The beginning of a book project

I made something today which  , in the greater scheme of things could not be considered of enormous import ..... but it pleased me a lot.... and it was a follow-up from that comment about approaching bigger things:

 

This is the cover....

 

and this is the open book- an absolute jewel

 

 

and this was what I did:

 

 

 I couldn't believe that this could be done 'at home'

 

 

Needless to say this was simple a practice run but I have an idea.

 

 

 

Later I was looking out at this:

 

from this:

 

 

....great for letting the imagination wander

 

 

Here are some of the products of the said imaginative wandering

 

 

 

But this is more important because this is the prototype page for a small book of prints:

 

 

 

Anyway that's where things stand and to finish with another shot of of something strange:

 

 

the car as furniture.

 

Now, it's time

Ok that does not mean I am buying a 3-series German car from Bavaria ... even though that is the tag from an ad I have just heard on the wireless - I bet some of you out there have never heard a radio called by that name..... it's an age thing I'm afraid.

Anyway, it is time to update somewhat. This summer is shaping up rather like last year in that there is  fair bit of moving around and a lot of photography.

Here are a few rather unusual ones:

 

 

No puzzles this time : this was a pot of soup that had been forgotten about and consequently grew this remarkable mould - the filaments were about 3cms high; strangely, others here did not share my enthusiasm so I had to be fairly quick about the pictures.

BTW you might remember the pictures of a strip of paper I finished with the last time:

 

 

Ok, if you didn't know, this is a Moebius strip ie a strip with only one side(??!!?)

Take a strip of paper and twist it once and then glue the ends together. Then take a pen and pull the paper under the pen and see how the ends of your mark join.

 

Ok, ok, ok, more useless knowledge.

 

And here's even more of the same:

 

 

 

This would have been called an executive toy in the past but the one you are looking at is about eight feet high and really constitutes a rather interesting piece of conceptual art. It is in the Beacon Office Centre in Dublin.

 

Strange things you see as you move around:

 

 

I would say he was lucky no one wanted the disabled space, because every other space was occupied.....or maybe he owned it; he certainly wasn't moving.

 

I have been back at the book work again:

 

These are the first efforts at zigzag accordion books and there will be a lot to be learned about the whole business of folding:

 

 This is a miniature accordion pocket book - really only a practise run for a bigger version of the same. The whole business of making books is absolutely fascinating and with each day the sort of print book I might make changes in my mind and ideas that would have seemed only for professional book makers suddenly appear at least to be within reach.

 

I was testing the absorbency of different papers and this image appeared and demanded to be photographed:

 

 

 

As I said we have been moving around a bit and the other day we found ourselves in south Tipperary:

 

 

.....up the place known as the Vee, looking back up towards the north of the county, but really the point of this is the next picture:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and believe it or not that colour is absolutely true; the rhodo reflections made the lake - which is usually black- a delicate violet.

I did a drawing here but it needs more work  so I will wait a while before posting it.

 

The other thing that has been happening is that the collection of Ground Art has continued to grow and I think I may soon be ready for another volume from Blurb - here are a few of the more interesting ones:

 

 

There is another series which I am building up and it involves ground installations and the sometimes rather surprising writing on them  - I'll keep those for a later post - I wouldn't want to overwhelm you with riches.

 

 

Bionn an grian ag taithneamh go h-aird sa speir

Right; for anyone not fluid (fluent?) in the native tongue -' the sun is shining high in the sky' .... and its getting nice and warm. There is a certain feeling of smugness because the grass is cut -amazing what'll make one happy!!

Art is part of every day  - Thanks to Barry for organising a plein-air at  the Golden Vale site in Limerick yesterday (you might remember this from an earlier post regarding EVA ) . Barry, Moya and Jim all did some painting but your correspondent did two fairly large drawings:

 

Cleeves Factory - June 2014 - Graphite on paper - A2

 

Golden Vale Factory - June 2014 - Charcoal and Graphite on paper - A3

 

When one sets out to draw there is never any real certainty as to what will appear and it always takes a lot longer that one expects.

 

I have been doing a lot more drawing recently:

 

This is a sculpture that is at present outside the Hunt

 

This tree was beside me as I was having coffee in the Hunt

 

A round courgette on the kitchen table

 

Through conservatory window

 

Patrick Stewart aka Jean-Luc Picard

 

Study for a potential intaglio - etch - print

 

I mentioned the Hunt above and while I was there I visited the current exhibition The Artist's Eye - a selection from AIB Collection curated by Donald Teskey. Its not a huge show but well worth visiting  if only to see Alice Maher's piece:

 

[ps I hasten to say that these iphotos do very little justice to the works and indeed there is a very nice book with the show in which the reproductions are very good.]

 

 

The Coral Tent - Charcoal on Arches paper - 2007

 

 

 Corban Walker - Grid Stack 3/6, 2006

Stained glass and mild steel

 

 

 

Stephen Brandes  - Bel Aire - 2006

Permanent marker and acrylic on vinyl ( - really like his work)

 

                                          Michael Canning - Metropolitan - 2008
                                                               Mixed Media on board

 

 

Here , by the way is the sculpture piece I drew:

 

 

 

And just to finish for now a little puzzle - do you know what a Moebius strip is?

 

Here are a few pics and I will explain later:

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Print of Summer

Sounds awfully lyrical, doesn't it? 

Not so, I'm afraid:

 

Found an interesting piece o wood from a box containing wine and it suggested an arch.

Home printing is a bit haphazard at this stage... will do better...

More importantly had a lovely visit to Limerick for Degree show - First Light - and once again huge compliments to VizComm for their ever more magnificent brochure.
I was a little early so I went down to the Hunt and had a look at  their show - The Artist's Eye - of which more later.
 I suppose it is only to be expected that the first pieces I would look at would be the printmakers - ooops! sorry - that should be Printmaking and Contemporary Practice (PCP),should it not????
Anyway it is rather invidious to single out anyone but there were a few pieces that particularly appealed to me and one was that of Emily Robards:

 

 

 

Printing on ceramic was something that Rosie Cleary did also to tremendous effect overcoming severe obstacles in the process:

 

 

 

 

 Dawn West's deceptively simple printmaking was very highly thought-of by all concerned and was very properly rewarded.

Brian Gregory's sound and vision piece was rather startling to this writer as it was one's own voice coming out of the speakers -I had actually forgotten my part in this until I heard it and I would have to say I was stunned by the terrific match with the images.

Another piece that involved video was Ewan McGarry's John from the Office - laughed a lot here ( but that should be no surprise) - possibilities in many other areas than PCP here.

 

I loved Helena Grimes' drawings:

 

 

 

 

and even large like this does not do them sufficient justice

 

Maggs Codd's intense study of her native coastline was very powerful :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the scale of Mary Clare O'Briens piece which I followed in its construction is overawing in its ambition:

 

 

 

 

 

I have mentioned just a few here but everyone's work was so heartfelt that looking at the show was quite emotional.

Congratulations to all and all the best for the future.

 

I saw pretty well everything but one element particularly stands out and that was the ceramics display. It never fails to amaze me what people are able to produce from clay...

 

 Painting always pulls me and there is always that sneaking feeling about me and painting. I have to say I am always fascinated by what can be achieved by pushing around coloured paste on a flat surface....Will I do it again? I think so but it will be a lot different than what I did before.

 

It was a lovely day and the speeches and presentations were achieved in the courtyard (big tree) in beautiful sunshine.

It was lovely to meet everyone but sad to think there are many we wont meet again.

 

I'll come back the Hunt in next post but meanwhile I have been passing through Limerick junction in lovely sunshine and looking at this, which seems to be growing rather than diminishing:

 

 

 

 

Will I arrive there after to hols and find that the outer (seemingly unused ) tracks have been swallowed ( the imagination definitely needs a vacation)