Progeny Print Exhibition

Patsy Bush, Profile -  Linocut

Last month I was lucky enough to be able to take part in a print makers exhibition and exchange, in Victoria. 

Today I received my set of exchanged prints in the mail and I'm kind of in awe at the quality of the work presented. So I thought I'd share some of my favourites with you. (All prints are copyrighted to their respective owners).  They came to me gorgeously packaged in their custom made storage box - but I'm definitely going to be framing some of them!

 

Dot Leslie, Daughters - reduction Linocut

Deb Jackson, Sea of Karma - linocut

Vicki McKay, Progeny - Etching w/ Aquatint

Sue Grossman, Tulip - Linocut

Sue Baulch, Donkey - Etching w/ Aquatint

Sarah Wherry, Metamorphosis - Screen Print

You might like to read:

America In Print

Amongst the Waves and other things!

Had a little virus or something on my computer this week so I haven't been able blog anything! So I have a lot to talk about this time. I finished the painting for my brother and sister-in-law for their wedding present. They had left the design mostly up to me, so I went with a wave painting. My brother had been eying off mine for some time now, so I made theirs similar colours but a different design.

Acrylic on canvas

I was really happy with the way it turned out - I used Atelier and Matisse acrylics with the Atelier interactive medium. It's a liquid you can spray onto the semi-dried paint to reopen the layer and blend wet into wet, similar to oil paint but without the messy clean up! It's great to use on wave paintings because it lets you create such a liquid feel without losing the intensity of the colour.

Also this week I worked some more on my transcription painting of The Theorbo Player. I have changed him a little - I switched his collar to a hoodie to suit the style I am aiming for, and I worked on the main guitar and his clothes. There's still a fair amount of work to do, despite what I thought last week! He is certainly getting there though, and I feel like I've bonded quite a bit with him!

 

Add caption

Finally, today I put the second ink colour on my lighthouse linocut print. I think the red looks fantastic, and when the rest is cut away and the black is inked up, I know I'll be happy with it. I was a little apprehensive when it came time to put it back through the press, worrying that I hadn't set up my registration properly or that somehow it would look terrible, but nope! Once I pulled the paper back, I was very happy. It helps that I have an awesome print teacher who is very inspiring, but also very reassuring that all will be well!

Blue and red done, only black to go!

This is the original ghost print, with a second ghost layer of red.

This is just the red printed as another ghost print but with no blue underneath.

I think all of the prints so far would be able to stand on their own - the multiple colour, and the multiple colour ghost print both have their own merits as a print, as do the single colour blue, and the single colour red. I can't wait to see it finished next week!

How to make a reduction lino print

Today I got to work on my reduction lino print! I had already cut away all the areas that I wanted to leave white, so I got to ink up with blue straight away. I made a lovely purpley-blue by mixing ultramarine blue and white together. I have discovered that lino printing is actually very satisfying! Carving away the harder top of the plate to reveal not just your design but also the softer part, hearing the 'squish' of the brayer on ink as you roll across the glass and then your plate...and then pulling up the paper after rolling it through the press to see the backwards image from your piece of lino appear as a beautiful print on paper! It's all a rather exciting and satisfying process, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

As you know, this one is a reduction linocut, which means you progressively carve away the areas as you print. So today I printed blue, next week after cutting away all the sky, I'll print red! Then I'll cut away everything else except what needs to stay black, and I'll ink up black and it will be finished!

First inking of my reduction linocut print.

The first image is the paper after inking with blue. The second image is a ghost print. That's where you put another sheet of paper over the plate without re-inking it up, and put it straight back through the press. The result will be an image that is considerably lighter than the first one as there is less ink on the plate.

Ghost print of the same lino.

 I actually really like the ghost print, and I think seeing as I have enough to play around with and still get my edition of 5, I'm going to leave one exactly as it is, and I'm going to do a reduction ghost print. That is, using one of the ghost prints I did today as a base for a ghost print of each other progressive colour. It will be interesting to see the three prints together after they are done.

Cape Leeuwin - this painting will be on exhibition in March/April at Red Rock Gallery!

On another note, I found out yesterday that one of my paintings has been accepted into a gallery showing! My Cape Leeuwin lighthouse will be exhibited at the Red Rock Regional Gallery and Theatre in Corooroke, just outside of Colac in Victoria! This is a very exciting day for me!

Next time I post, I'll hopefully have another painting finished - I've been working on one for my brother and new sister-in-law as their wedding present! It's almost done, so stay tuned to see it!

That's it for today - see you next time!

Lighthouses!

So I'm feeling like a very smart cookie today! I have linked my website and my facebook page as well as my new online store to this blog! Yes, that's right, I now have my very own personal online shop created purely for selling my work!

At the moment it has a few prints in it, but as time progresses I'll be adding other work as well.

Still working on my lino cut for printmaking - as promised, here is the lino with most of the white areas already carved out.

Lighthouse Linocut

And here is one of the first part of my transcription painting. He already has the beginnings of an awesome looking mohawk!

First draft of Grammatica transcription

I'm also working on a series of lighthouse paintings, two are finished, and I am about to start the third. When I get my images rotated properly, I'll post the two I've already done! The third one is going to be of Split Rock lighthouse which is believe it or not, in Minnesota, USA. Now, yes, Minnesota is in the middle of the country and you would think they wouldn't really need lighthouses, being so landlocked. But the state does border Lake Superior, which is one of the world's biggest inland bodies of water I believe. So they DO need lighthouses for the freight ships to navigate the cold and icy waters!

That's it for today I think...see you all next time!