Hung out to dry

The print drying rack is almost full with A2 woodcuts of reservoir water, ready for cutting and folding.

Large scale drawings

Ever since hearing that I'd been awarded the year 2 Watershed residency I knew I wanted to take the opportunity to stretch and challenge myself, especially when I realised how large the exhibition space is at Cliffe Castle. Consequently I'm having to think big.

I've started work on the largest drawings I've ever made. The paper dimensions are 5 ft wide by 8 ft tall for each drawing!  Just finding a suitably large, empty wall space has been a challenge, not to mention fixing up a sheet of paper that size.  Interestingly though, after a very short while it just seems normal and not a problem.  I'm using charcoal. Its one of my all time favourite mediums and ideal for the purpose.

If all goes to plan I'm hoping the drawings will make a strong impact at the exhibition so I want them to be a bit of a surprise.  All I will say here is that they are of structures connected with the water gathering system, so you may well guess what they are.  Here's a couple of texture details.

Woodcuts of Widdop

Here's a slideshow I've put together of a brilliant day at Cliffe Castle Museum yesterday with the art students from Titus Salt School making woodcuts based on their drawings from last week's trip to wild, windy Widdop.





Despite never having done anything like it before, the students quickly grasped the idea and ran away with it.  After getting their heads round the need for reversing the image and thinking in negative/positive, it was heads down for some solid concentrated gouging.  Then the really fun bit, when the ink goes on for the first time and the image is revealed.

The resulting prints are fantastic and perfectly capture the mood of our day at Widdop, so well done all!

Studio work in progress

This is a selection of Watershed images I've got up on my studio wall for inspiration, mainly photographs with a couple of quick sketches and a cyanotype of Widdop water.

I'm still looking for a solution to the problem of how to convey a sense of the conduits winding across the moors.  I guess I may have to settle for the Enfolding Landscape sculptural book representing both the reservoirs and the conduits. See post dated 10th June for photos of the artwork.

I've got so many ideas for work celebrating this landscape but time seems to be running out as everything must be completed by the beginning of September for the exhibition at Cliffe Castle.  The main thing about the space at Cliffe Castle is that its huge and anything small will be lost.

I'm going to remake the Enfolding Landscape book - it will be twice as long and twice as tall, and be double sided with printing on both sides of the paper so there's no blank areas.  This means it can be displayed on a low plinth and be viewed from any angle.  I'll have to cut new, larger blocks and print about 30 sheets of A2 on both sides; so a major undertaking.  I do feel slightly daunted by the physical effort required but know it'll be worth it if I succeed.  I'm really excited by this new development in my work, the 3D print, getting away from flatness.

Another area of experiment continues to be using the router for engraved marks on paper as I love the tactile result.  Here's a kind of sampler page from my sketchbook:

I'm wondering if I can include this kind of mark making in an extended flag book, either instead of woodcut printing or alongside it.  I'm not sure I can achieve this in time for the September exhibition as I've already set myself another huge goal that I've not even mentioned here yet!

Technically speaking I'm Watershed artist in residence from April 2011 until April 2012, and it seems strange to have the exhibition this early on.  I'll carry on producing work long after the exhibition goes up at Cliffe Castle.