A few updates in one blog!

The Weston Park exhibition is now behind us. It was a fabulous exhibition of some quality artwork. A few sales were made, including I am pleased to say, my Gum Print of a Morning Stroll in Venice. I hope the new owner is very happy with their purchase, and I would like to thank them for their support of artists such as myself.

Onward now to the RBSA Friends Exhibition, and I am delighted that two of my pieces have been accepted for that show, which starts in January for around a month.

In the meantime printing has taken a slight backseat over the last couple of months. Working with another printmaker we have gone down a Polymer Photogravure rabbit hole, exploring the potential for this process. With all of these processes there is a usually very deep and traumatic rabbit hole to be explored, and this one does not seem to be any different. I am making progress with the plates preparation and here is the first print I made. It has many 'issues' and is a long way from where I/we want them to be, but we gotta start somewhere eh'?

One outcome of this is that the photosensitive plate has to be exposed to something called an Aquatint Screen first, which gives the negative something to 'bite' on when it is being exposed. The issues are mostly with that and, in an attempt to get round that I spent a few weeks researching and then making a portable vacuum contact frame. It took a while and some trial and error and I think it now is working sufficiently. One benefit is that when I am doing Gum prints the contact between the negative and paper seems firmer then the contact frame, leading to sharper images. There are still many hurdles to get over yet, but on we go. I know what I am doing with the plates/calibration/exposure side of things and Jacky is an experienced printmaker who knows about all matters inking and printing, so we will get there.

I know that posts have been irregular over this year (& likely beyond), my artwork goes through periods of activity and also times when I am uninspired and struggling, mentally and otherwise. Thanks for bearing with me and I hope if you find this site you find it useful.

If this is the last post before Christmas, I would like ot wish all of you a Happy Christmas and an artistic and healthy and Happy New Year.