Health Happiness and Peace for 2012

Apologies for posting this picture again.......It is one of my favourite designs but that is not why I have used it today.  It is because a dove is the symbol of hope and love and LOVE is what I HOPE 2012 will bring for the world and so PEACE FOR EVERYBODY .

HAPPY 2012 !!!!!!!!

And the bells were ringing out on Christmas day........the real fairytale

The real fairytale Christmas ............

Whatever you believe , the birth of any baby is a sign of hope and joy....... a long time ago so we are told a baby was born who grew up to be a great teacher and taught love peace, foregiveness and living in harmony .... so, in the spirit of that beautiful idea (which all the great and wise spiritual leaders seem to have also preached) ~Christmas hopes for us all this year and always....

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Exhibitions- Dark Matter at the Whitworth and printing at the DLI

Have been immersed in reading/research for my latest essay on Expressionism and Constructivism completely forgot to post about two exhibitions that I visited recently.

Dark Matter, at the Whitworth until January 15th was surprisingly well worth seeing!!!! Various 3d, film and performances related to shadows were on display where I had expected to see Victorian Pre-Raphaelites when I visited Manchester a few weeks ago. A little disappointed at first (although much better viewing for James) I followed the guide.  Upside down decaying trees with their rotting branches (not one of the shadow exhibits) at the front of the Gallery failed to impress.
However, walking in front of a huge screen ( Snow Mirror) covered in a snowstorm of pixels that coalesced into Banksy style outlines, directed by a computer, of the viewer did!!! Rozin's other exhibit, Peg Mirror was also interesting. Another favourite was the revolving table of tiny figures and strange cellophane shapes by Brass Art, whose shadows projected onto the cavernous walls of a large open space to create eerie cave  drawing like shadows. Idris Khans superimposition of multiple layers of text with Leonard's Mona Lisa and the virgin child was effective and interesting in the first image but lost its novelty value when seen in two other different images. Multiple images of 30 found pencils again was interesting in the first few immaculately executed drawings but lost its appeal

The same conclusion was reached when a similar idea, only connected with lithograph prints painstaking reproduced from graph paper pictures of stages in the drawing of a line curve ( used in the past for those hideous metallic thread nail pictures of curves from lines) was viewed two weeks ago at the DLI in Durham. However three or four amazing black and white lithographs of paintbrushes, pliers and two large scale portraits made this exhibition worth a quick visit. There was also a small print by one of the Turner Prize contenders......to find out which you'll have to go and visit the DLI which is a small modern gallery above the thought provoking Durham Light Infantry Museum-which includes beautiful medals and uniforms as well as vehicles etc. It is located very close to Durham city with a large car park and a tiny cafe that has very nice home made cakes and scones which can be eaten with a view of the pond and ducks.

Lino Prints from Pascale Hemery/Bowes workshop-better late than never....

Just remembered that I hadn't posted my first attempts at Lino prints, inspired by a picture from the collection exhibited at Bowes. Following Instructions from Pascale Hemery, the French artist, who ran the workshop to pick an industrial subject from the catalogue (or memory!!!) I tried to produce a design that could easily be carved onto the lino block.

I chose a simple but striking building and added some extra details to it  as well as a row of houses and some curling smoke (which was to contrast with the simple straight lines of the buildings). I quickly found that the details I was used to producing with a fine liner were impossible. How I admire the woodblock printers and present day lino printers who manage such details. In my defence ....the tools were not meant for fine line prints!!!

I learnt practically what I am reading about now, for my 20th century art module, ie how to simplify/abstract details to construct an image!!!! I found the cutting out for the first stage/print relatively easy and enjoyed seeing it on different coloured backgrounds. However, I found trying to imagine backwards/inside out what would happen to the picure that would be printed by cutting away more of the lino VERY difficult!!! As a result I only did a little , mainly to the smoke. More could have been done as well as more/different colours used to print on top of the initial layers.

It may not be great, but I enjoyed making it, as well as learning a new technique-which I hope to use again one day.....
( I must point out these prints were only produced to learn the technique of lino printing.  I was instructed to use pictures from the museum catalogue, not to plagerise but for inspiration and the images I have made in the workshop, shown here, are not intended to be reproduced in any shape or form, (except on this blog for information about my post!).  I would love to be able to name the artist who's work allowed me to carry out the image making but I do not have a copy of the brochure and do not know his/her name! sorry. )