Lobster Pot and Other Plastics

It had been my intention to make a beach combing collection whilst on holiday at the Llyn Peninsula this summer as I’ve wanted to return to making assemblages as I did nearly 20 years ago. Even further back at Shave Farm in 1992 I made two small reliefs which I have always loved and these too were in the back of my mind.

Whilst in Wales I photographed a plastic lobster pot on Criccieth beach. One side of the lobster pot was ripped open and the netting was broken.   I liked that I could see through the netting and its sculptural qualities which reminded me of Tony Cragg's sculptures and drawings. I have also made a lot of work based  around a  lobster pot  fisherman who has featured in earlier work (these are two links that lead to previous posts about that work).  I left it on the beach, having too much else to carry that day, however, when I posted it on Instagram some people asked if I'd taken home.

The top part of the beach is covered in pieces of plastic, so much of it was washed up on the shore, Alan was horrified and environmentally so was I, but aesthetically I was in my element, the subdued colours  and the fact that the pieces were scratched and snarled reminded me of my collage pieces. I picked up some pieces and tried out some small arrangements back at the cottage.                          

I wanted to go  back before we left Wales and the this time I was prepared with plastic carrier bags to collect more pieces.  I also hoped that  the  lobster pot would still be there. 
                                                     
After a while Alan got fed up  and wanted to go, but at least I had managed to fill one of my bags with plastic. I was just about to leave when I spotted the lobster pot sitting at the edge of the sea.  

I brought it back home and for now it is sitting in the back garden.

Printfest Ulverston

A visit to Printtfest in Ulverston recently made a huge impact on me. It was a wonderful opportunity to talk to the artists, who were keen to engage and shared their practice enthusiastically. Many seemed to be my age and had taught themselves to print,  by attending workshops and reading books, they were all very proficient and professional.

I came away feeling that I would like to try lots of these processes, the whole thing was so inspiring and they were some excellent artists there.

Personal  Favourites
There was lots of etching that was impressive:

Fouzia Zafar builds collages and presses them into soft ground and then etches. There were some very large pieces which were dark and atmospheric.



Isobel Walker - made large circles using sugar lift and embossing.

Jude Freeman very delicate etchings of flowers.

Kelly Stewart made painterly screenprints that were printed in several layers by working onto different types of film, each layer exposed onto different areas of the screen.  When each layer was printed it was a different colour and there could be 20-30 layers.



There were two collagraph artists that impressed me.
Jay Seabrook who uses mounting card and Carborundum.



Sue Brown  makes shaped collagraphs using skim and repair from B&Q! She presses stencils into it and allows it  to dry and then prints from it.



I have tried out some of these collagraph methods and have been pleased with the results.

I was also very taken with the artists that carved into Japanese Plywood.

Debby Akam cut into Japanese ply and made patterns and shapes which she overlaid with very bright colours.

Joanna Bourne worked in a similar way to construct figurative images of landscape and animals in landscape, printing onto Japanese paper.

The talk that we went to was by Joanna Bourne, she works in Newcastle upon Tyne and is inspired by what she sees around her making woodcuts on either plywood or Japanese plywood.  She showed how she prints her work using a  makeshift frame, a "barren" and the back of a wooden spoon! I found it very confirming, as she said that she had stopped making artwork whilst her kids were growing up and had come back to it over the last seven years (which is of course what I have done and often feel awkward about it).  She talked in a very matter-of-fact way, about how she takes wood out of skips to work with and to make do and mend. She is more concerned about her practice and making the best of it rather than having to conform to expectations. 

It was lovely to have the opportunity to see all this work and meet like minded people.  I could see that there were several possibilities to develop my own practice and so I've begun with the collagraphs and also signed up to a Japanese Plywood workshop too!

Double Page Spreads

Whilst the altered books have been a mainstay to my work I have not used them for awhile.  I realised that all my energy  and attention was going into them; preventing me developing individual  pieces.
In reviewing  the work recently, I returned to them, revisiting some pieces  and developing double page spreads. Here are some recent developments - although not all of it is recent work.

Reworkings

Text and Image remain significant throughout the work.  I have begun to develop work in series of connected ideas and revisit previous pieces.

Where and Which Way

I want  explore images from the original altered books and also combine them with motifs developed over the last 3 years. 

February 2014

Portrait Postcards 

On a recent trip to Kendal I found some portrait postcards which have fueled another direction. I like the random nature of the found portrait.

February / March 2014

The Knitted Helmets

This is part of a series began last summer and developed mostly in "The Complete Book of Handcrafts" altered book after I purchased a knitting pattern for balaclavas

Summer 2013

March 2014 

Absence 

The found portraits postcards  have provided another direction and in the same way that I look for artifacts with the previous owners markings so here are a sense of the absent figure

Costal Responses 1

Ravenglass

I had not expected to visit the sea or that the different places would be so contrasting. I only knew  Ravenglass  for the miniature railway I remember being taken to long ago. A wide variety of seascape in quite a small area, offering surprising beachcombing potential.

Wasdale Inspiration

We took our students to Wasdale a couple of weeks ago and stayed in a lovely youth hostel on the edge of the lake.

It was an excellent few days but even more so for the unexpected dividends it provided for my work. From the scavenging along the costal beaches developing collections, the photography, colours, space and vista's of Whitehaven harbour; Mr Moons secondhand bookshop and several charity shops we visited – such treasures … particularly the homemade stamp album and the music manuscript books from Windermere.

By chance I had picked up Secrets of the Seashore as my sketchbook; providing images to respond to and develop  since I returned. 

Wasdale 7.30 am

Eskdale

I was intrigued by these houses leading straight out onto the beach as much for their gates and distressed wood and concrete sea walls -  they had almost become assemblages in themselves