2x2 Linocuts

 

I’ll tell you something. There’s something better than getting into an exhibition with “International” in the title. It’s when an artist for whom you have the greatest regard asks you to participate in a two-man show.

Even better. This exhibition has been a surprise to me. Eric showed me pictures of the pieces he planned on including, which gave me a rough idea of those of mine I might include. But the act of pairing up the actual works and propping them up around the place gave a whole other perspective.

They are an unsentimental collection. They are a direct engagement with things in the world. Not “unmediated”, but mediated through that part of the artist that lives between eye and hand. That part immersed in the history of art.

The subject matter here is broadly “traditional” – still lifes, nudes, townscapes – the bread-and-butter subject matter of art. And that subject matter is presented with a matter-of-factness born out of looking, interrogated through drawing. An assertion of the human in this age of technology.

Leicester Print Workshop - Smallprint International

 Got the news that I've got one piece accepted for this exhibition - Naomi Salient, which was the best of the bunch I submitted. So I'm pleased that happened - confirms my own judgement, as it were.The exhibition runs from 5th June through 11th July - They are open Weds through Saturday each week. My plan is to send the piece in by post, so that I can make the PV on the 5th. 

I know Leicester is only just up the road, but getting into an exhibition with "International" in the title is totally cool. 

Loaded down on James Street

 A second of what could be a series of local scenes with people. This is our friend J who is often seen on her way to one of her many jobs carrying everything she may possibly need. Plus all the stuff she didn't unpack from the last one. Such is life...

My method in these has been to do some very quick notes in situ, and then try and make the picture from memory based on those original notes. This frees me from being too beholden to reality in the composition. I then go back and check for any glaring omissions or things I've added that aren't there. With this one I had remembered six upper floor windows when there are five. 

Same thing with J. I turned a corner and saw her coming towards me. The drawing was then based on the "snapshot" I took in my mind. 

North Street Blues

 My wife asked me to do a picture kind of like this as a present for somebody who's leaving the town.*  (Don't tell her until after 26th!) Luckily I'd already got something not entirely different planned. It was just a case of changing the central figure. I can now use that figure in a different location. That's the plan, anyway.

I'd remembered some paintings I'd done when I was about 17, largely based on/inspired by Utrillo. I liked his Montmartre street scenes and felt he was right to include people (though, admittedly he was not very good at them). So I did a couple of Parisian street senes with people in them, though people from the 1970s, including, I remember, my Latin teacher. So people were a key element of my "artistic practice" even then. 

Looking at this print having completed it, I can see something of Diether Kressel's woodcuts in their sheer crudity and jumbliness. It's definitely got the kind of vibe I was going for. 

* PS She loved it by the way. 

Naomi Reguardant

Number 5 in the Heraldic Naomi series. Though there are a couple of other ideas here, I think I'l stop for the moment. 

This one was fun. Reguardant refers to the looking over the shoulder, but I like how adding the mirror introduces the idea of regarding oneself. Which is what she was doinng before she was interrupted. 

Naomi Rampant

 This one's better, tho in my heart not as good as yesterday's two. I haven't decided whether this is my 3 to submit or if I might carry on with the heraldic theme some more. There's Passant (walking while waving like English lions), Haurient (rising out of water) and Reguardant (looking over shoulder). There's also Volant (flying) so potentially even more bonkers than this one. All of these have potential and deadline isn't until 22nd of the month, so who knows?

Naomi Dormant

 I'm feeling less good about this one. It's lacking something, I think. Maybe I need to redo it or perhaps try something else. Anyway. For the record, here it is.