Weekend Letterpress and Storm Season!

Last week I travelled down to Melbourne for a two day letterpress workshop with Carolyn Fraser of Idlewild Press. Carolyn's studio is located in the Nicholas Building on the corner of Swanston Street and Flinders Lane and is a place I have long wanted to visit since first meeting her in 2007 at an Artist Book forum in Noosa. The course ran over Saturday and Sunday and included all the basics of how to set type, operate the presses (a vandercook and platen press) as well as how to tell if your images and text were finished correctly or not and how to deepen or lighten embossing etc.. It was a thorough course and Carolyn's huge selection of notes that came with it will be invaluable for future reference. Letterpress is a relief form of printing and I enjoyed getting the chance to try my hand at a printing process which is not often available for people to learn through institutions, especially in Australia. The whole weekend was immensely satisfying and I came back with some wonderful images and samples from the other students who took part also (sorry, no sneak peaks at what I did as these are Xmas presents!). Below, however, are some images from the weekend in the studio:

Great range of type to play with!

Helen on the Vandercook

The Platen Press

Carolyn setting type and adding furniture prior to printing

Monday was a slightly nerve wracking day as we had the painter out fixing our window frames and undercoating them in preparation for our windows which have been taken away for restoring (they are the original ones from the workers cottage). This was not the nerve wracking part - what was worrying was that we were (and did eventually get) expecting a thunderstorm to come through that afternoon and all the windows were completely open with no way of closing them up except for reboarding them up!! The painters were not quite able to finish the job before it became apparent that we would need to close shop but at least the windows were safely closed up again before the storm swept through. If you'd like to read more about how Myrtle Street Studio fared on Monday evening then just click to the blog here.

At the moment I've just got my brand new Adobe Photoshop Suite installed and am starting to play around with the drawings I have from Cape Hillsborough - learning how to create patterns with them. This is the next stage in the development of the 'Coastliners' series as I begin to create patterns from the natural forms found while at the coast. To me, the process of doing this is like domesticating nature - it is a metaphor for me to do with how I feel when I get back from being in a wild place, like I too am being domesticated back into suburban living - slowly loosing my connections to nature. In some ways it also references the connections associated with domination and control of nature as exemplified in the formal French gardens of the 17th and 18th centuries - somewhat applied to myself also. These highly patterned gardens were used to literally tame wilderness areas and make them appear less fearsome and unwelcoming - in the end demonstrating power and domination over the landscape as opposed to harmonising with it. I'm concentrating on this area of the prints at the moment as I want this layer to sit subliminally and sometimes overtly into the final prints as layers. Will try to get some examples online before the end of the week!

Not much time left though as after Saturday I will be away for two weeks overseas. Not sure if I'll have much access to the internet while I am away but if I do I will try and post some of my adventures while over there!

Processing

I've been doing a bit of personal processing this last week while continuing to work on the linocuts which form part of the imagery in 'Coastliners', my latest series. I really enjoy this part of the process where you have finally established the direction you are heading with the work at hand and have made forward and convincing progress to the point where you are really excited about what will eventually be the finished works. At this point it can also be very frustrating if you are delayed or can't for some reason work on these pieces as by now I am in the groove (to use a sailing term).

While I've been creating the linocuts, I've been considering where this work is taking me. I travel a lot and in the back of my head is a visual map of all the places and experiences I have garnered along the way. I have a friend who's practice partially revolves around the 'found objects' she picks up off the streets. I am slowly realising that my 'found objects' are not objects, they are instead those experiences of place and time - which much like my friend, I gather up and store in my head for later analysis and interpretation. Much like that stamp box from my childhood, each image can be used at will in different combinations to create a story. I am drawn more to the natural environment than the man-made, I search out little bits of green and delight in seeing plants where they 'should not be'... In turn, my background as a designer in the construction industry gives me a great appreciation for well-designed space. I like to compare how these spaces evolved from or were influenced by the environment around them. What they reflect of that larger space. I enjoy in my travels the places where man has intervened in or left nature alone and what reasons there are for this - beauty is a big winner here fortunately. I like seeing the connection we still have with our environment... I think this might just be where my current art fits in.

Two interesting things from this last week. A discussion with creative friends on the weekend about the pros and cons of keeping sketch books. I war with myself occasionally over this one. I tend not to keep a 'sketchbook' as such mainly because I don't think one book is sufficient to cover what I want to do each day. I like using different papers and some of the materials I dabble with need something far stronger than what your average sketchbook could handle. Instead, I have a reporters moleskin which keeps my written thoughts, an A4 slip folder for all the bits and pieces I collect and photograph, and a larger A3 folder which I pop my sketches into. I date the slips as I put the work in so I have an inventory and can lay all three out together at a date and see what I was up too. I do this by project as opposed to a linear timeline. Occasionally I wonder if this is a lazy approach - I've heard and read many people's opinions on the virtues of daily drawing but to be honest, most of my sketching occurs during or just after a trip or if I am inspired by something and must get it down on paper. Or, when I am trying to figure out how to make a piece 'work' and a quick sketch often does the trick to process this. I'd love to know other artist's thoughts on this, especially printmakers!

The second interesting conversation from the weekend, about ritual, stemming partially from my feeling a severe lack of it at the moment!! As it so happens, Myrtle Street Studio is back in motion, and I'm really happy on one hand as it means we are moving forward again with this. But on the other hand it has interrupted my work flow and morning/afternoon rituals that help make me most productive during a day. Feeling on one hand elated at the space moving forward and disgruntled as my days are punctuated with noise, dust and inability to print at will. Don't get me wrong, I know it will be well worth it and very necessary but I am discovering that I truly am a creature of habit :)

The photo's show a little bit more of what I have been up to when I could get to the press. Slightly washed out as we have no windows at the moment (they are boarded up) turning our usually airy home into a dark cavern. I still haven't got to the etchings yet (made a last minute change to how I want to approach them and require more copper) but hope you enjoy the linocuts I've been working on (shown in this post) in the meantime.

Silver Lining...

The silver lining in the delay in construction of Myrtle Street Studio this week has allowed me some time to dig in and do some sample printing for the solo I am putting together for next year. 'Coastliners' is all about memory of a particularly familiar place on the central Queensland coast. The last couple of days have been spent playing with the scraps of monoprints I spoke of in this earlier post. As you can see, I've been enjoying the play!

These images are small bits and pieces of the monoprints overprinted with a linocut and have been in some cases partially masked as well as have had collaged elements added to them.






Being impatient, I couldn't wait to actually do the etchings to see what they would look like with monoprint + I wanted to experiment so I just printed out onto thin Japanese paper some of my sketches and monoprinted/lino printed over them to see what the effect would be.

Today I experimented some more with different colour but kept coming back to this colour way above from Monday/Tuesday's efforts so this is where I think I will take my prints. Now I need to start getting stuck into the etchings and then start putting the elements together for the final prints.... A little way off but I am looking forward to working on the etchings now.

Not So Good..

Feeling not so good at the moment - culmination of events over the last 4 days. Last week it was great to see Myrtle Street Studio actually begin in earnest with the builder on-site and carving up of concrete/pulling down battens (you can follow along the progress here too). All was in progress except me! Had forgotten how noisy it can be on a construction site which ended up with me having more than a few headaches at the end of the day (I work from home and the house is timber so it just reverberates all day). Then finding that my makeshift studio space had been taken over by builders equipment and all the stuff that needed to be moved out of the other end of the house to mine :(.... Needless to say I was a bit worried about how to continue printing (see photo above).

Then... on Friday, the news that all was not well with our existing slab and retaining walls!!! I won't go into detail here but if you'd like to read more about it then go to the Myrtle Street Studio blog. At the moment we are just waiting for the verdict on how much it is going to cost to redo the slab and retaining wall (cringing at the thought of the $$$).

So, after finding this out on Friday I wasn't in the best frame of mind but this all changed on Saturday afternoon when I went for a two hour kayak ride up the Brisbane River (organised by a friend). It was fantastic and just the ticket to perk me up and put everything in perspective.

I decided to put my best foot forward and have made some semblance of a studio space again (see below - I know it doesn't look very different in the two photos but it did get quite a tidy) over the last couple of days. Even managed to do some printing this afternoon :) (will show more on this later this week).... Looking forward to more printmaking tomorrow and some images to show come the end of the week. Hopefully some good news regarding the studio too!!

TINA 2009

This Is Not Art (TINA) is an independent, emerging and experimental arts festival which has been held in Newcastle on an annual basis since 1998. Incorporating all sorts of creatives including writers, poets, fine artists, illustrators, musicians and designers to name just a few, it is one of the best free events in the country to experience what is going on in the emerging and new media scenes. Not to mention an amazing zine fair!

I enjoy going mostly because it allows me to be around so many people with the same mindset - it's nice to feel 'normal' when so often as an artist you do end up feeling often that you are living in a sea of people who really don't understand how you operate at all. The events, workshops and talks are always a mixed bag of interesting and entertaining/thought provoking experiences and Newcastle is the perfect setting. It has that great welcoming feeling that only a country town (albeit a large one) can provide.

Sorry, not many photo's from this event as I spent more time actually experiencing it than snapping photo's of it but here is a bit of a quick break-down of favourites:

Best Art piece - the copulating giraffes (life size and made of plasticine)

Best Talk - 'Are Poets Nice?' (had forgotten how wonderfully funny and enjoyable listening to poets can be!)

Favourite Workshop - DIY Pinhole Camera Workshop (Image of my finished product below - will share the photo's when I get them processed this week!)

Favourite Morning Out - Saturday, wet weather, trawling the streets of Newcastle and its 2nd hand + antique shops

Most enjoyable non-TINA event - 'Margaret Olley: Life's Journey' at the Newcastle Region Art Gallery (every time I come to Newcastle this gallery surprises me with the excellent exhibitions on show - 'hats off' to the curator!)

Best Late Night Gig - 'Un-Erotic Erotica, Put Your Hands All Over My XXX' (great poetry with some fantastic, and equally appalling, offerings from the open mike after the main event)

Best 'Pick Me Up' - tea and cake at Tototoro's Teahouse (pictured above)

Bromoil Workshop

Just catching up on the events of the last week - there is so much to tell!

Last Wednesday saw me taking part in a Bromoil workshop run through Gold Street Studios (at East Trentham in Victoria) and taught by Chris Lim. Chris has been perfecting her Bromoil technique since 1992 and gave us a great introduction to this alternative photography technique. Below are a few samples of Chris's work.

My main interest in this process is that it truly crosses the boundaries between photography and the fine art print. The photographs are literally inked up and the final image can actually be turned into a short limited edition on paper. An example of the inking process is shown here (first time I've used the iPhone to record and I think it worked well!).

And below are samples that I attempted on the day. Chris provided us with pre-bleached images from her own archive and we all greatly enjoyed getting the opportunity to ink them up.

And below is a sample of three different versions of the same image as inked up by those of us taking the course. Everyone inks up in their own way so the same image can be given an entirely different feel which is something I am keen to explore further.

Pretty In Pink...

This last week has been a bit of an odd one for me. It started with the Melbourne trip I had planned being cancelled and leaving me with a little over a week of time at my disposal! I had thought to get stuck into my etchings using the new Lascaux products and was busily filing and bevelling edges on Wednesday morning when the sandstorms from Sydney blasted in to Brisbane. While it was amazing to see (check out the first photo from my iPhone above - the sky was completely pink), it meant I couldn't get back out to my studio (which is only semi-enclosed from the weather) so my printmaking had to be abandoned that morning (and afternoon, and then on further into the weekend as a second dust storm blew through). Frustratingly, there is now a fine coating of dust over everything in the studio care of the second storm despite my first clean-up on Thursday in preparation for more that I had hoped to achieve on the weekend. You have no idea how much I am going to enjoy having my press and myself out of the weather when my new studio is built!

Despite this, I still managed to enjoy a little bit of print related work based on some old monoprints which I had floating around inside the house. So while the storm found every crack in the house to push dust through, I barricaded myself in the lounge and had a bit of fun going over and slicing these up. I know, I can't escape the monoprint - it is an itch I keep wanting to scratch! For those of you who have read this blog entry, you'll already know all about my love/hate relationship with monoprinting :). Anyway, it seems I quite enjoy carving them up and turning them into new compositions (extremely satisfying) - some of them I have included below (these ones were actually done at an earlier time but were already scanned in - gives you an idea of what I was up to!).

And a few which I overprinted with the screenprint design I've been working on as an experiment:

So this has added a new dimension to what I am working on although I finally do head off to Melbourne tomorrow and then on to TINA on Thursday for a great weekend of independent creative fun with a gaggle of girlfriends - so not much more will be done till I get back! I'm sure I'll have lots to tell then too and will be bursting at the seams to get back into it all.