Sometimes it’s not about making mistakes – it’s about changing your mind……
New print in progress
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Category Archives: studio life
Glasgow Art Fair – the return to the studio
All the work has now come back from Glasgow Art Fair and here is Martin, sorting out the bubble wrap mountain…..
Glasgow Art Fair
Glasgow Art Fair is upon us and the studio is mostly a hive of activity – we can hardly move for bubble wrap, frames and piles of prints everywhere.
Speaking personally, I like to leave everything to the last minute and will most probably give myself a nervous breakdown instead….
Anyway, I have a limited number of tickets for the Private View on Wednesday 24th March 6.30-9.00 or the Corporate View on Thursday 25th March 7.00-9.00 if anyone would like one ( the tickets admit two). Just email me with your details if you’re interested….
Running a Small Business
If anyone had said to me, back when I was an art student, that earning a living from your work would have to include running a small business, I’d have laughed. After all, artists supposed to be above all that, aren’t they?
But still – I have a work premises – my studio – to maintain, with rent increases, heating costs, parking restrictions, etc. to consider.
I sell a product – my paintings and prints – and I worry a lot about the effects of the recession on my sales. and how to maximize those sales by finding new outlets – fairs, galleries, open exhibitions, etc..
I need to use the services of other small businesses – web designers, accountants, photographers, couriers – and then I have to find a way to pay them.
I have to buy my materials – paint, ink, paper, canvas, etc, and other essentials – stationery, business cards, acetate, and so on .
Who’d have thought that art schools are quietly turning out versatile business people? Well not me – I think we have to learn those skills the hard way….
Crowded studio
Here is a view of Half Moon studio with me on the left rolling up the ink with my Albion press to the side and Louise Davies on the far right, printing on her Rochat etching press.
The photo’s been taken from the mezzanine area where we are supposed to do our paperwork, etc. (not much goes on there, then). Sadly, it’s also the only warm bit in the studio at this time of year, as all the heat rises and wafts about near the ceiling.
We’re in an old Victorian warehouse in Brixton and it gets bitterly cold in the winter – we all spend months on end, wrapped up like over-stuffed teletubbies…
Lino Cuttings
Here is a carefully arranged heap of discarded lino bits…..
Repair Kit
From left to right, PVA glue, wood filler, stanley knife, sand paper, and for those real emergencies, Super Glue.
I wouldn’t say I make a lot of mistakes, I just change my mind a lot…
Tools of the trade
Here are some of my tools for cutting the lino which as you can see, have had a hard life.
In wood engraving they have similar tools with wonderfully archaic names like lozenge graver, spit sticker and scorper…….
I don’t have names for mine, unless they cut me and then they’re called, well, never mind…
Albion Press
Here is a picture of my beloved Albion relief press, made in 1841 , and bought on Ebay by me in 2002.
New Studio Member, Karen Keogh
Great excitement at Half Moon Studio – our friend and esteemed colleague, Karen Keogh, has joined our merry band of printmakers.
She is a fantastic artist, using three plates in her etchings, which are tricky to say the least, but she produces the most subtle colours and tones.
This is an example of Karen’s work, called Burnt River.