Reflection

It’s funny what a difference putting a print away for a few days or weeks can do for ones perceptions of it. I often dislike work when I finish it and then put it away to flatten. I come back to it later with fresh eyes and it usually (but not always!) looks a lot better. I guess I get sick of the image when I’ve spent a long time working on it and am unable to view it objectively. Such was the case with my cockle wood engraving.

I said goodbye to a friend today. I’ve not known her long but have developed a fondness for her and a great respect for her wisdom, compassion and ethics; I’ll miss her. Sad when we have to say goodbye to the really good people.

I wanted to give her something to say thank you and the cockle seemed the most appropriate, the sea being a recurring theme in our conversations. I was pleased when I got it out of its tissue. I hope she likes it and it will be a positive reminder of a good ending.

Unsatisfactory

No takers for my cardcut course this weekend sadly so no teaching for me. This means I can spend the weekend packing up books so that the builders can get to where they need to get. Lucky me.

The cockle wood engraving is finished. What can I say? I don’t like it. It’s flat and uninteresting. Good practice though. Hope the etched version turns out better on Friday.

An image of the Undertaker’s sisters-in-law is forming…

From the Atelier

How wonderful it is, after a long day of number crunching and caring responsibilities, to be able to retire to the studio for an hour or two. It’s so peaceful in there; one can almost forget the city goes about its business just outside. The birdsong seems to be louder and clearer, smothering the drone of the traffic.

In the last few months, I’ve really come to cherish silence. Well, not silence exactly, but quiet. The absence of human voices. Odd really, considering it’s been a number of years since I’ve been able to go to sleep without the radio on. Plays, books, poetry; I think it may relate to the love of being read to I developed as a child.

Anyway, several major life changes over the last year or so seem to have triggered changes in me. Inevitable I suppose.

But back to the art, which is what this blog is supposed to be about. I’m revisiting the cockle but as an etching instead of a wood engraving. ‘Wimp!’ I hear you cry…

My wordless studio companion Lilly.

Spoils...

Not finished yet but here are the fruits of my labours at the workshop on Friday. The first four states of the villain from The Red Scar series of etchings. Not sure quite where I’m going with this one.

I’ve all but abandoned the cockle commission for the moment, partly due to a broken fine spitsticker (less than two months old and NO, suppliers, I had not been misusing it) and partly to my defection back to etching. The cockle is very different from my usual style of work; I tend to go for figurative images and dark narratives. It will get done though.

What next?
Now that my edition for Print Zero is travelling (safely I hope) to the west coast of the USA – to the city where I spent the first five years of my life, oddly enough – what’s next? I have a few things on the go, but my next wood engraving project is a commission for Hilary C. She has a friend travelling the mediaeval pilgrimage route to Compostela, the Way of St James. Apparently, the cockle shell is the symbol of St James so pilgrims wear on badges today. Hilary wants me to make a cockle shell related print.
Here’s the drawing I made for it.
Hmm, this is going to be interesting! Not quite sure how I shall manage it as a wood engraving – etching, yes; wood engraving, gulp… I shall be working on a block 10 x 7.5 cm which is twice as big as the biggest block I’ve used before; still pretty small for me. With etchings and cardcuts, I’m used to working a lot bigger, but wood engraving… challenging. Watch this space…