During Part 5 of the course, when my right hand was disabled, I was thinking about ways of printing which I could explore when I couldn’t ink up or wipe. Blind embossing worked well for my project on memory, but I would also have like to explore cyanotype printing, or photograms. This process requires you … More Cyano-playtime
I was extended an invitation to attend the SW Group via a Creative Arts student hangout. I was particularly interested to do so because the Creative Arts curriculum leader, Doug Burton, was going to present a lecture, lead a critique and facilitate a workshop on maintaining your practice; all of which is very timely for … More SW Group Workshop
As the SW group workshop last Saturday, we discussed ways of maintaining our practice and creative momentum. Lots of good ideas were put forward and I thought it would be useful to document them for future reference and for other people. Other aspects of the meet up are written up here. Networking, looking: Joining local … More Maintaining Your Creative Momentum
I was pleased to have the opportunity to attend this session on critical thinking and research by Emma Drye who generously travelled to present this to the London group of students. This is an area where I feel my knowledge is lacking and I find research and note taking particularly difficult as a dyslexic. We … More Critical Thinking Workshop
This print fair held annually at the Royal Academy is an excellent opportunity to see a huge cross section of fine art prints, contemporary and historical, mainly, but not solely, from the UK and Europe. Every conceivable technique is represented by specialist galleries, print studios and printmaker associations. The format allows you to get close … More London Original Print Fair 2019
My objective is to blind emboss a pair of my mother’s gloves, combined with chine colle digital images of the packaging and the label. I have found very little information on blind embossing, perhaps because there isn’t much to say. Most information relates to linocut, although I did find an interesting post by Alice Fox, … More Technical Notes – Blind Embossing with Chine Colle
I was captured by the work of Bill Viola during ‘Drawing 2 Investigating Drawing’ when I investigated ‘The Sublime’ in art and also started making videos as a form of drawing. I was very pleased to have this opportunity to see his work because there is very little publicly available. The current exhibition at the … More Exhibition – Bill Viola Michelangelo: Life Death Rebirth
In the Life Class, this week, rather than make a plate from life, I thought I would draw some portraits and then use these as studies for a plate. I am continuing my search for ways of interpreting a drawing into a plate whilst trying to retain the freshness of the marks. Working large … More A Failed Experiment with Soft Ground
One of the difficulties I have encountered with my etching experiments is ‘foul biting’ where the etch breaks through the ground creating random, unwanted marks. In particular, I have found straw hat varnish too delicate to use as a ground. The other grounds I have tried at workshops have required lots of white spirit for … More BIG Hard Ground and Soft Ground – Technical Notes
The Tintype Gallery annually commissions a series of short artist’s films based on the theme of Essex Road, its location in North London. This study visit, to see the fifth series, was facilitated by an OCA tutor in Moving Image but the attendees were from a range of disciplines which made it even more interesting. … More Study Visit – Tintype, Essex Road
Printmaking 2 