Exhibition: Perthshire Creates Designers and Makers

My latest series of monochrome linoprints will be on display in this group exhibition at Perth Museum & Art Gallery. Work from over twenty creatives represents the contemporary nature of artwork currently being inspired and developed within Perthshire.
The series of linoprints is based on the museum’s collection of photos of lost buildings of Perth. The atmosphere and the old traditional architectural details captured in these images appeal to me and I have translated the mood in these old photographs through the medium of linocutting, applying my style of transforming through condensing and accentuating.

Old Post Office High Street, Perth
linoprint, 21 x 30 cm. 2016

 The exhibition runs from 6-23 October 2016, entry is free.

Perthshire Open Studios 2016

The exhibition of artwork and crafts in Spittalfield, Perth & Kinross was a resounding success. In early September our group SEVEN welcomed over 400 visitors to the charming village hall. Paintings, linoprints, bronze sculptures, ceramics, hand turned wooden bowls, pebble/driftwood pictures and fragrant organic beauty products garnered admiring comments, sales were made and commissions placed. We put a lot of time and energy into this event - interesting conversations and the satisfied faces of our visitors made it all worthwhile.

Painting: oil

Another one of my paintings prepared for Perthshire Open Studios 2016. It is a still life, called Candlelight Dinner. I don't place items for a still life in front of me when I paint, I remember or invent them and arrange them so that they tell a story. The viewer is invited to find their own stories when looking at the image.

Candlelight Dinner. Oil on canvasboard. 2016

Printmaking: linoprint

I'm working on a series of linoprints for Perth and Kinross Creates, a group exhibition at Perth Museum and Art Gallery in October 2016. 
Artists were asked to submit proposals for work they wanted to show, preferably work based on the museum's collections. I decided to take a look at a series of photographs featuring Lost buildings of Perth, pictures of long demolished houses, taken between the 1880s and 1930s.
Apart from liking the traditional architecture of these buildings I am interested in how it would be possible to translate the often desolate mood in these images into linoprints with a similar feel.
To prepare I went to study the framed photographs at the museum, took my own pictures and made detailed sketches. Here is a page from my sketchbook:

The first finished linoprint shows the General Post Office at the corner of Tay Street/High Street in Perth, after a photograph from before 1891. 

Post Office on Tay Street. Linoprint, 2016.  30 x 21 cm

I've used clouds, shadows and a distorted perspective to add something morbid to this image of a classical public building.

Studio materials

These are all the erasers I could find in my studio. Some of them are really ancient. Usually I just use the ones nearest to hand, and quite often I notice that they don't do their job well. 

Jackson's Art Materials have just published a blog post that explains everything about erasers, the different kinds and what materials they work best on. Take a look here.

Printmaking workshop

Are you interested in learning how to create linoprints? 

I'm holding the next workshop in my studio in Kettins / Coupar Angus

Tuesday, June 28, 11am - 3pm. 

You'll learn how to prepare the linoplate, develop a design in black and white, carve the image and print it. Cost: £35, including materials and refreshments, plus a comprehensive hand-out containing step-by-step instructions, tips and tricks and a list of suppliers.

To book a place please contact me before June 26 on cwdesign2@btinternet.com.

Exhibition

In May I showed samples of my upcycled handpainted furniture at "Meet the Maker 2", a craft showcase at Cargill's Bistro in Blairgowrie, Perthshire. Busy afternoon - my stall was beside a craft mead producer...
The showcase was part of a fundraiser for guide dogs; you can read the full story here.

My corner at Cargill's

The group of makers and host Lesley (front left)

Event

Meet The Maker 2
 

Cargill’s Bistro, Blairgowrie
Sunday 22nd May, 3 - 5pm

Come along and meet some of Blairgowrie's talented local craftspeople:
 

Sarah Cave, Silversmith
Christine Findlay, Author
Michelle Hewitt, Artist
Tracie Dick, Crocheter
Chris, The Rookery Craft Mead
Cornelia Weinmann, Printmaker & Upcycler

Find out a little more of their craft, how they design and make their creations
and watch as they demonstrate on the day. They will also have a small selection of their work on sale and be able to take bookings for commissions.
You never know - you may just find that perfect gift or something for yourself!
 

Cream Teas will be available.
 

Why not enjoy a meal before or after? Call 01250 876735

 
There is a small entry fee of £2.50 which goes directly
to the Discover Blairgowrie Name A Puppy Appeal
 

Lower Mill Street, Riverside, Blairgowrie, PH10 6AQ
Call 01250 876735
www.cargillsbistro.com

Upcycling furniture

This piece of furniture came from a garage sale in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It had been hand built by a father to hold his children's clothes. And of course, it was painted white.
I changed the background colour and had nice contemporary handles made to match my painted design. The chest didn't have any feet; I added castors instead. The name Rote Kommode refers to the vibrant red I chose.

Wood, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish, steel. 1998
66x48x97cm

Upcycling furniture

The photos show the old kitchen chair from the previous post in the process of being made appealing again. I had re-glued and sanded it in my studio because there wouldn't be enough time for this kind of prep work on site in Pitlochry.

Fruit chair on the painting stand under a marquee

After applying two coats of DIY chalk paint in fresh spring green I stamped on berries and leaves to match the fabric of the old seat cover. Later the wooden parts will be varnished for extra protection.

Finished chair, already raffled off

Upcycling furniture

I'm going to demonstrate how to upcycle an old chair with paint and foam stamps. This is the one I'll be working on, a pre-loved oak chair that had already been painted once before. The seat fabric with fruit print is still in reasonable shape. It covers the original dark green plastic cover and I'll leave it untouched, just cleaned it up a bit.

Fruit chair before upcycling

The demonstration is part of  Perth & Kinross' Zero Waste Challenge and takes place on Saturday, 30th April, 10am - 2pm, at Atholl Road Car Park in Pitlochry.

Linoprinting

The Christmas cards I printed earlier today are now drying - on the living room floor because there's no more room on my drying line for prints. 

Here is an image of the finished two colour print:

Mistletoe. Linoprint on paper 15x15cm. 2016

Linoprinting: work in progress

I need to fill an order for Christmas cards, so I got card stock out and reprinted a batch of cards with my two colour "Mistletoe" motif. These cards measure only 15x15cm, so I can do the registration directly on the press bed using masking tape to mark the position of lino plate and paper. Accurate registration guarantees that the prints of two or more different colours overlap precisely.

Linoplate and tape registration

Workshops

Perth & Kinross Council invited me last year to lead a workshop on chair upcycling as part of their Zero Waste Highland Perthshire project. In January and February 2016 I did a series of sessions with ten participants, showing them how to take an old cherished chair, choose a nice design, then prepare and refinish it. Some simple upholstery was also done. The workshop was a great success because everybody was so keen on giving their chairs a new and very personal look.

Here are photos of our group with their before and after pieces.

Design: furniture

A sad, worn piece of furniture it was when I found it at a charity garage sale somewhere in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Its appearance improved considerably by applying paint and an interesting design - but the colourful lines hold unhappy memories. I gave this coffee table the name Break Up because this is what was happening in my relationship at that time. Well, at least the table sold...

Wood, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish. 1997.

122x43x38cm

Art cards

New: printed cards with motifs of my most popular prints and paintings.
To view the selection go to http://www.corneliaweinmanndesign.co.uk/work/gallery/cards, choose your card and contact me on my website or on Facebook to find out about prices and shipping.

Design: upcycled furniture

Remember my pencil chair from the March 20 blog post? My friend, the artist Mary Meldrum Brown just dropped off a shelf to go with it. Needs to be refinished, but the design matches my chair perfectly.

Pencil shelf

Design: furniture

Albeit marginally, my pencil chair made it into the local newspaper, the Blairgowrie Advertiser.

Design: furniture

Found at a yard sale in the Coquitlam area near Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, this piece was originally painted pink and missing one of the large drawers. The owner worked on the local Search and Rescue team, I turned that into a title for this chest. 
My never failing cabinet maker, Alex Marcuzzi from North Vancouver, replaced the missing drawer, and Ted Martin in Pitt Meadows realised my design idea of triangles added to the back of this piece of furniture. 
I wasn't really thinking of a connection between triangles and mountains, but looking at the title - why not...

Wood, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish, metal knobs. 1999
107x51x91cm

Design: furniture

I was asked to contribute a painted chair to an event celebrating re-using and upcycling at the local primary school in Coupar Angus. An old school chair was given to me and I decorated it with pencils - everybody needs pencils in class. When preparing the chair for painting I found the obligatory chewing gum stuck to the underside of the seat. So hard I couldn't get all of it off. Oh well, it's now sealed with paint - home made chalk paint.

Painting the chair in my studio

Finished chair
acrylic primer, paint and varnish. 2016

Design: furniture

This design was created by masking off successive parts of the beech wood tabletop and painting it in different colours. I wasn't thinking of a particular motive, but I began to see an image:
 

Deserted place,

trees stretching toward the horizon. 

Dust on the sidewalk, dappled with sunlight. 

Curtains drawn to block out the heat. 

Branches yearning for the cool of concrete.

This image reminds me of a still and brooding Sunday Afternoon, which I chose as the name for this table.

Beech wood, acrylic paint, varnish. 1999
  64x64x74cm