June 11, 2012

Printmaking: Collograph

I made this collograph on hardboard, using wood glue, acrylic texture medium, carborundum and linocutting tools. For the first layer, different colours were applied to the printing plate, then I overprinted with white ink.

Tree Shelter
Speedball waterbased relief ink on cartridge paper. 2007.
43 x 48 cm

Painting: Oil

In April wild garlic was spreading its strong scent along the lanes around my village. The white flowers are striking: I wanted to paint them in a crystal glass to learn a bit about the reflection of light and colour in glass.

Wild Garlic
Oil on canvasboard. 2012

Printmaking: Lino print

Going for walks around the village of Machen, Caerphilly, where I live now, I often pass an allotment nearby. After the harvest season the gardening paraphernalia are put away for the winter. Straight beanpoles and round water butts create a combination of interesting lines in an otherwise quite empty landscape - an attractive motif for images in black and white.

Machen series: Deserted Allotment. 2010.
Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink 
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.
30 x 21 cm

Printmaking: Lino print

Another place that stands out in Machen is our village church with some intricate wrought iron work in the graveyard and stately trees on the hill behind.

Machen Series: St John's Churchyard. 2010.
Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink 
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.
30 x 21 cm

Printmaking: Lino print

Typical of Welsh villages in my area are rows of terraced houses with stone walls and brickwork around windows and doors. I cut them into linoleum, together with long wrought iron railings, the ubiquitous butterfly bush and garage sheds. Plus some rubbish, typically to be found in the lanes behind houses.

Machen series: Street. 2011.
Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink 
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.
30 x 21 cm

Printmaking: Lino print

This is the view from my kitchen window: cottages across the valley on the other side of the river Rhymney. Its banks are lined with poplars, lime and ash trees.

Machen series: Tudor Gardens. 2011.
Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink 
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.
30 x 21 cm

Printmaking: Lino print

The last image in this series shows another of the typical features in the former mining area around Machen: a tram viaduct. It crosses the Rhymney west of the village. Actually, the viaduct doesn't really cross the river, it connects the bridgehead on the riverbank with an embankment further on. But I wanted to combine river and arches...

All the prints in my Machen series are cut on conventional printmaking linoleum. I'm going to try some new material soon: relief printing vinyl!

Machen series: Viaduct across the Rhymney. 2011.
Graphic Chemical water soluble relief ink 
on Snowdon Cartridge 130gsm paper.

June 10, 2012

Drawing: charcoal and chalk

This drawing was done at a class tutored by Jantien Powell of Chapel Cottage Studio in Llanddewi Rhydderch near Abergavenny in south east Wales. The motif is a Window in Bath, after a photograph of the Pump Room in Bath, Somerset. The Pump Room is a an elegant restaurant within the building complex of the Roman Baths. The impressive chandelier seen through a dark window had caught my eye.

Charcoal and chalk on Fabriano Tiziano paper, 160gsm, sahara. 2012.