Based on Home

I'm back in the studio after two weeks going down to London almost every day. My computer is dying and I had a grey screen all last week. 

There are  few things I need to make work for, but I also have some ideas I want to test, lots of ideas. There has been so much input recently that I need to explore my own responses to things, and play.  Today and tomorrow I have set aside for monoprints - above is 6 x 8inches and the first stab at going back to my starting place, the combination of landscape/figure, inspired by my most recent studio visit.

Last week I visited Bridget Moore. Bridget was in my original group of people I really, really wanted to visit but it was tough to organise and it is not an understatement to say that it lived up to my expectations and was worth the wait.  You can see a little of her work here: https://www.newenglishartclub.co.uk/artists/bridget-moore-neac-rba-rws?art=101

Bridget was a generous visit, feeding me and then letting me look through her work myself and showing me piece after piece, and explaining the context. I saw her gouache plate, her tubes and some absolutely exquisite paintings and drawings. We talked about using memory, drawings and old photos, something I used to do but have lost the confidence to do, these days. We talked about that and she is a role model for working that way.

What happened when I got home is that the things that I look at daily (or DON'T look at) became visible - I had never noticed how mysterious almost iconic, a semi detatched house can be, until Bridget showed me. She likes silouettes and the light around the edges.  So do I.

Three Media, three models

Feven, egg tempera on panel 16 x 23cm

Last week my portrait group came to my house.  Feven, the model, is visiting from Sweden and we swoon about her beautiful red braids. I dressed her in a chocolate velvet top. Each of the egg tempera panels was begun in a three hour session and completed the following day, laboriously. Both were sanded down mid working. I put a wash of colour thinned with egg over each area of colour so that the whole surface is evenly coated and shiny with egg at the end.  Who knows if that's the right way to work?

Feven, egg tempera on panel 16 x 23cm

Esme ink on paper 10 x 15.5 cm

Esme ink on paper 10 x 15.5 cm

Esme ink on paper 10 x 15.5 cm

Esme ink on paper 10 x 15.5 cm

 I took my new bottle of india ink to drawing today and mixed eight tones in a muffin tin using a dropper, ink and water.  I forgot my paper towels and had chosen questionable brushes but sometimes the struggle reaps better rewards…  The same is true with last week's monotypes at The Mall Galleries Learning centre. I didn't have time to roll the ink on the plate.  My travelling easel is warped so the plate doesn't work well unless I go down to the floor to roll. I couldn't find my sock for a while either and it was a thick cotton sock, not ideal for removing ink.  The ink had leaked out everywhere and my hands were inky to start too! We did a series of 5 minute poses and getting something done in 5 minutes with this medium is challenging!

Akua Intaglio on paper 10 x 15 cm,  NEAC life drawing

Akua Intaglio on paper 10 x 15 cm,  NEAC life drawing

Akua Intaglio on paper 10 x 15 cm,  NEAC life drawing

A few more from life

 On Monday Barbara brought a big box with her to life drawing.  she'd seen a performance at Dance East using a box and was inspired. Shadows fell in a different way.  The body was brought into relief.  the image below was without the box, with the mirror making the edges. I had decided to work in ink and was trying to let the magic of the ink speak, so made choices differently and had to work slower.  I didn't want these to be line drawings, I wanted to use tone. These small sketches (between A5 and A6) were 5, 10 and 15 minute poses. It's interesting to reflect how they give me as much, though different information than a colour pastel drawing.

 We had Esme the week before and I used my 10 x 15 cm zinc plate. The plate below still has a ghost that I am considering reworking. I realise that when I put release agent on top, I lose the whitest whites so thought I could consider that in the subsequent print. I only worked backwards in one of the prints so was able to print a few prints during the two hour session.  Clearly my brain takes longer to work backwards - something to consider for NEAC drawing school.

 The images below are from my last visit to London and NEAC drawing school with Mick Kirkbride.  I was determined to get more done but we made a series of quick sketches first (which was great)  but we didn't have as long on the pose.  I worked backwards but was determined to get a quick print too. You can see how the release agent darkened the whole image in the middle print. 

Re-using a monotype plate

Rapeseed, Oak and path  10 x 10cm, first version 1/1 monotype: Akua Intaglio

I think that working small can feel claustrophobic, sometimes.  It's tough not to get tight, to get enough distance and to have realistic expectations.  As a result there are instances when the print doesn't live up to my imagination…When that happens what I usually do is to begin again with the ghost still on the plate, trying to address the areas that don't work. The second print can be freeing.  By then I have worked out some problems and I have translated the landscape in some way and that leaves me space to experiment with colour and composition differently  I might work from my imagination in a way I wouldn't in the initial print. The second print usually takes less time. Occasionally I find that making the second print convinces me that the first print is OK.

Rapeseed, Oak and path  10 x 10cm, second version 1/1 monotype: Akua Intaglio

What's interesting when I show people two similar prints, one made directly after the first is that a 'favourite' isn't always universal. Deciding which is better can be difficult. Sometimes I even have to make a third print.  Sometimes I put the prints in the 'not fully realised box'.

Aldeburgh Beach  7.5 x 10cm, first version 1/1 monotype: Akua Intaglio

Aldeburgh Beach  7.5 x 10cm, second version 1/1 monotype: Akua Intaglio

And tonight we had a drink in the field.  I took my new altered sketchbook for UK landscapes. A Bold Venture.

Field with Lime Tree, pastel on book pages (altered sketchbook)

On a Winter's Day Magic the Sun

This week has been a gloopy one.  I've been mired in admin and in a fog since the election. I have been getting lots done, but it has been unsatisfying stuff and I have barely done any real work.  Today was pre-selection day for the 2017 Pastel Society Exhibition and I always get butterflies in the run up to noon, so I did a little more admin and then took Lyra for an early walk, I was pretty convinced I wouldn't be able to work well just then. 

To be fair, it was a beautiful cold day and Suffolk couldn't have been more exquisite, but although I love the seasons, I know which seasons I like best. 

When I got back I logged on and found that this year I had both of my drawings pre-selected.  I call this 'art tax' because it means I have to pay even more to get them framed and to take the stuff down to London.  As faar as I can tell, so little of what is pre-selected gets through because priority goes to Pastel Society members. Nevertheless, obviously I was delighted!

I wanted to make two prints today.  Jo Hollis, framer extraordinaire, has cut me 8 mounts and I only have three prints ready to put into them. I am imagining a wall of mini prints as one of the 'exhibits' for my open studio. When I began this mini print I tried to feel the heat on my back and to magic another time of year in the zinc.

Tomorrow is the opening of the mini print exhibition in Bury St Edmunds and I'll be heading over.

Monotype and landscape

It is one of those grey overcast days and this morning while walking Lyra, it was even a bit foggy. 

The hedges were grey-green and milky. This is the first day this week when I have had a whole day to work so I decided to make monotypes, responding to the local Suffolk landscape.  One of the chapters I read in the Degas book was about versions and how Degas used the monotype to experiment with different versions of an idea, or to progress through ideas. What's nice is that at the end of the print run I had three very different experiences of the landscape recorded.

I was tied to the bleached colour I saw, though, so in response I collected my effusive bouquet of roses that I cut yesterday evening.  I found a recipe online for making your own special sauce so that flowers last a little longer: 1 t bleach, 1 t sugar, 2 t lemon juice + water. So far it's a success and the resulting monotype satisfies me more than the landscape monotypes!  You will notice that I used lots of the colours I'd already mixed for the landscapes. I didn't wet the paper and I think these Akua colours are fab!

Smell the Roses, monotype - Akua Intaglio on paper, 10 x 15cm