There and Then

The exhibition came out of a lunch at Kate's house in late July - we were bemoaning the lack of opportunities and our wish to exhibit strong artists together. Before we knew it we had decided and agreed to a group show three weeks later. I was away the following week so frantic activity to decide a title, design an invite/flier, email friends and post on social media.

                                 

                                    

We curated the show together, there were things I had not considered before like flat mounting some pieces and hanging the same themed pieces together.

                                    

We decided that we would would have a mix of all three artists on the ground floor and landings with our own rooms on the middle floor and Kate's work in her beautiful top studio. We explored scale and contrast of styles putting large scale canvas's and small paintings together.

We corralled in helpers to hang the work including my daughter Lucie who was extremely efficient and helpful in my room.  Throughout the two days we discussed how it was working and stayed late in the evening to make adjustments to the placement of work, furniture and lighting.

By Friday it was a case of making sure the price lists were complete and printed out, that the new izettle card machine worked and all pieces were clearly numbered. By 6.30 we were ready  and wondering if anyone would come. We had several helpers willing to make tea, pour wine, take money and make people feel comfortable. A mixture of snacks and homemade food provided a good starting point  in the kitchen and created a relaxed atmosphere.
Much to our amazement Friday night was packed,  Saturday and Sunday had a steady trickle of visitors and sales were made by all three artists.

Reconstructing my own work

Over the last few months there have been many developments, which began from a digital print onto a reproduction of a painting. From here I decided to start using these reproductions  to recreate some of my themes. Theses have included "tea tray/ still life", "lobster pots" "beside the sea" and "coffee pot/kettle". I have already shown some of the earlier pieces in the "Painterly Developments" post.  Two of these pieces are in the Rogue 21 exhibition at Waterside Arts in Sale.

Tea Tray  Digital print on reproduction painting

Tea Tray 

Beside the Sea

Still Life 

As I make more in this series, the image naturally evolves, as less pieces are available in the reproduction paintings that I am using.  Sometimes I recreate from sections of other pieces and other times the  composition takes over, leading to a further stage.

                                   

Kettle

                                  

Beside the Sea  

Work in progress -  I like the seated figure best as the standing figure feels too clumsy.

Inspirations in May

Saturday 14th May

A lovely sunny day - first I called in at Stockyard North Salvage in Trafford Park - a place I've been trying to visit for awhile - it's like a cross between Grumpys as was, second hand furniture and car boot.  

Alan spotted these canvas strips with numbers stencilled on to them. He said I should have haggled more, but I was happy with a fiver.

I can't wait to start working with them - I like the stencilled numbers but the backs have just as much potential.

 

On to  Salford Quays for a walk and we called in at the Lowry and saw Katie Paterson's Syzygy. I particularly liked th mirror ball which was quite disorientating but also mesmerising.   

Round the corner was a timeline for Lowrys work and what was being created st the same time. I saw this Julian Trevelyan from 1938 which was very reminiscent of the John Pipers collages which have inspired me for years.

Thursday 12th May. After hours in Manchester

To the Castlefield to see the Left wing writers perform and hear the delightful Vocal Harum sing A Capella

"Painterly"Developments

The Faber and Faber artist pamphlets pages  often provide the backdrop to my work. Originally the pages were a background and it took awhile to realise that I could digitally print onto the pages.  I had a folder full of paintings that I had detached from the pages which I have used in printmaking, but only recently recognised that I could use them for digital prints as well. The surfaces of the paintings are semi glossy, which changes the colour and appearance of the subject matter of each piece. 

This week I decided to try using the paintings in the work in other ways, partly to bring a more painterly feel  back into my work.

Lobster Pots - cutting up sections from several paintings to recreate a recurring theme

The Dustcart ( painting back onto digital print/ found painting).

Landscape -combining sections from different paintings together  to create a  background to the piece.

Knitted Helmet Permutations for Bookmaking

I have been working with the knitted helmet images and wanted to develop a concertina book. 

I have also been taking some of the titles from the knitting patterns from the Handicrafts book and putting them together to create a stream of consciousness.

I photocopied the text and painted faces in knitted helmets  over the top with black indian ink, working (as ever), with negative and positive.  Whilst I liked this piece  I intended to use the Risograph and realised I would have to separate the  layers between the image and the text.

It seemed simplest to cut out the text physically and begin to play around with layering the image.

 First I tried  printing onto tracing paper and layering over the top.

Next I began trying smaller images of the face behind each cutout.

The riso never comes out as I planned and  I am dependent on the colours available. 

The result is effective and now the book needs a title.