Author Archives: Gail Brodholt

A Shed Instead of a Cathedral…

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In the Observer the other day, I read an interview with author Sadie Jones. ‘I’m never happy with what I’ve written,” she says. “You imagine, before you start, there’s a cathedral, and the moment it starts on the page, it’s a garden shed. And then you just try and make it the best shed you can.”

Exactly.

It’s all about managing your expectations – I start off with the intention of producing a visual representation of the truth of the human condition and end up with, well, a linocut.

So I think, from now on, I’ll just go about making it the best linocut I can….

Another Epic Printmaking Tale

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                       I would like to have called this post ‘Destruction, Suffering and Redemption’
                      (or to put it another way, ‘I Don’t Know What Gets Into Me, Really I Don’t….’)
                               
                                                          So anyway, here goes…..

                           Above is the original version of my linocut ‘Destination Anywhere’.

                    The first block, which was originally printed in dark blue, but now is turquoise….


      The second block stays red but I feel the figures need shadows to stop them floating in mid-air …

                

                         In that case, there’s nothing for it but to cut a whole new second block…

Moving on, I decide that the fourth and final block should move up the printing order to third place.                  So here it is inked up, in what is now pale yellow but was originally orange….

             At this point I decide I’d quite like a pale yellow sky too and so I remove the original       
           sky area and glue in a new section. Then I have to cut out the detail to match the rest….

     And finally here is the last block with a big 4 written on it, to remind myself that it is not now the               third block printed in pale yellow but the fourth block printed in pale blue……

  And here is the new version – I’m not sure if it was all worth it or not but I should be able to tell once I’ve been released from the sanitorium…

London Printmakers at the National Theatre

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 A few photos from Thursday’s Private View of the London Printmakers Exhibition at the National Theatre on Thursday evening – I really will have to go back and take some more……

                                                          The exhibition banner in the foyer….

                                  Colin Moore and Veta Gorner, in front of Colin’s linocuts.

                       And Susie Perring explaining the finer points of her etching, Holiday Tree……

                              The show is on every day until 21st April and entrance is free.

Waterlands Exhibition at Cambridge

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My three new seaside prints, framed and ready to deliver this week to Cambridge Contemporary Art for their new exhibition ‘Waterlands – East Anglian Landscapes and Seascapes’.

On the left is Wishful Thinking, then in the middle is Indian Summer, and finally on the right is The Last To Leave. They are £295 framed (54x54cms) and £230 unframed (34x33cms).

The exhibition is on from 31st March – 22nd April 2012, and is open every day.

Ennui….

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              A selection of my lino cutting tools – laid out here in a pretty bog standard arrangement…   

                           Next up is a more dynamic and creative structure – and yes, before
                           you ask, I did find myself a little disengaged at work today….


Metroland II

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Here is a new version of my linocut Metroland. It was first shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition nearly three years ago and the edition of 75 sold out in seventy-two hours (those were the days, sigh). Anyway, that’s long enough for the blocks to be sitting around in my studio doing nothing so out they came for another airing. I reversed the printing order of the some of the blocks, did some more cutting, changed the colours (obviously) and, hey presto, Metroland II.

Studio Dog

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Here is one of our canine studio members, Tommy Waldock-Davies, making himself comfortable on my Wishful Thinking lino blocks – he is a little shih tzu and WILL NOT KEEP STILL, especially when he knows he’s having his photo taken…..

Artist’s Cards

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When I was first approached by a publishing company, with a view to supplying them with some images for cards, I was worried it might have a detrimental effect on my sales. After all, why would you want to pay £250 for an original linocut when you can have the card for £2.50?

I’m not sure if I’ve had an upsurge in sales of original work through this (although other artist friends say they have) but they do raise your profile very efficiently. I’m quite happy to walk into the Royal Academy, say, or the Transport Museum, and see my cards displayed in their shop.

There can be the odd drawback, though. Not so long ago, I was taking part in a printmaking demonstration to coincide with a gallery exhibition. Alongside me was a very successful printmaker friend, who also happened to have a beautiful range of cards of her wood engravings. A nice couple came up to tell her how much they admired her work.
“We’ve just bought six of your cards” they told her, smiling enthusiastically, “and framed them for the kitchen. You really can’t tell that they’re not the originals”.
All said with the best intentions, I’m sure……..

Anyway, here are some of my cards, all available now. Those on the left are from Canns Down Press and those on the right are from Art Angels



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Getting a Portfolio Together

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Here are my own personal thoughts on the best way to get a portfolio application together – there are no rules and sometimes it’s just a matter of crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.

1: Keep things simple. You only have one chance to impress and now is not the time to show how versatile you are. I know it’s tempting to put in examples of all the different aspects of your work but you only have one chance to impress. Random pieces that do not relate to the main body of work are pointless – try to keep the look fairly uniform.

2: Presentation. All applicants are expected to be professional and it’s very important that the work is presented to the highest standards. It goes without saying that all the work should be clean – no crooked mounts, no dirty or creased margins. If you don’t think your work is worth presenting properly, then there’s no reason to think anyone else will.

3: Supporting work. Make sure it is relevant – don’t put in life drawings to support urban scenes, as I once did. You want to reinforce the thinking behind the work and hopefully increase the appreciation of it. If you don’t use sketchbooks, then try to show examples of the process you’ve used to get from the initial idea to the finished piece.

4: CV. Make sure it’s up to date, relevant and preferably on one page – a good exhibiting history obviously helps but so does an interesting project, residency or commission.

5: Don’t get discouraged if you’re not successful – people sometimes get in on the first try but it’s much more usual to have several attempts. The panels who review the portfolios change all the time and what gets turned down one year may well be accepted the next.

And just one more thing – all this preparation is important but at the end of the day, it’s the work that really counts…..