Time to Stand and Stare

One of my favourite poems is well known, in parts. It's called Leisure by William Henry Davies. You'll probably recognise it:

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this is if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

William Henry Davies                     
                                               

As I contemplate and explore ideas for a forthcoming exhibition in Bury and my 20:20 print exchange editions for 2016, this poem resonates with me. From observing, to cutting lino and capturing a feeling of peace... It's time to stand and stare.

Work in progress images below - concept for a night sea and sky, using tone in lino, as well as a developing twilight view of a Welsh landscape, in 3 plates.

 

Drypoint on a large scale

Last weekend I really enjoyed Alan Birch's new large format drypoint course in Rossendale's Prospect Studios. It was a chance to work on Perspex plates as large as 50 x 70 cm.

This was the first weekend the course has run. Another one is coming up in October. Class sizes are small. Day 1 was creating plates using traditional - and less traditional - drypoint techniques. Day 2 was all printing - quite tiring given the plate size.

I'm pleased with my first attempts to work at this scale and took the chance to explore the same image (an 'everywoman' / Eve sketch) using traditional drypoint tool and also on plate 2 adding power tool effects! Not easy to control, but creating some great texture and definition. I think I'm hooked! These rough proofs give you a preview of work in progress.

Drypoint using a variety of hand tools

 

Drypoint using a power sander as well as traditional tools

 

Picasso on the Wirral

It's a delight to have a linocut exhibition of Picasso's work locally. On at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight Village, until 8 January 2017, it's a small exhibition of prints from the British Museum. It's well worth a visit even though the exhibition focuses on just 3 works.

I'm going to look at 2 in this blog. The first that really fascinated me was a portrait, called 'Jacqueline Reading' - 2 plates, both black, but the first providing tone on a lino plate, something I hadn't seen before. The image builds to create a rare and striking effect. I'll be trying to replicate the technique, which Picasso created with a wire brush, I believe.

'Jacqueline Reading' by Picasso - Plate 1 proof

'Jacqueline Reading' by Picasso - Plate 2 proof

 

'Jacqueline Reading' by Picasso - the final work

 

The second work is a well known still life, called 'Still Life Under the Light'. The British Museum has acquired not just the final work, which is a reduction linocut, but also all the stages of its development, which are on show - and every individual plate is proofed and on show too. Such a rare treat for printmakers! Sometimes it's hard to work out how an artist has created a finished effect with linocuts, but here you have a master class on reduction linocut printmaking - on full display. I found it mesmerising! I've shown below the build to the full work.

 

Colour 1

 

 Colour 2

 

Colour 3

 

Final 4 colour work

 

For the record, below is the single plate, as proofed at each stage. The first colour is above. The rest follow:

 

Red stage proof

 

Green stage proof

 

Black stage proof

 

What a delight - I'm planning to visit again. It's not a big exhibition, but it's great. I hope you get to visit in person. If not, I hope this blog post will be of interest.

A Parliament of Owls

I'm looking forward to receiving my copy of The Elegant Fowl - a Printmakers' collection of owl prints from 94 artists, published by Mascot Media, which is just out and will be retailing at £23.99.

My Barn Owl 2 colour linocut is in there somewhere - a print I created for my niece Amelia's 4th birthday a few years back now. She's vey excited to see her print and name in the book too!

Updated website - check it out!

The last few days have been a challenge as I've been getting to grips with new website software and have recreated my website with some new features like mobile responsiveness and social media links, as well as a new gallery.

Please check it out at the normal address: www.carolynmurphy.co.uk

Ispired by Picasso in Malaga

Finally, after years of visiting Malaga, I got to the Picasso Museum this time. I'm really glad I did. The building alone is stunning - and much larger than I'd expected, housing the Collection and an exhibition running until 21 February 2016, called Picasso 'German Records'. Printmaking was well represented in both sections and the press used by Picasso in Paris, was also in pride of place on loan.

You aren't allowed to take pictures of the works themselves, so the images below are sadly of postcards or flyers, so the quality is not great. My favourite images were the large linocuts 'Portrait of a Young Girl, after Cranach the Younger'.

5 colours on plates 64 x 53.5cm, produced in 1958. There were also some great etchings, sugar lift aquatints and drypoint original prints. I found them inspiring in their challenge of technique as much as the powerful images themselves.

 It's a beautiful city. If you haven't been, perhaps it's time to plan it in...

Great fun experimenting with collagraph

Earlier this year I spent a whole weekend playing with collagraph at Prospect Studios in Rossendale - it was something I'd been looking forward to for a long time and was great fun! Previously I'd used mount board as a plate and cut into it - and had added materials like tape, carborundum, wallpaper or glue. This was the chance to check out all the other things I'd spotted or read about printmakers using, from bubble wrap to food. Some were more successful than others, it's fair to say. I'll be using a blow torch again with tile grout and packing tape, for example, but probably giving linguine a miss for collagraph prints.

The prints I produced are below. You can also see the plates - some wood, some mount board, some metal. I've listed the materials used in each plate - and outlined the ones I liked and didn't, for my own reference and maybe other printmakers will find it helpful too. Thanks to Alan Birch and Jill Randall for a fantastic weekend workshop.

 Here are the plates, all shellac coated - with a mix of "ingredients" added:

 

Ply wood plate with lentils, carborundum, sticky back plastic (burnt with blow torch), glue

 

Mount board plate (cut into in places) plus bubble wrap, lentils, wallpaper, embroidery thread & cotton

Metal plate with tile grout, scratched into, carborundum, wallpaper, lentils, porridge, beads & glue 

 

Mount board plate with embroidery thread, tile grout (scratched into), pieces of material, sugar, carborundum and glue 

Mount board plate with added linguine pasta, porridge, lentils, carborundum, packing tape, tile grout, wallpaper, glue  

 

Wooden plate with tile grout, carborundum and sticky tape, burnt and distressed, using a blow torch

 



My favourite materials were the tile grout and sticky tape, especially when burnt. They make fantastic textural patterns. The tile grout once bubbled with heat will break up a bit in the press. Tile grout scratched into and left to dry was excellent, along with carborundum and sugar.

I liked the bubble wrap but it's hard to control the effect. Glue when used thickly was excellent. For me (in moderation!) the lentils and porridge were great. They need to be shellac-ed well or they will try to come off the plate under pressure.  The threads worked well - particularly the thicker embroidery thread.

Linguine was far too brittle. The beads were far too thick and deep. It didn't work well to have too much variation in depth, for example cutting into the mount board as well as adding bubble wrap. I also tried rolling over a relief colour into the linguine rooftops. There was too much depth in the plate for this to work effectively. Another lesson learnt!

It's a great effect for a simple plate, as shown below, from a previous occasion:

 

Close up of collagraph print of the Isola Bella in Taormina, Sicily, with a blue relief "roll-over"

 

Shallow mount board plate, cut into, with added sandpaper and glue

The same plate printed in mono.