Art In Action 2007

Well this entry has turned into something of a saga so you had better make yourself a cup of tea and get comfortable.

Wednesday
I set off at lunchtime on the wednesday and had a pleasant, gentle journey across country to Oxfordshire. The weather was fine and, after depositing my equipment in the Printmaking tent, I drove to the campsite and found a patch of ground at the higher end of the field - a good decision, as it happened. As you can see, my '76 VW camper isn't the smartest looking vehicle but it has character. The refit had cost more money that I could really afford but I spent five very comfortable nights in the van.


I walked back to the Printmaking tent - a sizeable marquee - and started to arrange my things.


I started by arranging framed engravings on the stands at the side:


Next, I covered the tables and arranged unframed prints in my browsers:


I was sharing the space with nine other printmakers (select printmaking in the drop down menu), an etching press and this magnificant 1876 "Super Royal" (ie. biggest) Albion Handpress:


What a beauty!


I hung my framed "Walking On Water" as my entry in the "Best of the Best" exhibition and, after dinner, since it was still fine, I made use of the framing workshop in the back of my VW:

Thursday
A beautiful sunny day with many visitors and pleasing sales. Here are some of the visitors taking refreshments in front of Waterperry house. Art In Action takes place in the grounds around the house and surrounding fields and orchards:


Friday
Ten hours of rain! Here is the morning view from inside the camper (which amazingly no longer leaks), accompanied by Radio Three.


Meanwhile, in the Printmaking tent, the water rises!



Intrepid visitors arrive...


...and the ground starts to turn to mud!





Notwithstanding the rain and mud, I enjoyed Friday. There were fewer visitors, but they were not only intrepid but also interested in the work we were doing. There was time to have conversations and give one-to-one demonstrations. Here is my working area set out with sketchbooks, blocks and works in progress:


However, by the end of the day, the inside of the tent was ankle deep in mud!

Saturday
We arriveed to find the situation no different and so decided to sort it out ourselves. Printmakers are such capable, practical people. Laurie (collagraph and etching), Chloe (lithography) and Nana (traditional and modern Japanese printmaking) are seen here bringing in the first barrow of straw. Many other barrows followed and we covered the floor. The whole tent had (for now) and pleasant, comforting rural aroma - rather like a dry barn or stable.



Saturday was a surprisingly good day, culminating in a marvellous meal served up for the artists and craftspeople who had been demonstrating at the event.


Sunday
When the tent was opened on Sunday morning, the smell was enough to take the back off your throat; the mud-soaked straw had produced the unmistakable aroma of cowshed!


We set out in search of more straw and, once again, the Printmaking tent was a pleasant place to be. Sunday was busy but I found a little time to wander round and look at the work on display. Here is the etching press:


And the beautiful 1876 Hopkinson and Cope Super Royal Albion handpress that I used for demonstrating printing:


At lunchtime, I spent a few minutes exploring the lovely gardens of Waterperry House:




Soon, the last visitors left and we packed away our things before clearing the tent. I set off in my camper but soon found that the heavy rain was starting to take its toll:

I decided not to risk the floodwater in a 30 year old van and turned round to seek another route. Around me was evidence of the devastating floods that are now still affecting large areas of southern England:


All in all, and despite the weather, Art In Action was extremely enjoyable. I couldn't have hoped for more cogenial companions than the other printmakers. I enjoyed demonstrating engraving and also sold a pleasing quantity of prints. Without hesitation, I would recommend Art In Action to anyone with an interest in arts and crafts.

Off To Art In Action

I'm off to Art In Action, having worked all hours under the sun and the moon to refit the camper. Check out my last post to see the "before"... this is the "after"

I have packed just about everything except the Albions (there is one there in the printmaking tent). I'll report when I return.

Open Studios: Weekend 1

Last weekend, I took part in the first of my two "Open Studio" weekends. Actually, this year I have not opened my studio due partly to accessibility issues and I am sharing Gallery@12A in Fulbourn, near Cambridge, with Sue Rapley, a painter. It was a rush (as always) to get everything together but, in the end, everything looked good:


There was limited wall space but quite enough to show an array of framed work:


Since I wanted to demonstrate the process of engraving, I set myself up at the end of a long table:


Further along the table, I made a display of bookplates so that people could pick through them and appreciate the quality that a hand printed piece has:


On the long table were three "browsers". I was particularly pleased with them as I adapted them myself, buying three "racks" from Habitat, turning them upside down and setting them into bases cut from curved shelving of a similar wood that I had stored in my garage. I thought that they looked very professional:



And here is a general view of the space. The paintings on the right are by Sue Rapley, holding her first exhibition. Apart from being a fine painter, Sue is also great company.


We are open this weekend (14th - 15th July). We would love to see you there. Details can be found here:

http://www.camopenstudios.co.uk/artist.php?artistid=15&back=alpha


Its all go here. I am engraving a highly detailed business card and working an a design of an intriguing bookplate, combining many different interests of the recipient. I'm also getting ready for Art In Action at Waterperry near Oxford from 19th - 22nd July. Details can be found here:

http://www.artinaction.org.uk/

It would be great to see you if you attend - do drop in and see me in the Printmakers tent.

During Art In Action, I will be living in my 1976 VW camper van - trouble is, the inside looks like this at the moment:

NOT really suitable for an engraver of a certain age and so, dear reader, I am also working every hour under the sun and the moon to refit it.

The Mathematical Bridge - Finished

I have finished the engraving of the Mathematical Bridge that crosses the River Cam in Cambridge.

I stopped engraving a little before completion and there is a good reason for this - it is a lot easier to remove wood than to put it back. The latter is not exactly impossible but is, of course, something that I want to avoid. Here is the block , inked and fixed in the bed of the press:


My preference for proofing sooner rather than later usually results in the first "state" being fairly "flat". I normally take four proofs of each state - here are the first ones on the drying rack:


This is a good time to take a break, pour a nice strong cup of tea, and look at the image with a critical eye. I work through the print systematically, noting all of the changes and developments that I wish to make.


Next, I wipe the ink from the block with a clean soft cloth and make the adjustments that I felt were necessary. In this case, I wanted a lot more light in the reflections in the foreground, so I recut the lines:


After this I took a proof of the second state and planned further revisions. I worked through six states before I was happy. The last ones only made tiny changes which were not really very noticeable but I would not have been happy if I hadn't made them. I was pleased with the final image:

Its been a while since I followed the story of an engraving on my blog and so here is an offer for my readers only.

I am selling five of my artist's proofs in my website shop at a much reduced price of GBP25.00, including shipping. This is about half the selling price for the edition. Please note that these are artist's proofs - identical to the selling edition but marked "A/P" instead of the edition number.
They are for sale HERE as Item "Blog Special No. 1"

Beside the Seaside

Off to the seaside yesterday - my favourite beach at Wells-next-to-the-sea. Here we have a beach-hut; nothing grand, just one of a line of rather ramshackle huts built along the shore. At high tide, the sea laps at the steps. Here it is at low tide:


After we arrived, I unpacked my "travelling" kit and set to work, for this was not just a jolly day out:

During the morning, I worked on the trees in the background of the Mathematical Bridge and then J and I took a stroll along the shore before returning for some lunch. By this time, the weather turned decidedly wet and we were glad to be sheltering in the hut while a line of wet bedraggled people files off the beach.

Soon the sun returned and we walked again before going into town for tea and cake. The skies darkened again and we drove through heavy rain to Walsingham where I bought fifteen frames for my Open Studio event next month, before returning home.

This morning, I carried on with the engraving and hope to be ready to proof later today. Here is the block as it stands at lunchtime:


And here is a detail of the top portion:


And now.... lunch and then back to work.

The Mathematical Bridge and the Small Crisis

I have spent the last couple of days working on my new engraving of the "Mathematical" bridge which crossed the River Cam at Queens' College, Cambridge.

At the start, I made a fairly careful (reversed) outline drawing to check the composition. I have drawn a punt in the foreground for added interest :


The next step was to copy this onto my darkened block of lemonwood:


I started to engrave the elaborate woodwork of the bridge. I alternated between this fine work and the sky, which was a bit more straightforward:


Next, I engraved the college buildings and continued to work on the sky. The last addition here is the punt and the start of the reflections on the surface of the water:


Here is the upper part of the block in more detail:


At this point - disaster! I stopped work for a moment and the block slipped of the sandbag and fell to the floor. It missed the mat and landed facedown on the rough concrete floor. I picked it up and checked for damage. It could have been a lot worse but there was still a small but deep depression punched into the surface. I could have engraved over this in a light area but it was one of the darker parts of the water and so I needed to deal with it.

The traditional method os to try to swell the wood so that the block is more or less flat again. This is done by putting a drop of water over the hole and using a match to warm and evaporate this so thast the wood swell - obviously being careful not to scorch the block - or set fire to it!

Readers of a nervous disposition will be relieved to hear that the procedure was almost entirely successful. Here we go:

Starting a New Print

I have finished most of the immediate jobs in hand and so I can work on a project for myself.

I love the bridges that cross the River Cam in Cambridge. My favourite is Clare Bridge, which features in this engraving called "Lining Up Through Clare Bridge":

Another interesting bridge is the so called "Mathematical Bridge":


I have a piece of "lemonwood" saved for this project:


I normally darken the surface of the block before I draw on the design. Time to get the darkening kit out:


I keep a bottle of writing pen ink diluted with water. I apply this with a soft cloth until the surface is darkened enough for me to see the cuts that I make but not so much that I could not see any marks I make on the surface to guide me...

...but why don't you watch while I show you:

Cambridge Open Studios - July

I promised some more details about my participation in the Cambridge Open Studios next month. Instead of working in my own studio, I will be demonstrating and selling engravings in the Gallery@12A in Fulbourn, just to the south of Cambridge.

I visited the gallery yesterday afternoon to act as steward for a preview exhibition. This is the area that I will be using:

I will have about twenty feet to show framed works and a large table to work on and to show bookplates etc. I'm very pleased with the space. Here is my info page, including a map.

During the afternoon, I found time to work on a sketch for a current project:

The scale of my work does allow me to carry on with it almost anywhere.

It would be great to see you if you are anywhere near the Cambridge area during the following weekends:

Saturday July 7th - Sunday July 8th
Saturday July 14th - Sunday July 15th

The gallery will be Open from 11am until 6pm all four days.

Apart from engraving work in hand, I need to make sure that I have enough stock for these weekends and Art in Action which takes place near Oxford over the third weekend of July. I still need to work on my large Albion and, in particular, cover the tympan. More of that soon.

Printing on the Albion Handpress

I made a short video for my Albion blog but thought I would also post it here. It shows a "printers-eye view" of the process.

I am printing a bookplate so everything is on a small scale. I am using several layers of very thin ink on the block. The paper is held in a cut-down clear plastic folder.

I had just printed 130 engravings - this will yield 100 really good bookplates and some for practice. The others will be rejected.

On with the show...

The Next Exibition

A change of routine is always a good thing so I welcomed a day framing prints:

I drove these to Oundle to leave them with Geri Waddington in her wonderful bookshop - well worth a visit. I left with a small packet of bookplates.

These prints are on their way to Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire fo "Six Of The Best" a group show by six British engravers from June 24th to July 15th:


This is part of the Hebden Bridge Arts Festival:


It takes place in the festival shop. The festival website is here:

http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/festival/2007/index.html

The next day I was in Cambridge, collecting prints from another exhibition which has now closed. The weather was lovely and I sketched by the River in preparation for a commission I will engrave during this month. Finally, off for coffee. One shop in particular has tables to work at (being in a University city) and its a great spot to spread out sketchbook and references. I was working in another commission, involving Gutenberg:


When I am commissioned to design a bookplate or similar small graphic, I tend to work up three or four small sketches to scan and send to my client. One of these is chosen and I develop it further, making drawings until we are both happy enough for me to start engraving.

Blogging tonight - printing tomorrow.

Revisiting Rembrandt

I'm frequently asked about my lucky Rembrandt find, so here is an update. But first... a lovely morning in Cambridgeshire as I walked out with Bella the lurcher - looking towards Ely Cathedral:


I now have Rembrandt back after the etching was released from the old backing paper. The reverse tells its own story, with evidence that it has been mounted at least twice before and some old pencil inscriptions, including the enigmatic "sup":

The front is looking very fresh:

Now the paper can be examined easily, I took the print back to the museum for a final examination before framing. The verdict? Not a posthumous printing! The paper is a fine - probably French - paper used by R from the 1640s. The print is now going back to the conservator to be prepared for framing.

The marathion printing is done. Three hundred business cards stand drying ready to be packed and dispatched tomorrow. Always a glutton for punishment, I immediately changed blocks so that I could add to the dwindling supply of my own business card:


I should add that I am always happy to discuss commissions for such work.

And next...? A little bit of sketchbook work before making sure that the NA bookplate is ready for proofing.