What's next???

It's been a strange few weeks, after three years working towards my degree show, it's all over and I'm feeling a little lost.

Next week I will be exhibiting at New Designers in London - a showcase of graduate craft work from across the country. This exhibition will mark the end of my time working with university and is the start of me entering the real world.

I'm not planning on leaving the art work behind - how could I possibly do that??? - but I'm taking some time out to get my head around being an artist, without the guidance of fellow students and tutors.

I will of course be keeping you informed on whatever I do, so watch this space... I reckon I'll be back sooner rather than later xx

i've finished!!!

Everything has been handed in and finished, and it's all gone so quickly. It's still a week until opening night but my work has been put up for grading, here is what it looks like...

 

There are some cushions happening

Sorry, not got much time to talk, but here are some images of cushions I've been working on - told you I was a fan of pompoms.

 

 

 

Finished Drawers

Quick update on the drawers of my dresser ... Just over a week to go

 

 

Drawers in Progress

Continuing with my dresser, I've been working on the two drawers, today I got to remove a layer of masking tape and they are finally starting to look exciting.

 

The white section will be filled with a pink/coral pattern and  wood will be varnished to make it darker, but I'm really happy with the graphic outcome of this section.

 

 

Close up, I love how crisp the edges are, very excited to continue working on the rest of the dresser in this style.

  

Too much of nothing...

I hit a wall within my work! something is not working for me and I'm quickly running out of time to resolve it. At the moment I'm workshopping every day, but part of me feels I would benefit more from less but more productive time spent there. hmmm... I think the approaching deadline is making me work without taking the time to stop and actually think about what I'm doing.

Anyway... here's what I've been up to today

 

This block is developed from my shell print from many weeks ago, this piece is based on a wave and features the Blackpool Tower running through the centre.

 

 

The printed block - aside from the fact that it looks a bit like a bird - I'm fairly happy with the print, however I'd like to work on this more adding more layers and colours, as I think it's not quite amazing yet (and what's the point of making something that isn't amazing?)

 

This is a similar piece and I'm really happy with the outcome of this one, it's only small and I love the simplicity of it, this is the first one I'd like to see mounted and framed up.

 

 

 

3 weeks and 3 days left

Progress

I've finally started on one of my exhibition pieces this week. It's a reclaimed dresser that I'm reinventing by printing onto the surface.

Getting the piece to the stage where I can print onto it took a lot longer than I thought - hours of sanding , priming and painting base colours - but it's finally time for me to begin printing!

This is how my floor has been all week, there has been a lot of mixing pastel colours and stepping over drying drawers and cupboard doors.

 



 

The dresser mid process

 

 

Printing onto wood, this is my first attempt at printing onto one of the drawers, I'm really pleased with the outcome and in the flesh the colours are really vibrant and exciting.

 

Inspiration Station... Safomasi

Safomasi is a BEAutiful textiles printing company run by Sarah Fotheringham and Maninder Singh. These hand printed pieces are inspired by their trips around the world. I'm slightly in love with their use of colour and the perfect amount of pompoms on their cushions (in the coming weeks my love of pompoms will become very apparent)

These quilts look super toasty, I'd love to put my prints onto something so cosy!

 

 

Close up of their camel print, I think it's just the right amount of quirky.

 

All images are from their website: http://safomasi.com/



I'm back

Really sorry for the lack of posts recently, but it turns out laptops arn't made to be balanced on heads whilst rearanging furniture. I'm back now with a newly repaired laptop and there will be many posts to follow during the last month of my degree.

Repeat pattern

Today i've been working on some fabric for a friend, using my baby tower block from the last project. I'm really excited to see what she does with this fabric - always interesting to see how someone else works with your designs.

 

 

This is the biggest section of fabric i've printed - 4x the size of the press!!! so i only managed to print half this morning as i didn't want to risk the prints reprinting all over the back of the fabric, therefore i'll be back in tomorrow to finish this off.

Towers day 2

Today was my second day in the worshop printing my tower blocks from yesturday - here are the results...

 

I'm really pleased with the subtle colour of this print, these are taken from the second print from the block, making the colours much more delicate. Gutted though that the college are all out of hahnemuhle paper, as this means this print can only be used as a sample.

 

 

These two images are of prints using two colours, where i cover up sections before printing. I'm particularly pleased with this set of prints as the colours are really complimenting each other well and the detail of the image looks really exciting.

 

Despite being really pleased with these prints, i still feel that there is something missing - something that i'm not completely happy with. I'm finding that i once i'm in the workshop i'm working on auto pilot, going back to old ways of working and forgetting my new ( and hopefully improved) design ideas - hopefully though now i've realised this may be my problem i can begin to solve it. xxx.

Lino Cutting - Tower Print

I've finally got myself back into the workshop, which always seems a struggle after two weeks away. I only really dipped my toe in though as i didn't print anything today, i just cut out a block based on the tower designs from last week... but it still counts as being productive.

The print is definatly the biggerst i've made - it's about 50cm high, it's actually bigger than i'd planned and now i'm not really sure what i'll use it for. I'm sure however that once i shart printing with it the devine inspiration will arrive (fingers and toes crossed x)

 

The join still need some work, but i'm waiting till it's printed to sort that out. I'm really pleased with the architectual quality and use of pattern i just hope it comes through in the print.

 

 

Here's a close up of the pillar, i love the quality of pattern in this section. I wanted a detailed close up of the top section but it wasn't coming out well through photographs - i promise a detailed image of this area once it's been printed.

 

 

This is a close up detail from an older tower block - now named the baby tower - i added more detail and pattern qualities, having the piece more inkeeping with the big tower and my current work.

 

Design Work

I've still got 1 week before the workshops open in college so i'm spending this time finalising (starting) my print designs. My intention is  the the prints I design will be used on a range of products - mainly cushions and hopefully some old furniture i'm going to reupholster.

 

This design is one of the Blackpool tower, there's part of me that thinks the tower might be a little full on Blackpool theme but I can't resist including it in my work as i love the architectual qualities the building brings to my work.

 

First set of designs, the idea is that the tower itself will be a lino print and the pattern around the edges will be done in stitch - at the moment i'd like to do a mix of both machine stitch and hand stitch but i'm not sure of the details yet.

 

 

I'm looking at ways to include text on my work  - i just really love it when word and image are combined (could be from my brief moment studying illustration). I'm putting the quote "you plan a tower that could pierce the clouds" onto this piece, which i just think is a pretty nice and fitting quote for the image.

 

 

I going to be using a similar colour pallet to what i've already been using - so blue and red are continuing their collaberation - plus i want to work with a lot more sofeter colours, so i intend to use turquise, blue and gray for the stitched pattern with just splashes of bright red. 

 

Not too much going on at the moment...

.. that is a complete lie that I'm telling myself, because there is in fact a hell of a lot going on at the moment.

but the exciting news of today is that the sun finally made an apperance in Hereford for a few seconds today.

I even got a photo to prove to myself that it happened! but it does make me wish i was back in Blackpool were the sun was well and truely out last week...

 

... however work called and therefore i'm back in Hereford for my final 8 weeks of uni and there needs to be a hell of a lot going on in these 8 weeks!

2 weeks later...

I've been ill for the past few weeks and felt as though I've had no energy to achieve what i want to, but here's a few images of some of the stuff I've been up to.

 

Exciting times at HCA... I've moved into a new desk space, I'm now much closer to a window- which i really didn't realise now much i missed and living somewhere new is producing a whole new range of design ideas.

 

 

Some sketchbook doodles, I'm working a lot more with pattern and trying to print in a much more illustrative way, which is giving my work much more personality.

The patterns in this piece have been taken from the image of a carousel.

 

 

And here is close up from a finished print from the block i cut out a few weeks ago. I love the instant retro feel blue and red have together ... i reckon there will be much more of this colour combination to come.

 

 

Inspiration Station... Harvest Textiles

Just found this amazing textiles company run by an awsome group of four women, they produce screen printed textiles and run printing workshops  - they're the gift that just keep giving!!!

 

Hand printed cards, simplicity is the key.

 

 

They have a huge range of cushions coverd in amazing coloured patterns.

 

 

And they even do fashion pieces like bags and leggings

 

 

I just find the use of colour and pattern really exciting and I reckon I need to make some pieces with a tad more colour and excitement about them.

Images from their website which you should definatly visit to take a peak at more of their work http://www.harvesttextiles.com.au/

Missing the je ne sais quoi...

I been working in the workshop all week and aswell as the series in the previous post, I've also made another lino cut and printed the first layer.

 

 



The piece is the largert print I've done since being at uni and the image is a shell made up from architectual details of buildings around Blackpool. I'm really pleased with the first few prints i've done, and i'm looking forward to using a lot more colour with this block and adding stitch to the samples i've printed onto fabric.

And yet... there is something missing from my work so far which I can't quite put my finger on. It just feels like the thing that makes my work mine is missing - i've lost my essance, I'm not sure whether i'm just having one of those days but i hope that by next week i can find my mojo again.

Workshopping

I'm in week three of my Resolution of Practise module and i've finally got in the workshop - this is the earliest i've ever been in the workshop in a project!

 

I've started doing some lino printing based on shells, not sure how this work is going to develop but here are some images of what i've been up to so far.

 

Lino Block

 

 

First layer printed

 

 

Two layers of colour - I think this contrast of colours is really exiting, perhaps I could recreate using stitch?

 

 

These pieces were more just something that got me back into the work shop, I don't see them developing anymore than this but from being in the workshop, i've got lots more ideas I want to start working on.

 

Inspiration Station... Leah Duncan

I am a print maker - working mainly in lino print - with my work I take my drawings and illustrations and make them into patterns printed onto fabrics.

Leah Duncan is lovely illustator whose work captures some of what I hope to achieve in my own designs.

 

Print from a calander by Leah Duncan

 

 

  Textile pieces by Leah Duncan

 

Her work is so simple yet stunning to look at and she gets the balance of illustration and prining perfect, giving her pieces an amazing sense of identity - this something I'm still trying to get my head around.

 

Images from Leah's blog http://www.freshlychopped.blogspot.co.uk/

Plus take a look at her website for even more work.

http://www.leahduncan.com/index.html



This is where it all comes from...

As the name suggests, I am a print maker. The inspiration for my work comes from the beach, seaside and inparticular Blackpool, a theme which has developed since leaving the coast and moving to the country for my degree 3 years ago. Since then I have aquired a huge amount of research and images of Blackpool and the sea, and so i'm challanging myself to select just 3 photos that best illustrate the ideas behind my work.

 

This first image is of the North Pier, the North Pier is a lot less tacky than the South Pier - not that tacky is a bad thing - I love the peeling paint of the steats and the wooden decking. The blue and turquise tones and then that flash of the pink kiosk at the far end is what i love most about this image.

This image coms from the South Pier, which is definatly a lot more of what people expect from Blackpool. I really love the strong linear elements in the structure of the ferris wheel and how the candy coloured cabins contrast with the vibrant colours of the lights surrounding them.

 

This final image is the South Pier taken at beach level. Again I find the structual and linear qualities really exciting and love the how the supports contrast the colourful pier above. I also like how this image features the sea and the shore line, combining the natural with the man made.



The beginning of the end...

I have reached the last project on my arts degree and now seems as good a time as any to start blogging about what i do. This blog will follow me through my last college project, working towards my degree show and will hopefully continue as I enter the real world in 5 months time.