The Path of the 4 Ys

OK back a week now and two doses of depression already - I think that's a record -for me anyway; however I am sitting on the train having been saturated on he bike on the way up and I don't feel too bad. Brain is like a washing-machine with vague ideas churning around and the simile is particularly apt in that when you look at the window of said machine you get flashes of colour, fleeting images and lots of very insubstantial foam.

Two tutorial meetings tomorrow and we will see what transpires.

This was where I was at:

 

Two surfaces

Maybe the seaweed looks better than the skin...

 

In passing, does anyone recognise the name H.R. Giger?

 

 

This give you a clue? He did all he original designs for  Alien - In truth its not really necessary to invent fantasy creatures  -they are already here

 

Much later........ got seriously distracted after wring the above and with a brisk twirl we find ourselves already in the fourth week - to try to catch up I will work backwards from here telling what has been happening.

This is Monday and over the past weekend was back in Cloughjordan for another bookbinding course, this time in the company of three of last years sculpture students -Helen Carey, Aileen Nix and Sarah McDowell all of whom seemed to enjoy Mark's teaching very much; my main objective was to go again to the hot letterpress which I did with great enthusiasm (rather than skill).

 

In the studio things have started to happen at last after a very difficult start - I feel that I set a record in getting depressed within only two days of start but the fact that Fiona Quill had a project going in the second week certainly helped to get things moving. 'Symbols' was the name of the project and the object was to visit cemeteries and the produce a response to one's visit in the form of a print of some sort.

 The variety of the response was very interesting as all three years of PCP were involved. I was far more taken with the small Protestant graveyard in St John's Square than the very large but rather uniform Catholic cemetery of St Lawrence's. While walking around I ws faced with something which immediately chimed and I took some photos . Here is the original image:

 

 

 

 

Here are the pair of prints I made from the image:

 

 

The reason I was so taken with the original was that it said everything about life and death to me and I particularly liked the blankness of the old stone because after all that's it isn't it?

 

In the two prints the flower was reworked garishly in P/S on the right and much more true to the original in gouache on the left -maybe that says something about me too.

 

I'm going to post this because it has gone on too long and it is time to get online again.

 

The Path of Aestival Domestic Printing

OK that's probanbly a bit esoteric but I'll leave you to work it out for yourselves .

Anyway the cheerful news is that I have manage to resurrect my scanner without any help from outside - major - so I will begin her with a few drawings from earlier -in fact they all originate in the Londaon trip:

 

This was ink and graphite (approx. A4) and hasn't really scanned that well

 

 

These two were done in the print room of the British Museum

 

 

This was sketched at the Hepworth show and was washed and inked later

 

 

Here are some shots from home printing :

 

This was from a woodcut done with white ink on black paper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were stages in a multi-block print  form five linocuts

 

 

 

Designs for the castle series -called  Wall

 

 

 

 

 

The three new plates plus the original at lower left-

 

 here they are framed :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was one stage in a two block print of Ronnie Wood - I printed these in L Printmakers

 

 

This was another small series of strips  with text that I plan to take a little further.

 

 

 

This is the first stage of a big copper plate which has been printed as a line etching first and now has been aquatinted and will be bitumened six or seven times to achieve the finish I want  - this is for a commission.

 

 

Finally - someone close to me is always slagging me about the fact that I don't eat meat.