked this up with the permanent Sharpie pen.  This took longer than I thought.

The image reversed and transferred

Finally I started cutting the first colour (to leave the white of the paper), the kento marks and the 'gutter', which allows a margin around the image. By chance I bumped into Lucy May Schofield at Hot Bed Press, so was able to double check how to carve the kento marks! As I suspected the edges have to be vertical. The cutting all took MUCH longer than I expected too! So I deferred printing colour 1 from Friday to Monday to give myself more time.

On Friday I went in to Hot Bed Press anyway. I needed to test a few things, using the real A1 lino plate (even though it wasn’t yet ready to print). Lesson 1: A1 lino doesn’t fit in my car! Fortunately I was able to swap cars with my husband.

I placed the A1 lino on the Polymetaal press, the largest etching press at Hot Bed Press. I put a large piece of Canaletto 300gsm paper into the kento marks. Lesson 2: the paper and lino together were too wide for the press. I spent over an hour cutting down the paper. I decided to start creating 12 original linocut prints in the hope of getting sufficient good ones at the end of this risky process. Somehow 10 seemed too much added pressure on a first-time giant reduction!

After I’d cut the beautiful smooth paper, I learnt another useful lesson. Lesson 3: the trimmed paper is bigger than the A1 folder. Thank heavens Karen Joyce was kind enough to lend me her folder to keep the paper safe and clean!

Over the weekend I eventually finished the cutting stage – with piles of lino pieces in the studio and rogue lino bits gradually spreading all around the house. On Monday, I returned to Hot Bed Press and set about the mammoth task.

Still cutting!

 

Printing went well. I had intended to take a first proof on newsprint. However the newsprint was too small for the plate, so I did my best to proof onto 2 pieces – not ideal.

Overall things went pretty well on Monday. Positive lessons: I had mixed just enough very light grey ink to complete the 12  prints (a bit close for comfort though!) and I managed to print all 12 just before Hot Bed Press closed. Conditions were icy, but I managed to work up some warmth eventually through the physical effort of rolling so much ink, transferring the huge plate to and fro, printing and moving the prints on the drying racks for storage.

Printing on the Polymetaal at Hot Bed Press

Colour 1 - a very light grey - on the drying racks

I was also delighted to find that I could, with care, place the paper onto the plate using the registration marks on my own. It was a 1 person job! At 5pm I was shattered and went home for a rest. I’ll be back on Wednesday to print colour 2. In the meantime, today I’ve cut the lino plate further, to remove lino from areas I want the very light grey to be visible. There’s no turning back – bit by bit the lino reduces with each colour of the process. Fingers crossed for a positive day on Wednesday. I’ll be wearing my hat as well as my thermals next time!

To see more of my work, please check out my website: www.carolynmurphy.co.uk where you will also find an online Shop with currently available work. Thanks!

20:20 Exhibition Touring during 2017

Throughout 2017, the Hot Bed Press organised 20:20 print exchange will be touring the UK, sharing the work of 508 artists from 39 print workshops, this year including prints from Hong Kong and Australia for the first time.

I submitted 2 print editions this year - a bit crazy I know! Images below. One was through Hot Bed Press in Salford, where I'm a member, and another through Prospect Studio in Rossendale, where I printed most often in 2016.

'Meandering' is a 2 plate linocut, based on a sketch for print that I did looking over the stunning Dovey Estuary in mid Wales, just outside Aberdovey / Aberdyfi and Machynllyth.

Above is 'Adjusting the Sails', another 2 plate linocut, this edition using a technique of scratching into lino to create tone, something I experimented with after seeing the Picasso linocuts at Lady Lever Gallery last year. The name of the print is based on a quote from a lovely card given to me by a former colleague: "We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails".

The entire collection can be viewed online, along with prints from previous years, on flickr:
www.flickr.com/photos/hotbedpress/

Venues for the touring exhibition can be found at www.2020printexchange.com

That 20:20 time of year!

After having had to take some time off from printmaking, I'm back and have just completed my 2015 edition for the 20:20 print exchange. This year I submitted prints with Prospect Studios, as I've done most of my recent work there. It's a hand-printed multi-plate woodcut, called 'The Low Road' based on a Scottish landscape:

I've chosen to adapt a 3 plate woodcut initially developed in Lucy Schofield's fantastic Japanese woodblock printmaking course, which I really enjoyed in September at Hot Bed Press in Salford. It was cut in the traditional Japanese fashion with a knife, called a 'hangito'. I've added some development phases below so that the transformation from the Japanese style is obvious.

My unfinished 3 block Moku hanga Japanese woodblock print was painstakingly cut in the correct fashion with the hangito knife held like a dagger to create a 'living line' (image size 14 x 10mm). The image was cut into 4mm Japanese ply, with kento registration marks, and inked up using water-based ink onto Japanese paper. It looked pretty good (though unfinished) at the end of the course on ozuwashi paper:

Course info on the link, in case you're interested:
http://www.hotbedpress.org/courses/japanese-water-based-woodblock-printing-mokuhanga/

I liked the image but wanted to add overlap colours (not a Japanese thing to do) to add interest. I also decided to add gradations and worked up a prototype to see what I could achieve with the same 3 woodblock plates. Once I was happy with the prototype (first image below) I finished cutting the final plate, removed kento marks and built up my 20:20 edition colour by colour. This is how the image built up - colours 1, 2, 3 and a border:

Below you can see the key plate, entirely cut with a knife and surrounded here by a mask to keep the 20:20 image clean. And finally all the 20:20 original woodcut prints, hand-printed at home, drying in my dining room 'studio'!

 

New 20:20

This year's 20:20 print swap and exhibition is going to be bigger than ever. Hot Bed Press has confirmed 500 artists from 40 print workshops will be taking part in 2013. The deadline for getting prints in is here and print sorting, a massive job, will be taking place this week, before the exhibition opens at Hot Bed Press in Salford (and online) on 30 November.

Below is my design - the first time I've put in a screen print, instead of a lino cut. I've really enjoyed the challenge. It's called 'Near Ragusa' and is a 4 colour screen print on 300g Canaletto off-white paper. I'm looking forward to getting my box of 20 swap prints. It's great to be part of such a big printmaking 'family'!

Lasting Impressions: Contemporary Printmaking

A belated thank you to An Talla Solais in Ullapool, Scotland, for celebrating the art of contemporary printmaking, by showcasing work produced by artists from two institutions: the Highland Print Studio, in Inverness, and Hot Bed Press, in Salford, Greater Manchester.

The exhibition which ran during March and April this year was a great success and hailed as "eclectic and enthralling" by Mandy Haggith, who writes for Northings on the web, covering Arts and Culture in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Her is the link to the gallery website for the Lasting Impressions exhibition.

Thank you to Mandy for the mention of many of the linoprints I had in the exhibition, especially ones with a Scottish connection, like Morlich and the Scottish Sheep. I'm delighted that the Scottish Sheep has found a permanent home in the area!

'Scottish Sheep' by Carolyn Murphy, now residing near Ullapool

Hideaway - My 20:20 print 2012

My own 20:20 print, Hideaway, is a 3 colour multi-plate linocut design, based on a sketch I made of a small seaside cottage in Cwm-yr-Eglwys on the north Pembrokeshire coast, near Fishguard.

20:20 Print Exchange is launched!

On Friday (23 November 2012) Hot Bed Press in Salford launched its biggest 20:20 Print Exchange yet! Well done to Sean and all the helpers, who sorted prints from 30 print workshops across UK and Ireland. 392 printmakers in total produced prints for the collection.

Each artist has now received their own box of 20 random prints. I picked mine up on Friday night and am delighted with the mix. Some of my particular favourites from my own box were these lovely prints:

They are (in order) by: Jenny Lines of Oxford Printmakers, Emily Rae Manning of Stew Print Rooms and Peter Kirley of Fife Dunfermline Print Workshop. Copyright is with the artist.

To see the full set of 392 prints, arranged by print workshop:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hot_bed_press/sets/

Hours of happy viewing!!

Full details at:
http://www.hotbedpress.org/