The book artist uncovered

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MA book art. Term 2 of 6.

I am beginning to understand what it is I am meant to be doing.

It is very hard to describe, so I have decided to make a book about what it is.

Key facts;

• Book artists make books about ideas and things that are important to them, such as gender or politics.

• Most people struggle to understand what the book is about.

• The book is 'conceptual'.

This basically means that the reader usually has to guess what the book is about and make up their own story.

Book artists choose their materials very carefully, as the story may be hidden in the paper or the thread.

If you think this is a story about a bear talking to three rabbits, then please try again.......

They place a lot of meaning in the layout of the words and images, and like to make reference to previously made books or art-work.


 They publish their books in small quantities and do 'show and tell' in crowded halls around the world.

You get the picture?





I am making a book called "One Day"


It will contain covers of all the books that are currently in my head, but are not suitable topics for someone doing a research project on the horizon and landscape.

Actually, I am sure I could work it so that they are valid, I just haven't quite worked out why yet.




The titles include

• Street cabinets of the world

 'Worried Bear and Brillo at the beach'

'Barbie in Springtime'

'The Little Book of Really Useful Cones'

'My Colours and Shapes Book'

'Pink is too Pretty'

That's a start.

If you can suggest any more I will be more than willing to consider your ideas. Then I will get extra points for 'collaboration'.

Thank you!

 

Down on the farm in Southland - a bit of sheep herding and some pink hay bales

farmland, Garston.

I have been researching hay bales.

An important topic if you are a farmer. Which I am not.

Bale wrap comes in a variety of colours.

Green is the most popular, as it blends in with the countryside ( unless if is arranged on a fence)

green bale wrap

White is a close second.

And I have once seen blue.

But it was the pink ones that caught my eye.

marshmallow bales

pink bales

I have learned that they were developed to raise awareness for breast cancer. You can read more here 

And the blue ones are for prostate cancer. Farmers Weekly has the low down

It could get complicated....


There are many colours and many diseases....

pink for breast cancer support

I have also been rounding up sheep on the beautiful Glenfellen farm.

You will not find kinder, more welcoming folk than the McMillan family and their friendly woofers. Woofers work on the farm for board and lodging, as a means to travel overseas.

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Not to mention the dogs.

The house dogs are not allowed to work with sheep ( wrong brain cells)

House dog

And the working dogs are not allowed near the house, but are allowed to ride on the quad bike.

working dogs

The farm is steep and the tracks are rough gravel, but the walk to the top of the hill is well worth the climb.

the top of the farm

A flock of sheep needed to be moved, soon after my arrival, to a different part of the farm.

sheep moving

Moving sheep involved about six dogs, a quad bike, two farmers and a truck.

driving the sheep

I rode in the truck. It was suitably scruffy, and made mincemeat of large swathes of thistles.

truck interior

house dog watching the action

the truck

You will, of course,  notice that the passenger door opens onto a very large clump of thistles.

I now know why farmers wear jeans and boots rather than shorts and sandals.

Scotch thistle is a problem, as is English gorse, and California thistle. All imported. None useful.

And here are the sheep, in case you are wondering.

Once the excitement was over I climbed to the top of the hill where I found more sheep.

It is not possible to get closer than this to a sheep. They run off when you reach a critical distance.

sheep

The view was stunning.

farmland

I would have loved to stay much longer.

Maybe I'll take up woofing....

Photography and collography.......... finding my way in the print room with Birgitta Wilson.

Collographs by Birgitta Wilson

I like to play with scissors and glue.

Photography is not meeting my needs for mess.

So I decided to learn how Birgitta Wilson creates her beautiful collographs as a way to get an opportunity to be messy, and to understand how my print making friends create their work.

Words like 'intaglio' and 'scrim' finally understood. And a chance to play again with the mighty printing press. Technology free, and a very physical process.

I spent two days at The Arches Print Studio in Hastings learning from Birgitta and other very talented artists who also wished to explore new ways to make art.

It is a very different way of thinking.

Find 'materials' .........      anything with texture. not too thick. PVA, tile cement, egg shells, different textured papers

Plan your image in your mind.

Create the image with sticking and glueing.

Then add more stuff to create texture and shading.

HOLD ON A MINUTE. I GOT STUCK AT STAGE ONE. PLAN YOUR IMAGE?

MY MIND  FAILS ME.....

So I created a very simple grid and scotred it with a knife, added some sellotape and brown tape, and hey presto; I have a 'collographic plate'.

Of sorts.


Ink it up, put it through the press, and bingo; my very first collograph.

Hmmm.

I think I prefer the plate to the print.

I also prefer the tissue papers used for cleaning the plate before printing.

And the marks on the work table in the room next door.

Self doubt creeping in, big time....

bird

A cup of coffee and a piece of cake restore my enthusiasm, and I get to work on my second plate.

I am still not thinking of a picture, but can manage abstract squares; no change there.

Everyone else is busy creating forests, rivers, trees, frogs, beaches, and other proper landscapes.

scrim and eggshells on tissue paper and tin foil

I am stuck in square mode

Adding plant material to the already inked plate creates a silhoutte effect.

This is not mine....

flowers and egg shells; also not mine.

It takes a very long time to ink up the plates and then wipe off the excess ink.

Too much ink and you have a dark splodge. Cleaning off the ink in the crevices with a cotton bud is essential.

over inked print getting a bit murky

But running the same plate thought the press again without inking futher creates a 'ghost print'; a paler and more subtle version of the original. Handy if you have too much ink the first time.

my ghost print of scrim squares

I prefer the lighter look.

I am not a patient person and all this cleaning was beginning to get me down.


I have only just got over the extreme ironing that I had to do for the wedding.

photograph by Istvan Magyar

 Thanks to Istvan for my favourite shot of me at the wedding.

The others were churning out elaborate prints of great elegance.

I knew this wasn't my style.

But then the lovely Birgitta handed me a gift.

She asked me if I would like to try blind embossing.

No ink required. She could obviously see that I was struggling.



I had to think what to make.

Agnes Martin came to mind, and I created a grid.

 First I printed it plain, without any ink, and was surprised by the pleasure that this gave.

Then she allowed me to choose a colour.....

I broke the rules with a pretty playground pink.

..... I was away.

Creating something that felt true to me.

pink collograph

ghost print

scrim inked up and placed directly on the board

 I finished with a  little piece of scrim applied to a little square of card.

I liked the result. Something about creating art from the materials that are used to create art......


 I knew that I would be back for more.





Less sticking and glueing and more cutting and inking seems to be the way foward.

And more photography.......


of course.

bird on wire

blot on the landscape