Building on a Foundation at Southampton City Art Gallery

 
Prints by members of Red Hot Press are on show at Southampton City Art Gallery at the moment. I have two pieces on display - my dragon roof tile and of course, PB has to get in on the act! He wouldn't miss out! On until 24 June 2016.

Imprint2

It's up! We hung the show at Harbour Lights today. More pictures to come. Opening on Tuesday evening from 7 to 9pm. Join us for a glass of wine and meet the artists.

Coming soon!

Just over six weeks to go before we hang Cowprint's latest exhibition. Featuring original prints by thirteen members of Red Hot Press, the exhibition at Harbour Lights Picturehouse runs from 28 February to 26 March.

Join us on 1 March between 7pm and 9pm for a glass of something and a chat with the artists.

The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers at St Barbe Museum

Mychael Barratt ~ Lost Magic Kingdoms

There's a selection of prints from the RE Summer Show at Bankside on display at the St Barbe Museum in Lymington at the moment; much more convenient for me than trekking up to London.

I haven't been to the show or a number of years so as well as some of the old favourites (like Mychael Barratt - the print shown here kept us busy for some time trying to work out which books the little images relate to), there was quite a lot of work by artists I'd not seen before. 

Delores de Sade's work caught my eye - I've not come across her before. Her etchings had an air of 19thC book illustrations... there was something Holmesian about the look of them and with titles such as not without undue prolixity and hence arises a digression, my penchant for narrative was thoroughly satisfied. 

Having said I'd not come across her, I've just looked at her website and realised I have seen some of her work before. More investigation of this interesting artists needed I think.

Printing for Etsy

The last couple of weeks have been enjoyably busy in a printmakerly way. I spent a large part of the bank holiday weekend holed up in the studio looking through packaged prints and printing older plates to ‘stock’ my Etsy shop. I rarely revisit old plates, even though I haven’t printed the whole edition, but it was quite fun relearning the plates… remembering where to wipe more for cleaner whites, where to let the ink sit for a richer tone, which to tonk before pulling the final print. No sales on Etsy yet but a couple of my prints have been included in treasuries (these are themed collections of items for sale which Etsy members put together and publish on the site; a little help with advertising has to be a good thing).

I also had a meeting with a web designer to discuss revamping my website – get me! That made me really think about my target audience and the message I want to give. I learnt some useful stuff about marketing and how the web works so I’m all fired up to get the overhaul underway.

Summer's almost over

It seems that summer is nearly over; there’s definitely something autumnal about the early mornings now. As we’re preparing for the start of a new academic year, and as I’ve had a seriously uncreative summer, this feels like a good time to review where I’m at with my printmaking projects.

Production has been slow over the last year or so, partly owing to learning new techniques and partly by experiencing a creative bottleneck (there’s also that little thing called life which tends to get in the way too). I’ve not taken up so many exhibiting opportunities this year so I’m feeling the need to focus on getting my work out there.

Two things which have been on my To Do list for some time are overhauling my website and setting up an Etsy shop. The first I’m going to need some help with but the second I’ve already made a start on. The shop is set up and I’ve listed a couple of prints already. Now comes the fun part of seeing what else I have in stock and what needs printing. Who knows if I’ll make any sales but I’ve nothing to lose in trying.