Silk Aquatint workshop

A few weeks ago my chum Sue started some posts on her blog about the silk aquatint  process she was teaching her weekly printmaking group. It looked wonderful, especially as it seemed to produce striking tonal differences. My voice was one amongst many that wanted a workshop and quite by chance Sue re-arranged a date in her busy calendar and offered one this past weekend. I needed no second bidding to get my name down and all my expectations about the scope of this technique were fulfilled. Now, I never go to a workshop with a desire to bring home a masterpiece. I need to concentrate on watching, absorbing, understanding and practicing the process from start to finish and after the workshop I love the next step of thinking how I can use it or push it a bit.So, I made my first two plates just as tonal exercises just to see how many layers I needed on each plate to wipe white and this first plate will inform all the subsequent ones so well.

After reading Sue's continuing blog posts I thought I could work out the process so I  made a couple of sample plates which did not print well and this tonal plate above suddenly taught me why they had failed. Even if I'd made no other plates, this one alone would have been worth going to the workshop for.... but friend or not, Sue has a plan for her workshops and she makes sure you get the most from them so resting on your laurels is a no-no. We were encouraged to try lots of mediums to create tones but my favourite one is the rich velvety one achieved by leaving the silk uncoated. A close up view of my photos show how juicy and wet those prints still are. I think they'll need a few weeks to dry off completely!

 Here's the plate alongside the resulting print. It was drizzled with glues and paints and has some inking issues but, alongside the three small ones below, will inform where I go next with this process.

 Some workshops can be an awkward mix but there were five of us and we just gelled so well, making it a great environment to learn in. Some of us were experienced and one was a beginner to printmaking but we all had a fabulous time. The others kindly said I could show their images here :

 Sally - inspired by the Chinese Lanterns in the garden at Hampen

 Corinna adding chine colle to one of her plates

 Sally No 2 using viscosity inking to highlight her imagery

 And finally, Liz, who produced for me, the print of the weekend. By accident Liz stuck some card to her plate the wrong side up. Instead of a shiny, wipe free surface she had the rougher texture uppermost so needed to salvage it with glues. Her initial print was lovely but when she tried viscosity inking over it, it was even better. Look at that beautiful plate. For me, a work of art in it's own right. When this is dry and framed it will be stunning... and all from a mistake! That's the serendipity of printmaking for you. No wonder I love it so.

Books from books... or give an unloved book a new role in life!

Last Friday I delivered the first of four one day book making workshops for the local authority lifelong learning department.Classes in the south of the county which had been structured to run for a couple of hours every week had not had enough take up so I was delighted when the all day workshops in the north of the county filled up to capacity and even more pleased when it became apparent that the majority of people had booked on every one of them. This meant I could start with basic stitching and structures and actually see the increase in their knowledge as I make each month slightly (lots...)  more complicated. We concentrated on 5 or 6 ways to make a single section book and with so many people - there were 14 - we had to go at the pace of the majority, so I postponed a couple of the ideas I had planned whilst everyone made their first books using wallpaper samples I'd brought with me for covers. They all kindly said I could put photographs of their work on the blog and then I forgot to take any! I will show the fruits of their labours next time as they made some lovely things. The books above are my samples I made on the day in my demonstrations.

 One of the ideas I wanted to show was that we don't always have to start from scratch to make a book, especially if you want to produce a single section hard bound plain notebook or sketchbook. So, I took along lots of small books, all unloved and free from Books for Free. I know I've mentioned this charity before and not everyone has access to a site but if you do, they are a great place to find A6 sized books to give a new life to. Prior to the workshop I'd been visiting them every time I went into town, often with my husband in tow so that I could have his quota of free books too. There are some wonderful old cover illustrations and titles out there that would make fabulous new notebooks.

 I picked the green book to make first for the workshop. Luckily the spine was still intact and tight so I was able to remove the text block and use the whole cover before inserting new pages in a single section with a five hole pamphlet stitch and with new end papers to cover the old ones. This is now my new notebook for all the odd jottings that come to me during the day. I must have something to write notes in or else I would be lost! I shall also keep the old text block for collage etc so that nothing is wasted. On another visit I found the 'Britain Needs Books' copy with a tatty spine falling off but I loved the cover and the whole message of it so a bookcloth spine was the answer.

I am so pleased with both of these and think they would make a great idea for gifts. I know some of my friends would find having a tatty cover a turn off but others would love the re-using of something, especially if it had a quirky, interesting cover. I think I shall be making many more of these and giving old books a new life. In the meantime I have to prepare for the next workshop. This time I'll remember to take photos!

Monet refuses the Operation

I caught a radio programme about going blind the other day and it made me think really hard about what losing my sight would be like. I used to visit an elderly lady who was blind for Age Concern as a volunteer. She had studied at the Royal College of Music and had a promising career but the war intervened and her ability to hear changes in tone and pitch led to her working at Bletchley Park trying to decipher messages from the Germans. She was in her 90's when I knew her and arthritis had taken away her chance to play her beloved piano any more. She loved the radio, it was a lifeline and especially loved hearing books or poetry read aloud. In my online wanderings looking for more knowledge about blindness I found this wonderful poem about Monet. Just wanted to share.

Visting Laurence and Lawrence and finding Mary too

 We've just come home from a few days in Somerset and Dorset, visiting some of the artists during this year's Open Studios event as well as managing to catch up with Jane of Marigold Jam for a lovely home brewed cup of tea! The weather was unkind and lots of rain necessitated many changes of plans. Planned visits to gardens for planting ideas were cancelled because of the torrential rain but out of every cloud comes a silver lining and by chance I realised we were close to the village of Moreton in Dorset, somewhere on my 'to visit' list for a while.

The church at Moreton is the burial place of Lawrence of Arabia, being a short distance from his home at Clouds Hill. It was on these local roads where he died in that famous motorcycle accident and  his grave is still visited by hundreds of people every year. The local Victorian village school has been turned into a fabulous tea room where his funeral bier is now laden with local handmade cakes and treats, something I did not realise until it was pointed out to me, so I was glad I had not succumbed to a chocolate brownie. I'm not sure it would have felt right!

I wanted to visit the church for another reason and another Laurence - Laurence Whistler , who was responsible for the beautiful engraved glass windows inside. Luckily for us, a lady who is both church warden and verger, was in the church to give a guided tour later in the morning, and, sensing our interest,  spent an hour with us explaining how the windows came about and pointing out so many things it was hard to take it all in.

 During a local bombing raid in the war a returning German pilot jettisoned his bombs and one happened to strike the church, destroying the windows and one side of it. Whistler was then commissioned to replace them all, something that took many years to do. Photos cannot do justice to their beauty or explain the significance of them all. I was entranced by them as well as other elements of the church such as the rare Minton floor tiles and Tudor oak furniture. I don't know if the fact that Lawrence's grave is there is why the church was restored after the war. I suppose it couldn't have been left as  it was.

 These days it receives visitors who come for the T E Lawrence connection, for the Whistler windows or  for the Minton flooring tiles which are also unique. I was fascinated with a memorial plaque in a small alcove blocked off to one side of the church and the warden explained that monumental masons  also come to visit this piece from all over the world because of its carving qualities. She took us into this small, usually closed, antechamber for a closer inspection and I took some head-on photos of it which were sadly blurry in the subdued light caused by the weather. It is hard to read it from the photo below but it dates from 1762 and commemorates the death of 36 year old Mary Frampton, wife of James. I have to admit that it brought a lump to my throat as I read it out :

'She was a rare Example of true Conjugal Affection, and of those amiable Qualities on which alone are founded the Charms of Domestic Happiness. The Advantages She enjoyed of a very ample Fortune, an engaging Manner and pleasing Form, were far surpassed by the inestimable Endowments of her Mind, by her Modesty and Gentleness of Manners, Cheerfulness and Sweetness of Temper, Goodness and unaffected Piety, with a most exemplary Patience and Resignation under the severe Trial of a lingering painful Illness: These Virtues endeared her to all Ranks of People and rendered her during an Union of Sixteen Years, the Comfort and Delight of her Husband Who truly sensible of her uncommon Merit and his own Unhappiness in the Loss of so excellent a Person Whom he most highly esteemed and dearly loved, Erected this MONUMENT as a Testimony of his Affection, Grief and Gratitude'

Although I'd wanted to see the windows I would have been happy if this was the sum of my visit as it was exquisitely rendered and so moving. If the church warden's party had not turned up when it did I think we would have spent even longer in the church but it is now on my 'go visit again' list as we walked away and never even looked at the grave of Lawrence of Arabia. After nearly having a cream tea off of his funeral bier it seemed quite disrespectful so we've earmarked it for a potential visit next Spring when we can also enjoy brighter light through those gorgeous windows.

Playing

 Locally, there are a few people I know who want to get together as a group and increase their printmaking skills. I'm currently trying to find a way we can do that together and pool our shared skills whilst following our own particular passions. In recent weeks I've been listing the methods I love working with and deciding which ones I want to do more of either with a group or on my own. One thing I've not done for a while is screen printing so I had a playday on Saturday and really enjoyed myself with some paper stencils and other materials. With only one screen there's a limit to how much I could do but it was fun. Of course I then had to scan in the rubbishy offcuts and play around in Photoshop, as you do, but it reawakened the thrill and immediacy that screen printing can give you and I intend to do more. Sometimes the best things come from spontaneous play don't they? .....why can't I remember that more often?

Women who 'can' and who definitely 'do'

 Last month I went to an exhibition  showing a wide range of work by textile and mixed media artist Rozanne Hawksley. Rozanne lives in Pembrokeshire, as do other artists, Audrey Walker and Eirian Short. All three worked together at Goldsmiths and are internationally recognised in their field so it was wonderful that we were able to see a selection of Rozanne's thoughtful, poignant and very moving work locally. Every time I went into town I went to the exhibition, often seeing visitors to the area moved by what was on show. The exhibition culminated in a talk by Rozanne which felt more like a chat with a great friend. It was a very informal Saturday afternoon finale to something very special. At 82 Rozanne is still exploring the themes of death and mortality in different religions and cultures and she is currently working on a commission for the Naval Museum that will form part of their centenary commemorations of the Great War next year. Currently in the local hospital recovering from a hip replacement I was energised by her desire to keep working through all the ideas she has still to realise. To say she is an inspiration is an understatement.

Earlier in the summer a friend and I spent a day on a workshop with Welsh artist Mary Lloyd Jones, another person still passionate about her art and still working in her late seventies. Mary was working at that point towards an exhibition at the Craft Centre at Ruthin, an exhibition which is now on tour and which has just opened in Carmarthen. I went along to see it this afternoon and it is a joyous mix of new paintings generated by a trip to New Mexico and her vibrant textile pieces. There is a great review of it here. I remember reading quite a few blog posts after the Festival of Quilts in 2012 where her work had been on show. People were bowled over by her use of colour and the scale of her work. The textile pieces in the new exhibition are large and contain little vignettes of pattern that I wanted to put a frame around just as they were. What I remember most about the workshop was Mary's genuine pleasure and excitement at some of the work we produced. She kept making us question what we were looking at, what we were feeling and encouraging us to go with our instincts and work intuitively. We worked hard that day and all most of us wanted to do was rest after it but Mary was excited about a party she was going to that evening where she hoped to catch up with her friend Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales...

.... and in the way that things go full circle I went to a poetry reading on Saturday night by Gillian Clarke and another friend of hers, Carol Ann Duffy, the Poet Laureate. Again, held locally in 'out in the middle of nowhere Pembrokeshire', they were performing as part of a local writers festival and the venue was packed to the rafters. I've long been a fan of Carol Ann Duffy and it was magic to hear her read some of her witty, clever poems from 'The World's Wife' but I had never read any of Gillian's poems before so her work was completely new to me. At the end of the night I felt ashamed of my ignorance. Her poems were a joy and to hear them read by the person who knew every nuance of the meaning was something special. It was also beautiful to hear the Welsh language spoken by such a lyrical voice. Hearing her talk so movingly about growing up in Wales during the war and visiting her Pembrokeshire granny with her father as he travelled the country as a BBC engineer was fascinating.

All three of these wonderful women have enriched the world for me this summer. As I creep up to my 60th year and start receiving letters about cashing in some of my pensions I know that the old idea that this was the age when things wound down is long gone. When I think of the things all three artists have achieved and are still achieving, whilst having a 15 to 20 year head start on me, I am humbled. Time to start planning for my 60th year and beyond. There is obviously lots to look forward to and get on with!!

Stitch by stitch, page after page

 When I came home from the workshop I wrote about in the last post I was obsessed with the idea of embossing packets of hooks and eyes through the press. Gill, one of the girls on the workshop had produced some great prints using them and I suddenly wanted to see how they would look if they were blind embossed  because I'd started gathering stuff together to make a book loosely about sewing for my friend Sheila and I thought the hooks and eyes would work for it very well.

After producing a few samples of them I went off on another tangent for Sheila and left all the sewing book odds and ends on my table for another day. Well, today has been that other day. There is a major event taking place in Wales today called Ironman Wales. After a swim in the sea at Tenby at 7.30 this morning, the competitors hopped on bikes for a lengthy 40 mile bike ride before getting back into Tenby for a marathon run. They have until midnight to complete the course and it means every road for miles has been closed to car traffic since early morning. This means we cannot go anywhere so I just picked up the sewing book pieces looking for something to do and suddenly got carried away. I had an old sewing pattern that was falling to bits and lots of haberdashery stuff as well as a couple of old books I thought I could use and this is the result. I just love cutting and sticking! Now I'm making a small box to put it in as I was a bit gung ho in the making and did not factor in a cover or a closure.

 The book I actually made for Sheila started out from a book called Needlework in Education written by Theodora Graham and published in 1939. Long out of print, it has some lovely illustrations inside so I just scanned some of them in and then printed them out into an accordion book. I started to colour them in Photoshop and then decided I'd let Sheila do that herself. I sent them with a small plea to her to give them a good home, to rescue them from the musty pages of an old book and put colour back into their lives. I went a bit over the top and gave each one a name and a bit of a background but they have found a loving home and Sheila is making new clothes for them as I write.

I have a few bookmaking workshops lined up as part of the local adult education classes this autumn.I'm running a series of four in Fishguard and they are fully booked so I'm hoping I can get other people enthused and interested in making similar things or even re-purposing an old book and giving it a new life.

Speaking of books, news of the new library in Birmingham is everywhere and it looks a stunning building. There are some wonderful events happening there in the inaugural three months that are well worth taking a look at. I hope to get to see it in November when there is an exhibition which is curated by artist Susan Kruse. Do follow the link to The Library of Lost Books and read how Susan saved some old books from the library from destruction by distributing them among other artists, all of whom have now changed the original book into a work of art. I cannot think of a better way to save books that would otherwise sit and rot away or go to landfill. I have nothing but praise for everyone involved in the project and can't wait to see them in situ. Makes me want to do something similar myself so I'm off to Books for Free tomorrow to look for a suitable candidate. I know I will find a book there that I can save from landfill and give a new look to. Well, that's the plan. Watch this space.