New Cards

Jane and I went to Open Studio at Ground Zero Printmakers (aka GZP). On Tuesday, Victoria Edgarr had taught a mini workshop for members and friends on cards done with all kinds of relief printmaking. I wasn't able to attend and so on Friday I was able to create all kinds of source papers for creating these collage cards. They are done with stamps, object printing, found materials, plates made from styrofoam, printing over plastic lace, etc. Yesterday I made a number of cards and you can see one card in the middle with a small photograph....that photo was taken by Neil and is from one of his contact sheets. What a nice way to recycle imagery! Thanks Victoria and Alain at GZP for being as generous as always!

Fairbank Calligraphy Society Class

Here is a picture from Tuesday night's Fairbank Calligraphy Society class. Georgia Angelopoulos (who is on the left holding the quill!) and I are looking at the assignment from one of the participants - Joan. Joan's work is just beautiful, a square format with Versals done with a quill surrounding an embossed motif. Joan's finger is pointing something out to us. Don't we look serious? Who can remember now what Joan was saying??

Georgia taught three excellent sessions on built up Versals and we had the opportunity to do them with pen, a brush or quills. In the next series of classes I am teaching painted capitals - done with transparent watercolours on Arches MBM paper. We have a great class of students who have done exceptional work for their assignments. Thank you to the class members for your participation and to Anne for sending us this picture.

Printmaking Demonstration at the Saanich Fair

Thank you to my friends Ginny and Joan who sent me this picture yesterday of moi demonstrating at the Saanich Fair. The members of our printmaking group, Ground Zero Printmakers in Victoria, demonstrated various techniques for making your own prints easily. I was with Avis Rasmussen and she brought her press and people could print their own greeting card using one of Avis' linocuts. Here I have a brayer in my hand after inking up a plate for hand printing. The annual Saanich Fair is held at the fairgrounds in Central Saanich and it is a great place to visit and enjoy all the exhibits!

Trip to Toronto

We are just home from our great trip to Toronto. We walked and walked and here I am waiting for Neil. He took over 400 images including some wonderful shots of the new architecture at the AGO and plenty of street scenes. I am sitting on a pillar on one of the financial institutions on Bay Street where we saw the exhibition of the World Press Photos for 2009. We also saw Eliane Excoffier; Tanya Kirouac; Edward Burtynsky; the Power Plant video show of Candice Breitz; MOCCA; the ROM; Multiplicity; the Textile Museum of Canada; Hamish Kippen; and several more exhibitions. I was lucky enough to meet Dominique Prevost at the Japanese Paper Place warehouse and see some images of her beautiful watercolours on washi. It was a wonderful week.

Etching

This is an image of the etching from last weekend's workshop. It is etched on a zinc plate and has aquatint for the tone. Yesterday I printed a small edition of the shell etching and also aquatinted another plate with a different image of the shell.

The shells were given to me by my friend Mary in 1995 after her trip to Australia to visit her sister. I have done a series of drawings based on the shells and the etching is done in remembrance of Mary.

Etching Workshop

This weekend was spent at the Ground Zero Printmakers studio on Fisgard Street in Chinatown. It was a wonderful time with our patient and knowledgeable instructor, Alain Costaz. Alain is a master printmaker and an excellent teacher.

We learned how to etch on two kinds of plates - zinc and copper and we also did aquatints on both plates. Our prints were done first in black and then we worked in colours - red, blue and yellow - blending them on our plate. The pictures above are of moi mixing ink. This was an exciting adventure with Alison, Jane and Cindy.

Polka Dots and Stripes Printmaking Exhibit

Last night was the opening for a group exhibition called Polka Dots and Stripes at the Tulista Park Gallery in Sidney. The gallery is run by the Community Arts Council of the Saanich Peninsula and it is a beautiful spot - it is right beside the ferry to Anacortes. In the top picture June Haynes and I are standing in front of our pieces. June's work is an abstract monoprint and mine are all prints of decorated letterforms. June is a fellow member of the Fairbank Calligraphy Society and a printmaker and she not afraid to experiment!

This is a photo below of the participants - June, Marti Mussell, Heather Urquhart, Pat MacLeod, me and Nikkie Wilson. We are standing in front of one of Nikkie's layered woodcuts. All of Nikki's work is very colourful and bold.


I hope you can drop by to see the show when you are out on a seaside walk. Each printmaker has a unique perspective and the range of works shows the richness and opportunities of printmaking. The gallery is open during the day and the show is up until September 27. Many thanks to CACSP for this opportunity to exhibit. (Also thanks to Stephanie V. for the photos in my mailbox this morning!)