MA Week 56 - London, and moving on with the Mabgate abstracts

Reflection on the past week, 14^th February 2017

 

Mabgate abstracts

February has continued to be positive. I had another tutorial last Thursday and Sharon and I discussed the Mabgate sketches. I was struggling with the composition as the colours were falling too “half and half” but Sharon suggested I do 1/3 to 2/3 ratio of the colours in each of the two pieces. This made sense to me and is what I am intending to pursue. We also talked about the need for “quiet” and busy places in the paintings. Some of what is in the sketches is far too busy but even allowing for this I can see the need for “quiet” areas. 

We also talked at some length about whether the roads should be sharp or not, the use of different thicknesses of paint, and the possibilities of using the stencil of the word “self” (laser cut last week) with masking fluid to produce layering within the paint. Also the possibility of depicting your thoughts from the walk, or what you want to share. A lot of conceptual and practical food for thought. 

Today I laser cut some further lettering, once again including the word ”self”, and also “hope”, inspired by Hope Road which adjoins Mabgate. I’ve cut these out of card, some grey paper, and a manilla envelope. I also cut some out of a photo of the City of Mabgate Inn that I’d copied onto acetate. I found the choice of “hope” and “self” quite positive. I’ll use this lettering in the final pieces. 

Self, self, self

 

I’ve also looked again at the sketches and while they still bear some resemblance to the actual map of the area, they are too complex for what I’m trying to use them for and they fracture the space too much – even though I want to portray fragmentation, since time is fragmented by the act of walking, and the area itself is fragmented in its use, and its users and is likely to become more so with the advent of gentrification. I will therefore simplify them before I start on the finished versions tomorrow. 

Testing ideas on the sketch

I’ve also found another print amongst those from last week which isn’t the best ever but which will give me four I can take to MMU.  With the challenge of the painting I don’t think I will make it back into the print room before the conference.

 

London

We spent the weekend in London, something we used to do quite frequently and now do all too rarely. Part of the reason for the visit was to see the Hockney retrospective at Tate Britain and we also managed to fit in the Rauschenberg retrospective at Tate Modern. I’ll write about these separately. On a smaller scale, but equally interesting, were unexpectedly coming across two printmaking exhibitions. 

SouthbankPrintmakers  were exhibiting in the Oxo Building, and what a feast of printmaking - prints of all sizes and techniques and colours. The works by the entrance door were etchings of urban and industrial scenes by the printmaker Melanie Bellis. Seeing works like these (a) gives me something to aspire to and (b) helps me realise that the urban and industrial are not such unusual subjects, which is positive. By very happy coincidence, Melanie was curating the exhibition that day, and she discussed her work with me. She encouraged me to persevere with my etching into a ground and to be unafraid to experiment with smaller plates until I got my bearings with the techniques. I always find it gratifying when established artists are willing to share their time and give insights – it is a real encouragement. Shortly afterwards I found out via Twitter that Melanie has been granted associate membership of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, which was fantastic to hear.

Just around the corner, at the Royal Society of Watercolour Artists’ Bankside Gallery, there was an exhibition of woodcut prints by the Society of Wood Engravers. One of the exhibiting artists, Louise Hayward  was actually doing some demonstrations and I talked to her. Louise’s subject matter is also the urban, in particular, brutalist buildings. I was fascinated to find out that some of her work had been produced by effectively carving into plastic plates, not dissimilar to the type I’d been using for my drypoint etchings. However, they are then (obviously) printed relief rather than intaglio. I really enjoyed seeing the detail and structure of her prints, and once again found inspiration and encouragement by speaking to her.