PaperWorks - The Diary of an Obsessive, Compulsive Printmaker

Colleen Ross Website

2011-02-27T07:47:00.000+01:00

My new website is online. You'll find it at www.colleenross.co.za or please take a peek at it here and give me feedback. I'd really appreciate hearing from you. Things like ease of use, download times etc. Anything that confuses or annoys you I'd like to know about so that I can sort it out.
You'll notice that it has a blog page of it's own and it's possible that eventually this blog will fall away but I haven't decided yet.
It also has a contact me/ add me to your mailing list link so if you;re interested in knowing about future exhibitions please make use of this to send me your contact details.
Hope to hear from you.

Billy Monk - the Legend

2011-01-28T07:14:00.003+01:00

In March this year an exhibition of the photographs of Billy Monk will open at the Michael Stephenson Gallery near Cape Town and I can't wait to see it. I've been fascinated by Billy Monk and his photo's since I first read a little about him in a local newspaper. The black and white photo's were all shot during a period - the late sixties - when he worked as a bouncer at "Les Catacombes" nightclub in Cape Town. He shot the photographs not to make a social commentary but rather to earn a little extra income by selling the photographs to his subjects, the patrons of the club.

His intimate relationship with the subjects allowed him to capture the soul of the place. They're raw and edgy. And they take you right there. You recognise the people as people you were brought up to stay away from and despite or even because of the seediness you get to know them personally and to see the humanity, the fun and the tradgedy. After he stopped working as a bouncer he went diving for diamonds at Port Nolloth and the photographs remained forgotten until they were discovered in some files in a studio by photographer Jac de Villiers who recognised their significance. An exhibition was arranged at the Market Gallery in 1982,but although he knew they were going down well he never knew that the critics were raving nor that the Johannesburg gallery had bought six. He missed the opening and was shot dead trying to prevent a fight when on his way to see the exhibition.

In a fabulous book by Lin sampson with the title "Now You've Gone 'N Killed Me", Billy Monk's last words as he died, you can read the story of his life in detail captured at the time of his exhibition and death in interviews with friends, girlfriends and his wife, Jeanette. If you click on this link you can actually read the whole short story.

A book of his photographs will be published later this year but wouldn't this story make a brilliant film?!

Big Studio Shuffle - Big Blog Shuffle!

2011-01-27T19:58:00.001+01:00

Welcome to my new look blog. As I'm no longer working with kitchen based materials and almost enteirly focussed on printmaking, I thought I'd update the look of my blog. What is life without change?
Today I also did a big studio cleanup. It's my belief that, contrary to popular belief, an organised studio is essential for creativity. Printmaking is quite a messy process. Think black ink. Everywhere. Then think pristine white etching paper. You want it to stay that way except for the actual image being printed.
When your hands are covered in tacky ink you don't want to have to start scratching around for stuff you can't find or before you know it the whole studio is a mass of black fingerprints.

How to Make a Simple Rosin Box

2011-01-26T15:53:00.001+01:00

One of the things I have really missed from my classesat The Spencer Street Studios , apart from the teacher, is the rosin box. It was an enormous quite sophisticated paddle version which mostly had good results. For the last year I have been using a little jar covered with four layers of stockings and I've got quite competent at it although the risk of an uneven aquatint is quite high.

When I read about a printmaker who made her own basic one from a cardboard box I decided to try it.
This is what I did:
I used a medium sized corrugated cardboard box that I got from the local supermarket. I used wide parcel tape to seal all possible cracks and joins. And cut an opening flap in the front, big enough to slide in a grid, a piece of board and of course the plate iteself.

I taped in a piece of white cardboard on the base to prevent rosin from disappearing into the fold and flaps of the box construction.
My grid was a fencing sample (coated wire), but other possibilities are a light braai (barbeque) grid attached at the sides or even taking wire and weaving a grid-like support.

I poured about a 1/4 cupful of rosin dust into the bottom.

When I'm ready I shake the box madly (without the grid in as it's very heavy and being loose would rattle around and quickly break the box). Then I put the box down and quickly open the flap, slide in the grid with the plate on a piece of board on top of it. I close the flap which sticks in place quite easily and so rosin dust doesn't escape and leave it to stand until I think the dust has settled. Usually I do something else while I wait for this to happen.

I'm considering building in a little perspex or plastic window so that I can see what's happening instead of guessing.
Lastly, when I've finished, I use a coarse, broad, craft paintbrush to brush any excess rosin back into the box.

It's that easy!

If you want to get fancy here's a website that tell's you how to make a fan operated rosin box and here's another one at the Magical Secrets website- if you're the handy type... it has a plan and photo's of how to do it.

Professional Practice Seminar

2011-01-25T21:34:00.000+01:00

Today brought two exciting emails. Firstly, I've been offered a part bursary to attend the Professional Practice Seminar taking place in Cape Town in February, something I'm really looking forward to. It's aimed at visual artists who want to learn how to effectively manage and direct their careers. WOW - this really is just what I need right now.
The second email is an invitation to take part in Co/Mix: Comic Art/Mixed Media 2011, a collaborative group exhibition and visual art performance event on the main programme of the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, 29 June – 14 July 2011. The festival was the brainchild of a cousin, Roy Sargeant, and has grown over the years into a major cultural event on the South African calendar but I have never been to it let alone participated. Another big WOW in one day.

PS. Kind of compensated for the dismal results of the silver ink. Yes. My first print with the new silver ink was very disappointing. I think maybe black etching paper is necessary....

On the plus side my first aquatint in the little rosin box made from an old corrugated cardboard box was very successful. In my next blog I'll tell you how to make one. It's very easy.

Exciting new etching Stuff

2011-01-24T21:10:00.000+01:00

Today was SO exciting. My Godmother returned from London with stock I'd selected from Cornellison's online printmaking catalogue. Out of the distinctive green bag came:

White, silver and gold Charbonnel inks

The silver, gold and white Charbonnel inks are fabulous - really silvery silver, lustrous gold and I believe the white is very opaque giving a great reverse effect on black etching paper, which, surprisingly we can get at Deckle Edge, Woodstock.

The cutting tool with a piece of copper I cut

The 250g bag of colphony (pine) rosin

There was also other stuff including a roulette wheel; going to have fun experimenting with this. Will it work on plexiglass?

The first thing I tried was the cutting tool. At first I thought it wasn't going to work but I actually managed to cut a perfect line and the amazing thing is, it cuts it with a 45degree bevel so you only need to smooth it with fine waterpaper. This is all so exciting! Up until this point, I had to use the plates in exactly the size I bought them but now I'll be able to adjust them if neccessary.

In a wierd kind of way it's almost worth not being able to get this stuff locally because nothing can compare with the thrill of acquiring these things. The smooth sleek metal, the perfect tubes, the glossy wooden handles. It's so difficult to get anthing and when I do it's really, really precious and I really, really appreciate it.

Dreams and Memories - New Work on Perspex

2011-01-23T20:22:00.000+01:00

Deams and Memories II

Dreams and Memories III

Working on perpex has been very interesting. Apart from the obvious difference of being transparent, you're also limited to drypoint.

In both of these etchings I started off with the beautiful faces which I traced from photos from old national geographic magazines. They are a little bit too tight for my liking because the natural inclination is to be precise, exact. But after doing the faces, the fun began as I returned to my old intuitive style of working. This is the way I prefer to work and entails being open to ideas and deviations as they happen. It's slightly risky because there's always the chance of something "disastrous" happening; bad mark making, overworking etc.

Apparently there's some Jungian symbolism happening but I wasn't aware of it at the time. It's interesting how these archetypal things manage to weave themselves into our lives without our consent!

The perspex is very thick and was a problem to print because the pressure needed to be adjusted.

I found that "attacking" the plate with sandpaper created great tonal effects and contrasted well with the fine line work of the needle. It also helped me to break away from the tight, careful style that kept creeping in.

Tip for Local Artists Maiseys who supply perspex are situated in Paarden Eiland. They tell me that plexiglass is cheaper than perspex - a MASSIVE sheet will cost about R750 and they'll cut it into loads of little pieces at no extra cost and deliver it to me also at no cost. The thinnest they supply is about 1.5mm thick, a lot better than the 5mm thick perspex I'm currently using. This also the place to get Correx Board, that corrugated plastic board that is useful for mounting etchings. The same applies in terms of cutting and delivery.

Just Having Fun

2010-12-21T20:09:00.001+01:00

Today I had such fun in my studio. Jane Eppel brought her jewellers saw and blades and showed me how to cut out images from my plates. It was brilliant to learn a this new skill which in some ways was easier than I thought and in some ways quite difficult. For instance the copper cut quite easily and with Janes guidance I learnt the correct way to do it so it was fairly easy to cut quite smooth shapes. The surprisingly difficult part was getting stuck and having to work the blade out backwards. The delicate blade snapped quite easily. So I learnt how to put a blade in as well. After a few tentative practice runs I got to cutting out an image from an old plate. It will need a bit of filing but I'm hoping to be able to do this tomorrow and get around to making my first cut out print.

Jane has lent me her saw for a while so I'm going to be cutting up copper for the next few days, after which I guess I'll head off to BJ Oberholzer's to buy my own one. Here you can also get jewellers rouge which i read about in a printmaking book as being useful to polish scratched plates. They also have sharpening stones - could be useful too!!

It's great having other printmakers come and work in my studio as they each bring a different dimension. Jane has brought back for me the element of delight in discovering a new material or a beautiful colour or a new skill which is what drew me to art as a young child. (I'm remembering the smell of crayola crayons and certain special colours that snuggled in the box and were treasured). It's good to get back to that after the constant drive to intellectualize and conceptualise and blah blah blah. So for the next few months I'm going to indulge myself and just enjoy using colours and textures that look and feel beautiful and chuck "thinking too much" out of the window!!!!!

Printmaking at the Tip of Africa

2010-11-15T19:57:00.003+01:00

These day's I'm communicating with printmakers all over the world and it's really exciting but at the same time really frustrating to realise how limited our acces to materials is.

I've just had some wonderfully helpful advice from Aine Scannell in Ireland regarding my ongoing efforts with Carborundum Grit. Aine recommends using Lascaux Acrylic Hardground, but I've never heard of it, let alone seen it. A bit of googling eventually lead me to Lascaux Products very interesting but not available here.... and I think it's going to be tricky to get it without a helpful friend in Germany!

I think printmakers overseas would be fascinated to hear what we supplies are limited to in Cape Town:

very basic etching needle (one type only),
Charbonnel hard ground and soft ground,
Charbonnel liquid ground and about three colours of charbonnel inks (tubes only).
Etching paper is also limited to a very small range.

We can't get basic stuff such as straw hat varnish and litho crayons or more complex things like polymer film....

I've bought online from Hawthorne Printmaking Supplies who are really helpful with weight vs. postal tariffs. I like their etching inks very much - they don't form skins easily and this means I can keep ink out (covered with an inverted glass jar) for a couple of days if neccessary.

Cornellisons in London have a fabulous range of printmaking materials but at this stage it still requires a friend or relative to bring orders back to south africa. their scrim is fabulous and they have all the etching needles, burnishers, scrapers a printmaker could wish for. also the lovely things like mezzotint rockers etc etc

It's frustrating when you read about a technique and then you can't get the stuff you need in order to try it, but conversely it's really really satisfying when you managed to track down an alternative or a lovely parcel arrives at the post office and you open it like a child opening a Christmas present and hold in your hands a precious new addition to your studio.

PaperWorks Printmaking Co-operative

2010-11-12T07:03:00.000+01:00

Press Area

EXPERIMENTAL ETCHING STUDIO
I'm now sharing my studio with other printmakers. Although it's relatively small it's perfectly suitable for two printmakers to work simultaneously.
The aim is to make it "user friendly" so I'm going to limit the number of artists working at any time to three (including myself) and in this way eliminate or at least minimise the frustrations often experienced when sharing facilities.

I do hope to provide flexibility within a certain framework and propose three options:

Once weekly 10am – 3pm (5 hours) cost per session R125

Several days in a row (begin and end a project, dependent on availability). Suitable if you want to do the occasional etching.

Book by the hour @ R25/hr (dependent on availability) – come in and edition or proof plate/plates then continue working at your own studio.

Copper plate ready for aquatinting

Inking up and paper soaking area

Inking up

So far five artists have worked here and currently three work regularly.
We are enjoying the interaction, sharing of ideas and have been able to help each other in practical ways.

Currently three of us, Jane Eppel, Noeleen Kleve and I, have work on the Printmaking Exhibition at These Four Walls in Observatory - open for another week. It's an interesting exhibition and hopefully the first of many.

Anyone interested in working here can phone me on 073-2066-266 or email me at colleen@colleenross.co.za to make an appointment.

On Floating Bodies

2010-11-11T19:55:00.001+01:00

I really enjoy working with mixed media especially building up layer upon layer. I was working on a thick blocked canvas 30x30cm in size. In this piece I started with quite a lot of thick gesso that I used to attach a part of one of the many etching proofs I have filling a box in my studio. After that I drew some rather ghostly mermaids and then started layering tissue paper (also left overs from etching) cellophane and tracing paper... the tracing paper had been heated until it popped like popcorn, forming little bubbles providing quite magical texture reminiscent of sea foam. I wanted to get a feeling of the sea without being literal. As the gesso began to set, I tried printing from an old sea urchin. The result was very beautiful but again, hopefullly not too literal. I worked with my ancient Neo Aquarelle crayons and water as well as lots of dribbly alcolin glue (discovered on the artists book binding class just how quicly it sets). I also used an oil based black pencil and clear glass paint. A bit of white acrylic paint was useful for covering up "mistakes" and freshening up certain areas.

To add to the layered effect, and to protect the delicate work from dust and grime, I glued on some crumpled cellophane and used thick tent makers cotton to sew it crudely to the work. Whilst being see through it also had a slight feeling of trapping or smothering the fragile work below.

A day later, I decided that the cellphane looked a bit tacky and on discovering some lovely flexible vinyl, I replaced the cellophne with the vinyl using fine gold thread and various stitches to attach it. I liked the contradictory effect of delicacy and prettyness versus crudeness and entrapment.

Two of the mermaids are floating on the top of the water like dead fish - floating bodies hence the title, taken from the Archimedes Book I've just learned about - On Floating Bodies. I was very happy with the title as I'd latched onto those three words ever since hearing them a week ago on the book binding course!

I really like those horizontal mermaids at the top of the picture. Look out for them - they'll definately re-appear soon I think.

Artists' Bookmaking Course

2010-11-06T11:47:00.000+01:00

Some time ago Judy Woodborne suggested to me that I consider making books of my etchings and I though "ja, ja, nice idea but a bit of a mission to do" and so nothing happened. Until a couple of weeks ago when Karen Sinovich told me about a two-day book making course that was being planned at Casa Labia. Yeehaaa!!! Things were falling into place.Cheryl Penn was the facilitator and after looking at her awesome books on her website, I knew this was going to open up a whole new world. Within minutes of the class beginning she stressed that we were not learning "book binding" but to make "artists' books" - BIG DIFFERENCE. PERFECT!!

Gluing away...

We learnt words such as endsheets, folios, signatures, hybrid book structures, gutters and valleys. I loved cheryl's maxim, "This is the correct way to do it. This is how I do it!" But as we proceeded it became clear that we had to adhere to the integrity of the binding process.

Lunch in the diningroom at Casa Labia

Measuring and cutting

By the end of the course we had made four books; Accordian bound book, Dos a Dos, Cheryl's own invention, the collage bound book and a 6 hole signature bound book.

We also learnt about book stuff such as Codex (Archimedes Palimsest - on floating bodies .. how evocotive is that??)These YouTube clips show The amazing story of the sale of the Archimedes palimpsest and provide an insight into Archimedes theories. It is interesting to watch the deconstruction of the Archimedes Palimpsest in the context of having learnt to bind books!

Each student's collection of books showed a cohesivness and uniqueness that was extremely interesting.

Accordian book

Collage book

Cheryl crits our books at the end of the course

This course was enormous fun and we learnt a lot in a very short time. Most, if not all, of us will be taking the skills we've learnt and applying them to our own projects. It would be lovely to get together again in a few months time to see where we've all taken it too!!!

I Keep Doing things I can't Do

2010-10-30T10:57:00.001+02:00

Apparently Picasso once said "I keep doing things I can't do. That's how I get to be able to do them."

This is what's keeping me going at the moment. I'm really making a mess with the carborundum... The mixture of 220 grit with acrylic gel medium is ok.

But that's about all. I've tried working on cardboard as one website recommended and the result was seriously black (as in 90% of the area of the image) and used tons of ink. The relief effect is good. And I can see how this could be put to good use.

Experimental image printed from carborundum on cardboard "plate"

Then I worked on top of an old copper plate trying to combine the original hardground and aquatint etching with carborundum and the image was ok.

The general problems that arise are:
I'm finding it difficult to control the application of the grit mixture so the result is very crude.
Inking up the plate is a nightmare; It's difficult to ink up properly in the detailed/non carborundum areas.
The scrim is getting shredded.
How do I clean the ink off the plate afterwards? It's almost impossible.. should I put the plate in a bath of turps?
Also when I did try removing the ink the carborundum parts started getting wiped off too. Maybe they hadn't "set" properly in the first place.

Applying Carborundum to copper plate previously etched (hardground) and aquatinted

I've just returned to my studio... next day ... and looking at the print I made yesterday I have to say there is some excitement happening. the black areas are richly textured, very black and very embossed. there's a richness to the black that is beautiful... it's better than velvety, almost lustrous yet gritty... I've just worked on the little ballerina plate with more carborundum using it in a rather literal way to create a kind of reverse embossing of the little ballerinas. When it dries (several hours) I'll pull a proof.

Unfortunatley it's impossible to photograph the prints in a way that this can actually be seen, but I'll experiment with another camera and some lighting and see what I can do to publish the outcome.

Writing this has been good because I'm able to see there are some positives - maybe eventually I'll be able to complete the sentance and say "that way I get to be able to do them".

Carborundum Grit

2010-10-21T17:56:00.001+02:00

I've wanted to try making a carborundum print for several months since seeing some etchings made by this means, but the problem has been trying to find carborundum grit in South Africa.

It was explained to me that carborundum grit is basically the stuff that sandpaper is made from but this didn't make it easier to find! You can buy it over the internet from art suppliers in the UK and USA but the postage was going to be 45GBP - over R450 which was pretty off putting. I thought of trying to scrape it off of sandpaper but that seemed unlikely to work. Then a little voice in my head thought that maybe this kind of thing was used for polishing gemstones and we just happen to live about 5 minutes from such a place. A quick phonecall provided promising information - they didn't use carborundum grit but rather something called silicon carbide. Mmmm maybe this could work. I googled again and lo and behold, silicon carbide and carborundum grit are the same thing!

A quick trip this morning to TopStones in nearby Glencairn and I had two bags of the stuff. R135 for both... a 220 and a 90 (this is to do with coarseness) the 220 is the finer of the two.

The next issue is how to actually use it. Internet research lead to the following

The process was invented during the 1960s by the French artist Henri Goetz (1909–89), who realized that the carborundum provided an ink-holding ‘tooth’. The technique can be combined with intaglio processes or used as an alternative to them.

Goetz approximated conventional intaglio effects either by using heated tools to cut into a coating of varnish hardened on its support, or by suspending grains of carborundum in liquid varnish before it dried. The materials specified in his 1968 treatise included carborundum in eight gradations from 80–1200, synthetic varnishes and resins in crystal and liquid form, appropriate solvents, pyrogravure tools, emery and glass papers, and intaglio printing equipment, including a hot-plate. Although much work with carborundum resembles intaglio printing, pyrogravure in thick varnish produces an idiosyncratic weal in the printed sheet, while built-up textures, requiring simultaneous printing from the relief and the intaglio, palpably emboss and/or deboss the paper.

Goetz made many abstract prints employing his discoveries. Joan Miró (1893–1983), who, in experiments from 1967, often built out a thickened paste well above the support, to suggest impasto strokes and textures in the print. Working with Dutrou, Morsang or Arte Adrien for Maeght Editeur, Miró enjoyed the grand scale and liberation the process afforded and wrote to Goetz enthusing about the freshness and spontaneity of the technique compared to conventional processes.

Large carborundum etching by Joan Miro

Generally the image is worked from dark to light by burnishing the pitted surface from areas of the plate so they would hold less ink. The surface of the plate was covered in glue and then dusted with carborundum grit. Instead of burnishing it is also possible to create lighter areas by applying layers of diluted gloss acrylic medium or acrylic gesso. Degas used a so-called maniér-gris which consisted of abrading areas of the plate with carborundum to give them gray plate tone when wiped but did not burnish lights into these areas.
Another techinique is to mix carborundum grit with ordinary wood glue and then paint with a paintbrush which results in a rather lovely painterly image. Instead of a paintbrush one can use a plastic squeeze bottle and "draw" with it. It is recomended that the mixture be stirred accoassioanly as the grit tends to sink to the bottom of the mixture. One can also play with the ratio of grit to medium/glue and with different grit coarsenesses. A scraper can be used to remove whole areas of ground and get a lighter look. the effect is the opposite of aquatint; the little dots print black not white.

From what I've read, these plates quickly wear out so only very limited editions are possible although subsequent information shows that editions of 100 are possible.

The freedom of this tequnique appeals to me but I've been unable to find images that portray the kind of results I'm after, namely a loose but dense black with a fuzzy, dusty charcoal look.

8th Internation Printmaking Biennale - Liege, Belguim

2010-10-18T20:57:00.001+02:00

A Girl Like You

Walking the Talk

After the Fire

It Doesn't Matter What Shirt He's Wearing if the Bib's On

The Way, The Truth, The Life

Pillow Talk

These are the images that have been selected for the Liege Biennale that opens at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art on 17 March 2011.

Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Liege, Belguim

The work of 56 artists was chosen from the 600 applications.

A book/catalogue will be published of selected works and each artist represented will recieve two copies.

Lots to do in order to get ready for this and the printmakers exhibition opening on 5 November at These Four Walls.

The Connoisseur - First Prize for Mixed Media - SASA 2010

2010-10-17T18:16:00.000+02:00

This work was awarded first prize in the category "mixed media" by SASA in 2010.

Pretty Ballerinas

2010-09-26T14:23:00.004+02:00

I worked with the little ballet girls some time ago after seeing a photograph in the local newspaper. The caption was "Pretty Ballerinas" and quite honestly, I couldn't see anything pretty about them. Hair scraped and gelled back, bodies and faces contorted as they attempted to carry out the steps - they looked really spooky. It made me think about what my own daughters had gone through at ballet concerts and exams because we think it's good for girls to do ballet in order to learn to be poised and pretty.

I experimented with aquatint and a very diluted bitumen/turps mixture to get the textured semi seethrough effect of the tulle.

Drypoint Etchings

2010-09-26T14:08:00.005+02:00

Recently I began playing with drypoint. Although I'm drawn to etching because I love the (lenghty) process I was surprised to enjoy the immediacy of drypoint. Scratching into the copper was fairly easy and I was surpised at the way quite light scratches held ink. I started off by working from a little drawing that had just happened in my sketchbook and lead to....

Ram dressed as Lamb

This was followed by another animal man...

A Real Party Animal

This is the guy who prides himself on being the highlight of any party although he's usually pretty drunk and making a complete fool of himself.

Bad Boy

2010-07-19T22:12:00.007+02:00

Painted nearly 20 years ago in 1981, Bad Boy http://www.ericfischl.com/paintings/early_paintings_1/html/81_023.html is one of Eric Fischel's most notorious images and began as a painting of a bowl of fruit. Fischl's quote is wonderfully explicit explanation of the way the painting evolved
"That painting started off with me looking at a blank canvas and deciding that one thing I knew I wanted to paint was a bowl of fruit. I painted a bowl of fruit; and then I was sitting there looking at it. Right, where is this bowl of fruit? Well it's on a table. but with the table in, where's the room? I didn't know the room but I thought it would be fun to paint bamboo blinds. So I painted bamboo blinds and I thought, this is great, we get like striped light coming into a room. when I painted the blinds in I started to think about that kind of room where it's cool inside but it's really hot outside, maybe its midday, border towns you know, something like that, south-west border towns, border line, border-line behaviours. So I thought well, I would paint a bedroom in which there were two people having just screwed. so I put them on the bed and I just wasn't interested in it and so the man left, and the woman rolled over, and then I thought that there was definitely another person in this room. There wasn't just this woman. I thought it was a baby so I put a baby next to her and that didn't work out. Then I thought, well, its an older child, like four or five, and it's sitting on the edge looking out of the blinds. So I put that child in and that didn't work and finally the child gets up and goes over to the table and grows up to about eleven years old as it moves across the room, and on the table I'd had not only the bowl of fruit, which had remained right from the start, but there was a telephone and I kept taking the telephone off the hook, depending on whether I was thinking they were going to get disturbed or not. Finally it changed into a woman's purse and as the kid came to where he finally is, and as I was watching him watch, I was saying, well, what is he doing? I thought he was stealing money from her as well. It was completely surprising to me that from a bowl of fruit all of that would take place.
The earlier work was about the transition from innocence to knowledge, from the point of view of a small boy. the figure of the small boy -or even the position of the audience from the point of view of a younger child looking at an older, more grown-up world. That transition from a state of grace to something where the decisions are more complex, people's exchange is more loaded. Now the sexuality of the work is about relationships, and where the expectation for fulfilment, and whether the contract between two people can be satisfied just through sexual stuff.

Interesting interview with Eric Fischl http://www.percontra.net/4fischl2.htm
Eric Fischl website www.ericfischl.com

It's Never Too Late - Louise Bourgeois

2010-06-04T07:54:00.008+02:00

Louise Bourgeois by Robert Mapplethorpe (1982)

Recently someone I follow twittered about Louise Bourgeois who died on 31 May 2010 aged 98. My art history, ancient and recent, is appalling but the name tweaked my subconscious sufficiently to click on the link and discover her inspiring story.

I say inspiring because sculptor Louise B worked ceaselessly without recognition or selling for decades before she earned any recognition. She created to satisfy no-0ne but herself. She just DID IT. From what I've been skimming through, it would seem she was in her fifties before she attained real recognitionfor her work and her content alone is not easy to deal with. The subject matter is sometimes quite ugly (Destruction of the Father) although on further investigation the personal issues she tackles apparently resolve themselves and are exorcised through the process. She was devastated when her father died in 1951

Her first sculpture show included sculptures made of balsa as it was soft to work with, less messy and less likely to disturb her young children.

Louise B worked in a variety of media - pink fabric sculptures (St Sebastien) and moved with the times creating installations constantly searching, exploring and challenging.

For me, what is most inspiring about her was her courage. The courage to keep going no matter what anyone thought.

Her committment to her work - bringing up a young family - she found ways of managing both and didn't give up.

Above all, she continued to work into her eighties (maybe nineties) keeping pace with the contemporary art world and this for many women is BIG as many women only begin to be productive when they find time for themselves as their children leave home.

A fascinating obituary appeared in The Guardian and may tempt you to find out more... it certainly has me... http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/may/31/louise-bourgeois-obituary-art

An insightful review of her 1996 New York drawing exhibition: http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/03/arts/art-review-louise-bourgeois-on-paper-unposed-unmystical.html

Quote: "An artist can show things that other people are terrified of expressing."

Draw What You See ...????

2010-06-01T21:36:00.003+02:00

When I was a student, the mantra of one of our lecturers was "Draw what you see not what you THINK you see!". And it is true. A lot of the time we really do draw what we think we are seeing and if we're trying for a likeness what we think we're seeing isn't the same as what is in front of us. The lady who wrote "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" provided a couple of aids in overcoming this problem one of which entailed turning the image you are copying upside down and this really works. A bit of a problem occurs if you're working from life though.

But, all this is only relevant if your aim is to replicate a "real" scene/object/figure and while I'm old school enough to believe that one should be able to draw accurately from "life" I'm totally for breaking away and interpreting in an original and expressive way. There has to come a time when one wants to create something entirely new and the question is "How?" Without getting tangled up in the complexities of conceptualism which often feels to me like a case of "The Emperor's New Clothes" I lean towards the challenge of trying to find a way of creating an image in a way that no-one has done before. Years ago, while studying oil painting with Michael Pettit, I remember him stressing this. His vast knowledge of art history and contemporary painting meant he could always say "look at x, y or z and see how he/she painted this, that or the other". It was incredible and always provided a stimulus and challenge to find a new way of painting whatever subject one was dealing with. Not always easy to deal with but if you were up to the challenge it lead to incredible self discovery and exciting outcomes.
I cringe when I hear people deprecate contemporary art. It is SO easy to ridicule the likes of, for example, Damien Hirst, Cecily Brown or the Chapman brothers, BUT try to come up with something completly original. Be the first person to create in a particular way or with a material that has never been considered an "art" material. Try to say something that is totally unique. Create an image or object that the world has never seen before. Even if you take crudeness as your starting point and try to be more crude than anyone has ever been.....It's actually not possible unless you're truly gifted.

Real art will, in my opinion, never result from a desire to make money although money might be an outcome from making art for art's sake - but that's a subject for another post. Real art is something that comes from the psyche and finds it's way out with the artist merely the vehicle.

Perhaps the title for this post should have been "never draw what you see"!!

Grayson Perry

2010-05-19T22:55:00.004+02:00

Grayson Perry among his Pots
I'm fascinated by the work of Grayson Perry especially the way he combines form and content in such an incongruous manner. At first one falls for the exquisitley proportioned classical urns and vases with their shimmering glazes and on closer inspection one begins to observe the dark and often horrifying details.
Provocative and challenging and technically amazing.

"We've Found The Body of Your Child"

This link will take you to a fabulous website which contains several examples of his work.
Grayson Perry Artists Victoria Miro
Very interesting YouTube interview with Grayson Perry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HeolzPuxqM

Interview with Grayson Perry at his exhibition in Nov 2009 at the Victoria Miro Gallery in London http://www.youtube.com/user/artnewspapertv#p/a/u/0/uE-u9Y76Y-I

The Way, The Truth, The Life

2010-05-04T21:38:00.003+02:00

The Way, The Truth, The Life (I'm not explaining this one)

I'm battling with aquatints. They come out very flat grey. It may be because the resin powder I have is so fine. Or maybe it's because I'm hand aquatinting through too many layers of stocking and only very fine dust gets through. Or I might be putting on too much rosin; or too little. Or maybe I'm overheating the plate. Perhaps I'm not leaving it long enough in the acid??????
Anyway... I went to Artsource in Observatory today to buy a jar of coarser rosin but they didn't have any. Where to now?
Just remembered that we have a little tin with a chunk of cello rosin. perhaps I can crunch this up and use it? Presume it's the same stuff. smells the same......
Friday is studio day and I just can't wait to get in and get started.
By the way, I aquatinted this twice which may not be a good idea. The darker parts at the top were more a result of not removing all the ink before printing rather than any fabulous aquatinting.
In after the Fire I gave up on getting a nice dark aquatint and resorted to another hard ground with serious cross hatching and a fairly long time in the acid.
Which reminds me, I'm wondering if the acid is too old - doesn't really look greenish but I'm going to try new acid on Friday too.

After the Fire

2010-05-03T20:52:00.006+02:00

Lately I've been trying to experiment more with my etchings. To become a bit bolder. I started with a hardground drawing very loosely and trying different implements from a fine etching needle to a broad calligraphy pen and etched for 10 minutes. After this I hand aquatinted it with fine resin through two layers of stocking but the result was a very boring pale grey so I aquatinted again and splattered bitumin wildly with a toothbrush. Some lovely textures resulted from this and need to be explored further at another time. Not all these textures were appropriate so for the first time I used my new scraper and erased some of them. Fast and effective!! This print was still a bit too similar tonally so I did another hardground and the fifth version was quite pleasing but there was room for improvement so another hardground allowed me to put in more detail and add depth in a few areas. The seventh and probably final version is shown here.

In terms of content, I'm dealing with some of my favourite images; a strong, independent woman, a dog representing men/a man and fire lilies which appear after a fire. I love their sculptural quality, that they're indigenous South African flowers and the symbolic relevance of blossoming after devastation. The prosthetic and amputated legs derive from my husband's recent accident and I'm well aware that it isn't possible for anyone to be upright in reality but this is about strength beyond the physical. I suppose it's about strength coming from adversity.

As I write this, I struggle with the issue of art needing long explanations. I don't actually like to "explain" what's behind images. It also interests me that I didn't conciously set out to say these things. I began by making marks on a copper plate and added more marks as I went. It's only now that I think about it that I realise that everything in this etching is my personal response to events and shaped by my experiences. This is how I like to make art. I think my worst art results from consciousness. It's preconceived, pretentious and often twee. The work that developes as I go along and almost dictates to me what should happen next results in the best outcomes.

The only conscious decisions are to start and knowing when it's time to stop!!

Selling art and Where the Money Goes

2009-10-17T23:14:00.003+02:00

Today I sold a little watercolour for R1000.00.

That seemed like a lot of money for someone to pay for a little painting by an unknown, unestablished artist. I thought I'd get roughly R500 out after everyone had had their chunk but I didn't take the time to work it out properly until it sold at the opening. That night I hauled out my calculator and got quite a shock as I deducted the following: R20 - selection fee, R35 - hanging fee, R150 - (15%) commission, R544 - framing. Which leaves me with R251.00 Now I didn't include the cost of materials or driving backwards and forwards to the framers, the selection day venue, delivery to the exhibition venue, driving to the opening, driving to do my duty at the venue and driving back to collect the work at the end of the exhibition. So, at the end of this, unless I sell another work at this exhibition, I will probably be lucky to have made R100.

It is obvious from the above that the framing was the killer. The SASA commision of 15% was a gift. I am going to have to get cleverer about this. Either the cost of the framing has to come down drastically or the price of the work has to go up or maybe both.

Maybe I have to be patient and build up a name for myself even if it means selling art for zero profit.

It is obviously clear that it is vital to work out the costs properly before priceing a work. Duh!!!!