Experiments with monoprint

I’ve taken on several different projects recently, all with quite short deadlines. I decided that while I had monoprint stuff set up at home it would probably be a good idea to explore possibilities for a couple of them at once.

So here are trace monoprints for the Blackpool pier project...

And some playing with text for the asemic writing...

 And some ink letter play using different nibs...

And some fountain pen and overlapping colours.

 All small steps and some more successful than others but at least both projects are making some progress.

Asemic Writing

I’ve started work on book number 21 for Collaborative Artists Books 3.0. Our title for this one is asemic writing.

I’ve been thinking about how to define it for the purpose of this book. To me it seems to be a set of purposeful marks that look like a system/code to convey language, which adopt the mark making conventions of pictogram or script in terms of shapes, grouping and direction of travel. Generally the groups of marks appear to have a stylistic coherence.

The books themselves will be 15cm x 10.5cm(postcard sized) when folded so I’ve decided to start by playing with materials and forms, making samples and mounting them on postcards. When I’ve finished I’ll bind these into a book as a sketchbook record of how I got on.

First record cards

It's much more difficult than you’d think

Every.....

At one of the November meetings of the Art Society we launched our new project/competition, “Every line, every shadow, every shape, every curve (and every colour)”.

Jill Reidy, a Blackpool photographer, came to show us how she uses these elements in her work and she kindly agreed to let us use the photos from her presentation as a starting point for our own  responses.

I chose this image (follow this link if you want to see more of her work).

I think probably because it reminded me of a painting I made years ago based on this, and similar, photos I took of the pier and prom.

I like the long thin structure of the pier so I decided to make a series of long thin studies from my old photos. I deconstructed a book I’d made out of leftover edges of printing paper (it seemed the right proportions) and started to play with media.

And then added other responses on the back.

I finished rebinding the book this afternoon.

 It’s a sketchbook not my final response, but it is helping me see the possibilities.

 On Boxing Day we made a trip to Blackpool to get some more up to date photos of the ironwork structure. The tide was in so that scuppered that idea but the light was beautiful and moody. 

Season’s Greetings

I know it’s late but I hope you enjoyed the holidays and I wanted to wish everyone a peaceful, happy and creative New Year to come.

Woods and Christmas

I finally finished Reflections, just in time for the December meeting of the NWBC.

The drawings are based on the photos I took on our walk in autumn. In the end I decided to use inktense crayons.

The sides and endpapers are taken from a map of 1894 showing the farms and buildings that were on our route before the woodland was planted.

I ended up unsticking and repositioning the pages and sides several time in an effort to get the pages to sit flat when it was folded up. I more or less got there in the end but I’m glad I printed the sides on fairly substantial cartridge paper.

I’d never made a tunnel book before and it was an interesting experiment, but I probably won’t make another one for a while.

We all took a small blank book to the meeting (I made a blizzard book with single pages) which we swopped round so everyone filled in page in everyone else’s book, a sort of extended joint Christmas card.