Another new linocut fresh off the press, Sea Campion are one of my favourite flowers clinging to tiny scraps of turf in among the rocks at the bottom of my parents croft on Skye. The delicate white petals and subtle veins somehow withstand the battering they receive from the elements and always seem to have a tangle of twines, interesting flotsam and jetsam intertwining with their roots.
Christmas Exhibitions
I thought this was a suitably wintry picture to accompany a selection of other works in linocut and painting at the Frames Christmas Exhibition (13th November - 30th January) http://www.framesgallery.co.uk/exhibitions/
There will also be a a couple of my linocuts on show at the House for an Art Lover Christmas Exhibition (24th November - 18th January) http://www.houseforanartlover.co.uk/
Further north I have recently sent a selection of new linocuts to Gallery 48 in Cromarty http://www.gallery48.scot/index.asp and will also be bringing some of my most recent works to the Castle Gallery in Inverness later this month http://www.castlegallery.co.uk/
Scottish Natural Heritage Exhibition
A selection of work ranging across paintings, drawings and prints is currently on display at SNH Battleby and open to the public. To avoid disappointment please telephone in advance to ensure your visit doesn't coincide with any large conferences which may make viewing difficult.
https://www.facebook.com/ScottishNaturalHeritage
Directional Signage NHS England
The last few weeks have seen my linocut tools being put through their paces cutting a set of images for a refurbished health centre in Nottinghamshire. Each scene is based on a site of local interest and has a key colour relating to the wayfinding signage. The prints have just been sent off for scanning and will be reproduced at several metres width to fill entire sections of wall. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished result!
Puhoi Organic Milk Packaging
This summer I was asked to do some work for a design agency in New Zealand to be used on packaging for an organic milk and artisan cheese company near Auckland City. They were very keen to use artwork that evoked craft and tradition but also had a contemporary feel and would work well in a variety of soft, vintage style colours. It turned out linocut was just what was needed.
And the lovely vintage company van being kitted out with its new livery.
To see more examples visit: https://www.facebook.com/PuhoiValley/info?tab=overview
And the lovely vintage company van being kitted out with its new livery.
To see more examples visit: https://www.facebook.com/PuhoiValley/info?tab=overview
Notes from the Sketchbook
Two books
During the spring I had the pleasure of working on illustrations for two very different books, 'The Dumb House' by John Burnside and 'A Portable Shelter' by Kirsty Logan.
'The Dumb House' published by Penguin Random House in their Vintage Classics collection tells the dark story of obsession with the nature of language, exploitation and revenge.
Meanwhile 'A Portable Shelter' is a collection of short stories which take the reader through a seemingly timeless world somewhere between dream, fairytale and contemporary life. It required the creation of a number of related works for chapter headings and a vintage style cover printed in black and silver foil onto hardback binding, published by ASLS.
All of the artwork was created using linocut printmaking, using half tones in black and white for 'A Portable Shelter' (this effect is achieved by stripping some ink from the block with a sheet of newsprint before printing). For 'The Dumb House' I opted to use two blocks with a black and white 'key' and also a colour block which could be inked up in sections.
Both are released this month and I've just received my eagerly awaited copies so now its time to actually read the full text!
'
'The Dumb House' published by Penguin Random House in their Vintage Classics collection tells the dark story of obsession with the nature of language, exploitation and revenge.
Meanwhile 'A Portable Shelter' is a collection of short stories which take the reader through a seemingly timeless world somewhere between dream, fairytale and contemporary life. It required the creation of a number of related works for chapter headings and a vintage style cover printed in black and silver foil onto hardback binding, published by ASLS.
All of the artwork was created using linocut printmaking, using half tones in black and white for 'A Portable Shelter' (this effect is achieved by stripping some ink from the block with a sheet of newsprint before printing). For 'The Dumb House' I opted to use two blocks with a black and white 'key' and also a colour block which could be inked up in sections.
Both are released this month and I've just received my eagerly awaited copies so now its time to actually read the full text!
'
Summer update
Well its been a wee while since the last post and a very busy few months with trips to Shetland and Sutherland plus I've been working on some exciting illustration projects.
More about them once the publication dates are a bit closer...but I can reveal that I've been working with Scottish author Kirsty Logan on her new book "A Portable Shelter" which will be released during the Edinburgh International Book Festival next month.
In the meantime a couple of new linocut prints
More about them once the publication dates are a bit closer...but I can reveal that I've been working with Scottish author Kirsty Logan on her new book "A Portable Shelter" which will be released during the Edinburgh International Book Festival next month.
In the meantime a couple of new linocut prints
Entrance to Khanderao on show in London
I'm absolutely delighted that "Entrance to Khanderao" which I made following a three month residency and drawing trip to north west India has been accepted into the RI show in London next month. http://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/royal-institute-painters-water-colours
Solo Exhibition, Aberdeen
Here is a little preview of some of the works I will be showing at the Rendezvous Gallery in Aberdeen from 7th March 2015. Based on the walk between the homes of my parents and granny on the Isle of Skye they are a series of places which hold a special resonance for me. http://new.rendezvous-gallery.co.uk//
New linocut prints
So I have been busily printing away over the last month or two making these couple of new linocuts among other things. The terns were inspired by a trip to the Isle of May nature reserve earlier in the year and the experience of being mobbed as we made our way up through the nesting site away from the jetty. Its somewhere I'd like to return to for longer with a big blank sketchbook!
Postcards from Cuba
I have been working on some small pieces based on my Cuba sketchbooks, just playing with a few images and trying out different ways of applying some spots of colour or collage. The postcard size format seems particularly fitting for these "disposable" pieces which are not so much about a finished product but the journey to realise an idea. My actual postcards sent from Cuba went on a bit of a journey themselves - who knows where to - but they arrived back in the UK a mere 6 months after being posted!
Faces and Places
I've been thinking about all the various faces encountered on various drawing trips and how each starts to take on its own character once its down on paper...suggesting a narrative or emotive element. In the studio I've been doing a couple of slightly more finished works (above) thanks to the lovely model Wendy and her willingness to get dressed up in various weird and wonderful costumes.
Below are a few more pages from the Cuba sketchbooks which I'm intending to work with over the next few weeks and try out a bit of mono-printing to bring some colour into them. The top set were made on a very bumpy camion (army style truck) ride in the pouring rain from Santa Clara to the small village of Remedios. The lower one was made in Havana, initially I had been drawing some domino players when this character took a break from welding work across the street and sat down to watch me, I couldn't resist drawing him as well and he very obligingly sat like a statue until I was done!
Recent linocuts and exhibition details
Below is one of my most recent linocut prints, Fox II, which along with a few other pieces will be on show at the Perth Festival of the Arts next month. http://www.perthfestival.co.uk/event/perth-art-trail/
A larger selection of my linocuts will also be on show in Norwich from 9th May - 28th June 2014 at the Assembly House Print Show http://www.assemblyhousenorwich.co.uk/
Sequential Works
Narrative and the creation of series of works is something that has interested me for a long time, to see a picture in context with its companions. I think in many respects it harks back to my love of sketchbooks and how precious these are to me as a visual timeline of places visited and ideas noted down. There is also something very personal and intimate about sketchbooks and artists books which are not necessarily created with the aim of public display. Like exploring a new place the book reveals its contents slowly with a fresh discovery at every turn. It is something I hope to explore more over the next year or so, especially in relation to the Cuba sketchbooks.
This piece 'A Walk Along the Naver' was completed after my residency in Sutherland, incorporating chine colle, collagraph, embossing, Japanese woodcut and painting. It was exhibited with a selection of small objects by sculptor Trevor Gordon http://www.trevoragordon.com/index.htm at Dundee Contemporary Arts during the Impact 8 International Print Festival http://www.conf.dundee.ac.uk/impact8/home/
This piece 'A Walk Along the Naver' was completed after my residency in Sutherland, incorporating chine colle, collagraph, embossing, Japanese woodcut and painting. It was exhibited with a selection of small objects by sculptor Trevor Gordon http://www.trevoragordon.com/index.htm at Dundee Contemporary Arts during the Impact 8 International Print Festival http://www.conf.dundee.ac.uk/impact8/home/
The Cuba sketchbooks #2
Sometimes I find a position to draw from which allows me to capture all the information I'm looking for in one image and this can then be used very much as it is to scale up or begin some ideas for more finished work. Other times there just isn't a good vantage point, I run out of time or there are lots of little interesting details in a larger area so I will make numerous studies and then find a way of piecing them together at a later date. Here is an example...
I drew this building on the corner of Infanta and San Rafael on a sunday afternoon while the languid heat encouraged many people to pause and take a seat either on battered old chairs, front steps or pavements edges in the shade. Even the street vendors were taking a break to chat and maybe drink a coffee.
And below a different street but a similar structure on the ground floor and that same atmosphere of just sitting waiting for time to pass.
This man was sitting making fishing flies and hooks but I chose in the lithograph below to depict him holding a bunch of the paper wrapped cones of peanuts which are sold for a peso on practically every busy street corner in Havana. Details from the two buildings were incorporated and I used it as an opportunity to play around with some textures to try and bring movement into what is otherwise a very static scene.
I drew this building on the corner of Infanta and San Rafael on a sunday afternoon while the languid heat encouraged many people to pause and take a seat either on battered old chairs, front steps or pavements edges in the shade. Even the street vendors were taking a break to chat and maybe drink a coffee.
And below a different street but a similar structure on the ground floor and that same atmosphere of just sitting waiting for time to pass.
This man was sitting making fishing flies and hooks but I chose in the lithograph below to depict him holding a bunch of the paper wrapped cones of peanuts which are sold for a peso on practically every busy street corner in Havana. Details from the two buildings were incorporated and I used it as an opportunity to play around with some textures to try and bring movement into what is otherwise a very static scene.
The Cuba Sketchbooks
Here are a few pages from my sketchbooks, all in Havana Vieja. I used a combination of watercolour, gouache, various pencils and soft pastel and from all I remember the conversations with various curious onlookers, in particular a very kindly stall keeper at the Egido market (top right) who brought me a stool to perch on while I completed the drawing.
The sketch of a young woman sitting watching the world go by was directly translated into a stone lithography print (one of my first of this technique)...I forgot to reverse the image onto the stone in the excitement to get started so it appears here not exactly true to life but close enough.
I really enjoyed the mark-making process that lithography affords, it feels very free and liberating to draw directly onto the stone which has a wonderful fine texture to pick up the greasy crayon and painted marks. Once these were dry I was also able to scrape back into them to create highlights or further textures.
Wanderings
So its been a while since my last post...in August I left Scotland to spend several months living and working in Havana, Cuba to develop my printmaking at the wonderful Taller Experimental de Grafica located in the heart of the old city. Its been the most extraordinary and intensive period of learning, experimenting and of course escaping into the sunshine every now and then to draw.
Following the time in Cuba I was fortunate enough to be able to travel through Central America with sketchbook in hand, from southern Mexico as far as Panama City exploring the cities, coastlines, highlands and jungles of this diverse region.
Now I'm looking forward to getting back into my studio and developing new work...more soon!
The making of a print...
I regularly work with a variety of printmaking techniques, one of my favourites being collagraph. This was a plate based on some sketches gathered out and about around Sutherland... and a wee
look at the process that goes into each print:
The prepared block ready to be inked up...
Ink is applied with a spatula in a layer across the whole surface...
Then wiped back until just a thin coating remains, trapped in the textural surface of the block...
The block is laid on the press with a sheet of dampened paper on top, tissue paper and thick wool blankets...
It is then wound through...
And at the other side its time to carefully peel back the paper and see how the image has printed...
The print is complete and will be stacked between tissue paper and weighted boards for a few days to dry.
The prepared block ready to be inked up...
Ink is applied with a spatula in a layer across the whole surface...
Then wiped back until just a thin coating remains, trapped in the textural surface of the block...
The block is laid on the press with a sheet of dampened paper on top, tissue paper and thick wool blankets...
It is then wound through...
And at the other side its time to carefully peel back the paper and see how the image has printed...
The print is complete and will be stacked between tissue paper and weighted boards for a few days to dry.