Another lovely commission, and visits

One never knows the timings of things and just after having been asked to do the commission in my previous post; I was approached to prepare some more thank you cards following the death of a dearly loved mother aged 92.

The person requested 50 cards along the lines of my grief cards that say "may flowers grow in the saddest parts of you".

So we determined a colour scheme (the blues), and a quote by Lord Byron for the front.  Inside was a personalised poem and his mother's name and dates of her birth and death.

So two print runs and hand illustration.

In the end, I think they turned out well.

Arches Velin is a lovely creamy paper which is soft in the hand.  The subdued blues of the flowers and the personal and meaningful quotes worked together well.

Such a poignant quote.

I was able to do a few different colour ways and individualise the flowers here and there.

And then 50 cards and 50 envelopes were packed and ready to head out across the world.

In between commissions and moving house, the studio hosted two groups.  Last week the Maleny Visitor Information Centre volunteers visited so that they could get a really good idea of who we were and what we did.  A fun time was had by all, and folk left having printed a wee thank you postcard.

Then on the weekend The PaperMakers and Artists of Queensland stopped by (they came from all over South East Queensland) and we had a good few hours trawling through my artists books, listening to my story about letterpress and printing and playing with the presses.  They got to print a postcard about their love of paper, and one about the title of a paper quilt project they are doing .  And of course because they

 are artists they experimented and tried this and that!

 

It is always a joy to spend time sharing my passion for letterpress and its history and of course, paper and artists' books, so I also say big thanks to the folk who visited!

Apron update and a warning

The rescued aprons are done!

It has been so long since we have had any rain that it slipped my mind to move them inside until they were rather damp from an unexpected yet welcome shower.  I worried that the dampening may have made the ink run, but no, it held.

So I dried them off for another few days (a week all up probably), then cured them by ironing.

A few days later that pumpkin vine had grown into the typewriter a wee bit...

I decided to sew the tie on at this point in case of overwhelming fraying and that was a good decision.

Then into the washing machine and lo, they held again, and then a good iron and they are done!

They make me very happy.

 And now to the warning bit. Avert your eyes if snake skins concern you.

As I went out the door to exercises early one morning I looked across to the veggie patch and wondered what's that?  Without glasses, always a bit tricky, but I figured I knew the answer...

 Sure enough, on closer examination it turned out to be the BIGGEST shed python skin I have ever seen.  Rather pleased I have not met its former inhabitant.

Here it is in parts... the belly in comparison to a regular garden hose.

Right the way across...

And down...

Astonishing. We retrieved it and measured and it was 3.3m long. Impressive.

Perfection from the tip of its head to its tail - it was utterly intact and it must have just finished. Look at that jaw!

There's always something happening on the block - and this was pretty special. Pythons are relatively harmless to humans and do keep things like rats and mice at bay so we are happy enough to have one, as long as we don't run into it ourselves too often.

Finishing, beginning and in between...

I am trying to get through a bunch of small-medium tasks in the next wee while.

I managed to finish my peace weather grams - popped holes in the top and threaded the string for hanging.

Tick.

In between times we had visitors and the weather was grand.

And we all had fun working/playing with Barry - I made a bowl!

And of course, popped some rust in it too.

I began thinking of what I might wrap my threads on when they are finished being solar-dyed. The answer was these square pegs.

 I also began to plan the stitching for this edition of books - a sample of the printed cover.

Some options to choose from..

Lots of things going this way and that - finishing, beginning and in between times...

Still considering calligraphy

So I started to think that to be complementary to the letterpress works, (as pondered in my last post) the calligraphy probably needed to be smaller. So I got out my 3A Automatic Pen and some good ink and used them to do the same style of writing in the square, just a fair bit smaller.

But this time, I left room for the inclusion of an etched plate just in case I really wanted them to look even more alike.

More of the fabulous stencil material, cut to size.

A draft of the lettering - once again done on BFK Rives printmaking paper. The layout leaves a bit to be desired - it all gets a bit squishy towards the end. But a draft is a draft.

The ragged right thing didn't happen quite so much - think I was more conscious of trying to finish the line with strong strokes; but also the smaller writing makes it hold together better.

 And because I started to think there might be something in this calligraphy idea - altho the style is probably not quite right yet - I did  a  test run on a scrap of the Gmund 300gsm cotton paper I am printing on.

It is a much whiter white; but I was happy to see it took the calligraphy ink well.

My final test for now, was checking to see how the Gmund 300gsm folded.  I had assumed because it is quite heavy that it wouldn't fold well and I wouldn't be able to use it for the companion books I am planning to produce.

I was very pleasantly surprised when I cut a scrap and folded it and it made a beautiful crisp fold! The book planning has also begun; because once I start printing for the wall works; I need to also print for the books so that the inks etc are all the same, and I am really discovering how much planning goes into a printed production! 

That means I need to know now, how big my pages will be; what sort of binding I will use; which leads to how I will place the prints on the pages in terms of layout etc, so once again my brain is beginning to boggle.

So its nice to take some time out and check out life onto block a bit- we have had loads of pumpkins and there are still more to gather.

We have had some really foggy mornings and mornings where the could puddles sit in the valley...

After which we are having beautiful bright days - and the magpies are loving it!

Regional Print

Wow, my head is still spinning from a fabulously busy and energising few days with the Print Council of Australia (PCA) and the opening of Regional Marks - the exhibition of regional printmakers at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

I mentioned here that for the past year or so we I have been working with a great bunch of women to build and promote the profile of printmaking in our region, and we got to see the results of some of that hard work last week.

It began with the opening of the exhibition on Thursday night. What a night.  We had the amazing Judy Watson opening it, and the beautiful University Gallery was filled with interesting and exciting work. But best of all there was a huge crowd - almost the biggest the Uni Gallery has ever seen! Over 200 people came along and enjoyed the night and we were all just thrilled to pieces.  You know those nights when the atmosphere is electric and buzzing - we had one!

Judy's opening speech.

Photo: Barry Smith

The organising gang!

Photo: Barry Smith

My work A Place Among the Clouds I hanging

Photo: Barry Smith

And my diminutive piece A Place Among the Clouds III in place as well.

On Friday the executive members of the PCA undertook a couple of studio visits and a gallery visit.  They visited Steph, and Susan and Barry and I.  They had the most beautiful day and we enjoyed their company greatly.

Akky, Liz and Jan at Susan's

Photo: Tory Richards

Jan, Liz, Susan, Tory, Kate, Akky and Marguerite at Steph's

Photo: Steph McLennan

Me with Marguerite, Kate, and Akky (and Barry)

Photo: Tory Richards

 I mentioned it was a beautiful day...

Photo: Tory Richards

That night we all had dinner together, and yes I played table tennis! With Akky, John and Cathy.

Photo: Tory Richards

Saturday was another full day with the PCA Annual General Meeting held outside a capital city for the first time in ages (or maybe even ever). Quite a number of local printmakers attended as well, another sign of the strength of the local scene.

We then had a fabulous Forum - What is Print? with three guest panellists (Stephen Spurrier, Jan Davis and Russell Craig) facilitated by Akky Von Ogtrop. It was heartening to hear the discussion and the thoughtfulness from the panellists and the audience. We didn't get an answer, but we got some excellent ideas and understandings.

Photo: Tory Richards

And then we all headed to the Caloundra Regional Gallery for an after hours event with a great show and more chatting and planning for more all things print.

There is more still to come of course - but we have a bit of a breather at least.

2 June -   Make your Mark workshop at Caloundra Gallery with the Noosa Press Gang
8 June -   Making your Mark panel discussion by three local printmakers at Caloundra Regional
                Gallery
10 June - Letterpress Demonstration and Meet the Artists at USC.

Check out the Regional Print site for more information and updates.

Phew, glass of wine time now I think.