What a Great Print Exhibition!

It was a great day out! On a really wet and windy day today, we visited the second annual Great Print Exhibition, at the Rheged Centre near Penrith, on its final day. I'm so glad we made the effort, as the space was fantastic, the work inspiring and the exhibition was busy. It runs from the end of November to the end of February, with sales before and after Christmas - and the response has been excellent, I'm told.

With work from many well-known printmakers, a good number of Cumbrian print artists and a wide spread from across the UK, it was great to see so much high quality work in one place, well presented and well lit, with unframed work also available in browsers.

Some photos below will give you a feel for the exhibition and some of my own personal favourites.

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

Longitude Gallery exhibition in Clitheroe

At the moment I have a number of pieces of work, framed and unframed linocuts, in an exhibition of printmaking running until March 30th in Clitheroe, Lancashire. Over 20 artists from Rossendale-based printmaking studio, Prospect Studios, are exhibiting work across a wide range of printmaking techniques.

On Saturday 4th March you can come along and meet many of the artists and enjoy the exhibition and some refreshments. Please join us if you can between 1pm and 4pm. Sadly, I'm not going to be able to be there - but please do come along and take a look. Alan Birch and the rest of the team will make you very welcome! For more info, see the gallery website www.thelongitudegallery.co.uk

Bury Art Museum show 'Feared and Farcical Futures' opens Friday

Prospect Printmakers have responded to Bury Art Museum's theme 'Feared and Farcical Futures' with an exhibition of work around the Ring Balcony Exhibition space.

The Opening is on  Friday 27th January 5 - 8 pm (with work on display until 20th May 2017). All welcome! If you are in the Bury area, please do come along.

My finished work 'Darkness' (above) is on display and for sale, with other unframed work available in the browsers. I'm looking forward to seeing the full exhibition, which features sci-fi and dystopian themed prints, collagraphs and etchings, all available to buy.

'Darkness' was created using the reduction linocut process, in 3 stages, after an initial prototype. I've included below some reference shots taken on my phone, of the early stages.



Early prototype to test initial idea



First stage gradation



Variable edition - exploring different colour-ways

The edition is a variable edition of 3 and draws on ideas of catastrophe, the race to colonise space, and suggests an abandoned 'spent' planet. I've tried to reflect what I love about dark skies, imagining a future when they return to their vast, fundamental beauty.

 The opening event is part of Bury Art Museum's Friday Lates and 'Thank Art It's Friday' drawing events. See the events page for more information

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

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.