Since making the ballot box piece, I have been considering painting as three dimensional, not just two. It is early days and there are a lot of things I want to try. So far, I have begun a very long piece on Chinese paper; it is at a very early stage, just white tally marks using gouache looking very ethereal. I think I will continue with this using water colours and gouache, possibly ink, but I change my mind frequently when I am at this stage, with my head full of thoughts about the possibilities.
I have also bought a new stash of paper ready for when I have time to make some prints, lovely off white Somerset 300 gm.
Another experiment I'm trying is to paint on a series of 2' x 2' ply boards, which I have hinged using canvas strips, (drilling through such thin board to screw metal hinges onto it would not have been possible). I have several sections, and I am currently painting on two hinged sections (four boards). One possibility is to place the two pieces together like a concertina, thinking about my Chinese sketchbook that was accepted by Rabley. Another, one I am leaning towards, is to stack the two sections, one on top of the other. They are remarkably stable actually, so I don't think I will need additional fixings and anyway, I rather like the idea of an interchangeable painting. I have only begun painting on one side of the boards so far; I intend to paint both sides, to create interesting juxtapositions of colour, mark making and angles. This has made me quite excited, even though it is early days.
Always the ideas remain the same; the passage of time, seasons, memory and loss. All the works are in progress:
I have been battling with finding time to complete this work. I keep being distracted by the anti fracking campaign in this area where I live; we are on the front line of the fracking attack here and it is very, very worrying. I am trying hard to keep positive by doing positive things to help the cause, but it is extremely draining on my mental strength, which is not conducive to my creative production!
However: I am excited!
I have no idea how long the piece actually is; several people have asked me, so I suppose I should attempt to measure it before it is completed because I expect more people will ask the same question. It is not a piece of purist printmaking; rather the visual version of a room filled with talk, the talk all being about the nature and importance of democracy and voting. As I have progressed with the piece, I have found more and more information that relates to the subject, which there is not really room to include, but which I will include in some of the single pieces I am going to make, and the artists' books. It would actually be quite nice to do some paintings too, to see how the ideas translate into richly surfaced pieces.
I worked on the piece again for a day last week; there were gaps that I wanted to address; some gaps are OK; causing "pauses" in the conversation but other areas were crying out for more coverage. I am very pleased with the Thermofax screens; they are so easy to use and made reproducing my hand drawn tally blocks and the printed quotes very easy.
The mix of mono, collograph, lino and screen print within the piece works too; the balance between the hand drawn aspects of the mono printing and the rest is particularly interesting to me.
This shot above shows the ballot box work and some experiments I have made on wider pieces of paper, I love the translucency of the Chinese paper and its strength.
At one stage, because the work is so long and I was trying to identify the areas that needed more work, I was printing with the work on my left in folds on the floor while on the right, it was held up and draped on my wooden clothes airer. I had to be very careful not to trip up! See for yourself:
Thanks to all of you who take the time to read this and as always, I welcome your comments.
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