Following the first step

I thought I'd answer some of the questions I'd received asking what was I printing in the picture of the very first post of this blog. The simple answer is the weather report of that day. You see, I have had the good fortune to be invited on a number of occasions to the print studio of Thomas Bullinger in Denmark and on each occasion we set ourselves the task of producing in one week a completed printed project with hand set type and original illustration work from scratch. The theme varies as does the size and approach but the creative energy and buzz is always high. Anyway, on this occasion we worked towards the theme of 'the elements' and I combined the weather with the numbering system for the Periodic Table introduced into the text.

the Bullinger print workshop, sketch made on a test sheet from another project 2013

the Peddlers - exhibition at LMNH, London

The space was always going to be a premium, with 14 framed linocuts and a minimum of 4 silkscreen A2 prints, but who would say no to such a place as 'Look Mum No Hands', Old Street, London EC1 which has become one of the cycling cult venues riding on the wave of cyclings popularity. Below a few snaps of the show running from the 14th April 2015 to 14th May 2015.

the Peddlers

Sometimes it's fun to celebrate an interest outside of your professional realm. In my teens, living in a small town in the south west of England a bicycle became away to recognize my own independence. It was something divorced from sensitive reflection and questioning of the world around me through drawing and photography. Instead it was physical, aggressive, pain and a pleasure realized on a couple of wheels in the freedom of the road. Years later it's a sport I still enjoy and it lead me to create a simple series of portraits as linocut prints. The series and accompanying A2 silkscreen posters caught the eye of the well known cyclists hangout in London - look mum no hands - and the presently hanging show (until the 14th May 2015) is the result. So first a selection of some of the exhibited work and I'll post more on the show itself.

Laurent Fignon - the Peddlers. linocut print/2015/awreditions

Gino Bartali - the Peddlers. linocut print/2015/awreditions

Francesco Moser - the Peddlers. linocut print/2015/awreditions

Miguel Indurain - the Peddlers. linocut print/2015/awreditions

Louison Bobet - the Peddlers. linocut print/2015/awreditions

Raymond Poulidor - the Peddlers. linocut print/2015/awreditions

Fausto Coppi - the Peddlers. linocut print/2015/awreditions

Ferdinand Kübler - the Peddlers. linocut print/2015/awreditions

step by step

In many ways this blog and what it will cover, are but the continuation of an artistic process along time in the making. From the start, my first love, my only real outstanding skill, was that of drawing. I may have in the intervening years processed my artistic ideas through other mediums and materials, but drawing has always been the spine to the development of any idea. 

We all need our escapes and differing insights into the world around us and for me print making has been something to enjoy in it's purest value, the pleasure of creating marks and expressing ideas manifested in ink and pressure. The posts I will present are a wandering eye over the various project that at any one time I may be engaged in outside my other artistic practice.

printing in Denmark/Thomas Bullinger studio, Ulstrup -  'Elemente' project