Things I've been oggling lately

Sometimes I get caught up on Pinterest, whiling away a good amount of time looking and eye candy goodies. This makes me feel like I am wasting my time. But sometimes I really do come across some good finds, and here are a couple.

Firstly, Jacob van Loon and his paintings. The line work in them really reminds me of some of my work, bute he gets so much texture, colour and depth into his layers that I feel heartened in my quest to build more of those things into my own work.

Secondly, Roanna Wells. I remember coming across her work when I was studying, but it is always nice to be reminded of it and revisit it. I like her use of patterns and the meticulous and probably rather monotonous way in which she must work. Once again, that reminds me of my own practice. I really do see value in such working practices and a sense of slowing down. I also like the mapping element in this latest work.

I came across her on Art Hound which I added to my bookmarks as soon as I found it and will be revisiting often.

One more interesting thing I found this week was on Radio Lab  (which I love). They featured maps by french artist Armelle Caron, or rather they are deconstructed maps. The artist takes city maps and disassembles and catalogues each one, creating a collection of now arbitrary shapes taken out of context. This is Berlin:

More feathers and wood

Another one of the objects I have been making recently. I am trying to picture what a collection of these things would look like. They are fun to make - perfect for these rainy days we've been having. I need to start taking some decent photos of them.

New work in progress

This is a new idea I have been playing with recently, amongst some others. I've been collecting burls (and I really don't know if this is what they are called) in the forest whenever I am hiking. They are remnants of old parts of trees that were either knots, or placed in which branches formed. Once they have broken down enough, they form these cool shapes that I would love to do something with. I really wanted to work with these but I am certainly a little apprehensive, since I really haven't done much in the way of 3D work for a long time. This is the first one I have worked on. I sanded it down...patiently, waxed and buffed it and then added some weathers. It's still in it's very early stages but right now I picture a collection (of better executed samples) in the form of a kind of Victorian collectors case with a number of specimens pinned to a white background. I'll keep working on it, but I thought it was important to make a new post here, since it's been a while. 

Mezzotint Workshop

Last weekend I attended a one day mezzotint workshop at UAA led by visiting Canadian artistGuy Langevin. Guy really is a master craftsman, an artist, a poet, a teacher and also a nice guy to spend a day rocking copper plates with. So here are some photos of us doing just that.

After 5 hours working on a 2.5 by 3 inch piece of copper, I had just about rocked it to a point where it would print a nice velvety black.

My handywork and tool.

This is a photo of a section of one of the prints guy shared with us. One of my favourite things about his work is the way he makes the process visible. Here you can see the lines he rocked into the plate and the variety of angles and density of the marks.

Cottongrass Etching

This is one of a series of etchings I have made of the tired old cotton grass in my back meadow this Autumn. I have etched 7 plates so far and printed 3 (in an edition of 3 only so far). This one is an entry for a print exchange organised by the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA), which is involving a number of other universities throughout the country. Each institution will select 5 students to participate in the exchange, which will involve printing an edition of 25 - so this was something everyone was advised to keep in mind. The prints selected will then go on show at the UAA student gallery and may also be shown elsewhere in Anchorage.

This is the 25 edition version of this image. My full intention with this series is again to cut out 'feathers' from screen printed tissue papers to add to the etchings. I want to give the forms a weight (that this image lacks) so that the grass appears heavy and dead. The colours are also taken from the changing tones in the meadow behind my house in Autumn.

These 'feather/leaves' were painted on using watercolours. I like the colours and the delicate texture of the paints. I may yet add to the image in some way.