Some New Studio Work

I've been tying a few different things in the print studio over the last 4 or 5 months...this started as a note to myself that asked me to think more about what images/processes work best for me at this particular time and how the context can affect the studio.

I needed to re-focus on quality and depth within the work and yet the work needed to be grounded in some kind of practical reality.

I wrote that I have to work through imagery more thoroughly and let the process have some influence and unguarded control over the production of the final image.

I don't think I've ever used printmaking to make a print of a drawn image I rather use print as the medium in which to express myself, I've known many Printmakers who do the opposite, which isn't a criticism but its not the approach I'm currently taking...and to be honest not one I've ever taken.


What do I think about when I making these images?....I think of them as a visual puzzle, making something out of nothing, creating a problem then working and reworking until I reach what I believe to be the outcome that I was looking for. I don't think its much more complex than expression through the medium which in turn is a visual manifestation of what I am or aim to be at that particular moment.

Expression through gesture, line and tone is what I do, the image doesn't have to resemble something but it needs to convey an emotional response, and thats the difficult element to illicit. I've grown accustomed to not spending extended periods in the print studio, simply necessitated because of time limitations but the compressed period which has some urgency to produce something has its advantages and disadvantages (possibly in equal measure)  I like looking at the work (currently) of Dove, Marin & Hartley, they had something which often went unappreciated and unnoticed...and reading helps...

Balancing all the various things (family, work, technology print history, fitness & fine art printmaking) I like to do is occasionally a challenge but for the most part a highly enjoyable one!.

..what next...I'm re-visiting some early plates I've made and re-thinking them, I've a considerable amount of OUP archive work to do and early preparations to contribute to a forthcoming exhibition. I'm also on the look out for an etching press and thinking about setting up my own print studio perhaps....in the next three-four years.