In nature- woodcuts A and B

In nature A, woodcut, 30 x 39 cm

In nature B, woodcut, 30 x 39 cm

In nature A and B, woodcut, 30 x 78 cm together

In nature A and In Nature B were designed to join up, to make a long piece.

I tend to think, however, that A is more satisfactory on its own.

One of a number of photos of my hands- the full set is here-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28509471@N05/sets/72157612104631101/

This particular image might for a good starting point for The Garen City series. The hand here is an opened container, the shell is itself a home, much like a dwelling in a city.

Today was a very unsuccesful day in the print studio, the second such this week, and I need to start afresh. Oddly, it is often a relief to produce really poor work. It tells me, without equivocation, that I am on the wrong track. Merely mediocre work is much more difficult to learn from.

There is something immensely reassuring about the geometric orderliness of shells which I think might also provide me with a new direction for the Garden City series.

Nocturnes

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The Garden City - Nocturne (details) I shall publish the whole print later this week.

 I think of these with piano music in mind- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkse1g9ibnM

 There is a beautiful tradition of night pictures which I'd like to tap into.

 

 

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The Garden City

The first prints of the new series have dried, and I'm showing them on Flickr.

They're called "The Garden City", as a sort of homage to the planners of the nineteenth century.

I've structured the pieces with an underlying grid, with circles and other shapes overlain.

Where to?

I don't know what to do next. The roundels series was well recieved. I know I have to work in a completely different way for the next series of works. Beyond that, however, what exactly to do, or indeed, what precisely to make work about is uncertain to me.

I'd like it to be something connected to the plates of drawings found illustrating natural histories, however.

Here is another detail from the Rooundels Series. The entire set can be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/28509471@N05/

Details

Here are some details from the Roundels series.

Some confident works

Here are some of the better ones- there have been some very weak prints too. Howver, I think the weak ones are somehow "necessary". Without them it wouldn't be possible to make the good ones.

Roundels

The first batch of new work is finally coming through. There's a fair Delaunay influence, also some pop art ideas. I want it to develop into something lighter than this.

Big Prints

This brings to a close the first really large series of prints I've done, at 60 x 85 cm.

The bigger size brings specific problems, as follows.

a. the plate is much more cumbersome, so it's harder to move it, and move round it
b. It's harder to make changes.
c. It takes much longer to change designs.
d. Mistakes in design and errors of technique are exaggerated.
e. It's much harder to place the paper on the plate to print.

The extra costs are actually ofset by the fact that one makes less work.

I'm mainly happy with the results. I like grandeur in art, I think it's a neglected quality, indeed it's a quality that post-modernism seems to millitate against.

New Ideas

I like to have a break after completing one body of work, before starting a new one.

I've a number of ideas knocking about.

1. To do a series of posters, with words and very bold images. The posters (cover pages) for the series are usually very popular and sell well. They would have lettering and simple clear images. One would be for Bristol Cars. I am not quite sure about the rest. I'd ake about 7.

2. To start on a series concerned with billiards. These would be cheerful green prints featuring billiard balls. Very charming and light.

The "Nerves" series was quite heavy and serious, and I want to do something light and fun next.

Hello

I've been alone with you
Inside my mind
And in my dreams I've kissed your lips
A thousand times
I sometimes see you
Pass outside my door
Hello!
Is it me you're looking for?
I can see it in your eyes
I can see it in your smile
You're all I've ever wanted
And my arms are open wide
Because you know just what to say
And you know just what to do
And I want to tell you so much
I love you

I long to see the sunlight in your hair
And tell you time and time again
How much I care
Sometimes I feel my heart will overflow
Hello!
I've just got to let you know
Because I wonder where you are
And I wonder what you do
Are you somewhere feeling lonely?
Or is someone loving you?
Tell me how to win your heart
For I haven't got a clue
But let me start by saying I love you
Hello!
Is it me you're looking for?
Because I wonder where you are
And I wonder what you do
Are you somewhere feeling lonely?
Or is someone loving you?
Tell me how to win your heart
For I haven't got a clue
But let me start by saying I love you


"Hello" by Lionel Ritchie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDZcqBgCS74&feature=related

Lionel Ritchie addresses the students in a drama class, inviting them to consider a man who has been incarcerated for 26 years, and who wishes to make a romantic propostion to a lady, who is, we are told, fascinated by him.

Mr Ritchie does not tell us quite what crime resulted in what is, by any measure, an extremely long period in a state pentientiary. "Tony Billy boy", ex-convict is an American, a New Yorker. I suspect his crime must have been vile- the abduction and rape of a child, or a series of murders, perhaps- to warrant such a long sentence.

It is appalling to imagine such a thug, a moral monster, lying there on his cell-bed, dreaming about asking a charming, sweet-tempered lady- such as the student in this video- to meet him to go to the Paramount Cinema.

What he really proposes to do with that unfortunate lady on their night out is too dreadful to imagine.

Nerves- covers for the series

Nerves 5