Meditation 2: Porridge

Two makes a series, doesn't it? 

The story of many mornings for me. Simple food to fill the belly. And those few minutes of work involved in making it.

I conceived of the print as a card, but my wife likes it as a framed picture. We're giving a picture to a friend who has had a new kitchen. But I definitely see it as a “make sure you're eating properly” card for anxious parents to send to their student offspring.

Meditation 1: The cut

I did this print as a birthday card for a friend with Buddhist leanings. I felt I needed to do something meditative. So this.

For me, using my hands is when I am truly “in the moment”, when all of my being is engaged in this one thing. When I become aware of the sheer physicality of thought.

When I had a “proper job”, it was often a joy to do some photocopying. The repeated mundane actions helped cleanse my mind of the weight of competing priorities and then return, refreshed to my desk.

Hmm. I think I can feel a series coming on here.

Coventry Open 2020. 29 February – 19 April

Really delighted to have Purgatory (see also previous post) chosen* for this exhibition. Good to have something on show in the run up to City of Culture next year. So please pay a visit if you can.

Unlike the Rugby Open, Coventry allows you to add a few words by way of description/explanation. So I wrote this: “Waiting Room. Purgatory on earth. Is this what waiting for St Peter will be like? How do you jump the queue?” No idea what they'll do with that. We shall see.

This is the biggest print I've done so far, and was to some degree a test of the limits of my press. The image is 48cm x 35cm, printed on to A2. If I wanted to go bigger, I'd have to go for the spoon method, which could be tiring.

There is an art-historical inspiration which is this etching by Emil Orlik** from about 1896 that I saw on sale towards the end of last year.

I've seen a couple of examples of this print, one described the scene as a Theatre and the other as Waiting Room. Anyway, its a group of disconnected people sitting closely together. I didn't buy it as it was a bit expensive for me, especially being an etching. Woodcuts are more my thing. Anyway, it's still a great lesson in drawing, I think.

* When I went along to pick up the rejected print, I found out that 58 had been chosen from around 300 entries. Waaaaa!

**Orlik was a Jugendstil/Secessionist artist who, following the enthusiasm for Japonisme, went to Japan around 1900 to learn about woodcut at the feet of Japanese masters.

Coventry Open 2020 - submissions

I felt it would be a good plan to get to the Herbert at opening time to avoid the worst of Storm Dennis. Plenty of other people had the same idea, too. So if determination is a sign of quality, we're in for a good show.

Today is also HAP Grieshaber's 111^th birthday, so I'm taking that as a good omen for printmakers.

These are the pieces I put in for selection.

The first is a woodcut called Sounding – The Bells. It will be (I hope) the first in a series sounding the depths of my life. It should add up to an unreliable autobiography, as I drop a weighted line into the swirling ocean of my past, and make images based upon what I hit. Things of great importance and none. Things that affected me directly, or only tangentially.

Anyway, when I moved to Coventry in 1975 I was struck by how the city wore its damage like a badge, saying, "Remember, this is what war does.” We have so many swaggering, bellicose leaders these days, it is a message worth repeating. I think the choice of wood adds to the violence of the image. I also didn't let the ink fully dry between layers, so the colours fight with each other, too.

This second one is a linocut based on a number of drawings I made while sitting in a hospital waiting room. I'd never tried drawing people in public before, and I was struck by how preoccupied everyone was with their books, papers and devices. Trying to forget where they were.

I called it Purgatory because of the waiting to know if the news is good, or bad. And also acknowledging the inferno of the other print.

Just have to wait now to see if either gets in. My own little purgatory.

Advance Notice

A couple of things coming up.

First is that I shall be in Warwickshire Open Studios this summer. I've handed over the loot so its definitely on. A double-bill with my wife on Yarn and Textiles, so we can at least share the stress.

Second thing is Coventry Open 2020. This will be at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum 29 Feb - 19 April. Submission day is Sat 15 Feb. I've got one print ready and I'm making progress on the second.

I'll post them here once decisions have been made. For now I'll just say that I think submitting 2 pieces that are different from each other works for me. This time I'm also going with one woodcut and one lino, and also one colour and one black/white.

I'll post more on both these things when I have links and pictures to show you.

Card for the Year of the Rat

My wife said to me the day before yesterday, "I'd like you to do artwork for a new year card."
"What year is it?"
"Um... year of the Rat."
And a couple of days notice so I had to be quick.

As it happens, over a dozen years ago we were looking at secondary schools for our son. The local private school was offering art scholarships. Part of the application process involved him producing a work under exam conditions, based on a subject from a list supplied in advance.

The subject he chose was "rubbish dump". So we spent some time working out how to draw rats quickly. In the event he pissed off the head master by not showing sufficient respect, so we were let off the hook with that school.

But at least I can still remember how to draw rats! Job done. Gung hey fat choy!

It's a little late for the Hong Kong relatives, but festivities there go on for a fortnight, so the card will get there before things have completely finished.

Self Portrait

I started this a little while back. I wasn't happy with it and didn't want to start again, so I cut parts of it away and added new pieces of lino to work on.

I'm much happier with it now.

The “me” I usually see is the one in the mirror, not the one everybody else sees. But I know the “me” inside and I think he looks like the mirror image. So self-portraits are a challenge.

I like how the printing process reverses the mirror image. Is the image that emerges the real me? Do I recognise me in this? Do other people?

This one, I think, is the most me-like I've done so far. So earns its place here.