Sunday 13th October, 11am to 4pm at the RSPCA Animal Centre, Hollingworth Lake, Littleborough
I’m really happy to be part of this event, created by artist and writer Elizabeth White. Several artists will be exhibiting a range of paintings, prints, cards, pet portraits etc.
This is a great chance to come and meet local artists, see demonstrations and buy some lovely art.
Admission is Free and there is an excellent cafe on the premises serving drinks and food.
This is the first of a series of three “Art By The Lake”exhibitions with the following dates being Sun 3rd November and Sun 1st December.
Last weekend’s painting competition in Hebden Bridge was actually great fun. There were about 40 artist in and around the town all producing pictures in a few hours. We were very lucky to have lovely weather which certainly benefitted all of those taking part. During the day many people stopped to talk about what the artists were doing and a good number of the artists had the chance to meet each other, and look at the work in progress whilst stretching legs and picking up refreshments from some of the excellent local cafés in the town.
At the end of the day there was a brief exhibition, the judging and awards, which all took place at Northlight Studios. The whole thing was organised by Greg from “Craft and Canvas” and were some excellent prizes from the shop and from Wallace Seymour who produce high quality paints for artists.
For my own part the proces of working with oil paint for the first time proved to be enjoyable and a great learning experience. I now have a completed A3 sized oil painting of the old footbridge in the middle of town and I’m pleased with it. A few weeks ago I wouldn’t have expected to try oil paints but now I’m busy deciding what to paint next.
Here is my paining from the event
Here are some of the winning pieces of artworkThis prize winning piece was painted onto glass letting the light shine through the painting
I have previously written about the benefits of stepping outside our comfort zones. I might be mad, but next Saturday, 14th September I’ll be in Hebden Bridge stepping outside my normal comfort zones for the day.
Recently I saw the adverts for the first ever Calderdale Plein Air competition in Hebden Bridge. I don’t usually paint outside, especially where people might watch, I don’t usually enter competitions and I don’t usually make my art at a predetermined time and place. I also tend to avoid using terms that are exclusive, the sort that people might use to show that they have a bit more knowledge than others. “Plein air” is one such term, it just means “outside”, I prefer to use normal language so that more people understand.
So, of course, I entered the competition. I will be painting outside. I don’t have any expectation for my work to be placed among the prize winners, but I am hoping that this will be an enjoyable and positive challenge.
I don’t know what medium I will use just yet but there will be brushes and pencils and possibly a fountain pen or fineliners – the final choices will depend on the weather. I’ve also not yet decided which bit of Hebden Bridge I will be painting as there are so many attractive places to choose from.
My next linocut print will be based on Silver Birch trees. Today I started with some sketches in a sketchbook and then made a couple of versions in Procreate. The trees often look as if they have eyes so I came up with the title, after that I thought whether to add some eyes into the dark areas.
The next stage will be to draw onto Lino, carve and then print which will hopefully be completed over the coming week.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how the prints will work out.
I’m very pleased to have provided illustrations for an excellent short documentary film “The Zen Art Of Stone Squeezing”, directed by Harry Wheeler and produced by Dream-Analysis.co
The film is not yet released for public viewing but is currently being submitted to film festivals. I will share details once the film is released. I had the chance to see the prerelease version to produce the illustrations I think this is an excellent short documentary and very powerful.
Having family members who were capable dry stone wallers I particularly enjoyed creating my graphics of a dry stone wall which grows from 1m to 6m through the film.
After concentrating on writing and leading the project to produce our large print poetry book, Poetry in the Park, I’ve relished the chance to get on with some new visual art.
I’m refining a Linocut of one of our local jackdaws with just a few final tweaks to the carving to make. Whilst working on the design I took the chance to create an embellished digital version as well.
A few months ago I bought Procreate to use with my Apple Pencil and iPad and it has been an opened up so many new techniques. I love to draw with fountain pens so a couple of weeks ago created some digital brushes in Procreate that mimic my pens and I’ve also created some to mimic the way my Lino cutters work. Now I can sketch by hand, refine it digitally and then hand transfer, carve and handprint from Lino.
The opportunities for illustration combining traditional and digital techniques though Procreate with Pencil and Photoshop with Wacom cintiq are really interesting. There are a few larger images that l am developing which I hope to have ready for print fairs around Easter.
There are still places available on my Introductory Linocut Printing workshop on Friday 1st July from 18:00 to 20:30 at Tarn Replenished in Albert Mill, Dale Street, Milnrow.
For centuries prints were made by carving designs into wooden blocks with prints from will know artists like Hokusai and Hiroshige from 17th Century Japan being highly prized. Linocut printing is an accessible form of relief printing that was first used in the late 18th Century after the invention of Lino. Being easier to carve linocut became popular with artists including Matisse and Picasso and the technique was also used, especially in the USSR, to produce posters.
The session will introduce the techniques for producing linocut prints including; choosing suitable images to work with, drawing or transferring images to Lino, using the cutting tools safely, how to add ink to the prepared Lino and finally making your own prints by hand.
Linocut printing can be carried out using a wide range of equipment, inks and materials including paper, card and textiles. It is great for making greeting cards, decorative art. In these sessions we will use polymer or easy-cut blocks and print in monochrome using water-based inks onto paper and card.
You do not need to be confident at drawing and can use tracing techniques to prepare images for carving and produce attractive prints. Participants can work from their own images or from a selection of images that will be provided. Should you have a particular image you would like to try please advise when booking so that I can make it available.
The session costs £30 per person (payable by cash, card or PayPal) and all equipment and materials are provided. Participants will have both their own prints and carved blocks to take away.
I am pleased to announce my new workshops to learn the techniques of linocut printing and to produce some of your own prints.
There are two sessions available:
Weds 29th June from 12:00 to 15:00
Fri 1st July from 18:00 to 20:30
The sessions will cover the kinds of image that can be produced, the reversal of the carved images and basic techniques including; transferring images onto the Lino, safe cutting techniques, line and pattern making, applying ink and finally printing onto paper.
All equipment and materials will be provided and participants will be able to take home their own completed prints and carved Lino blocks.
Workshops are limited to small groups (maximum 6 people) and the cost is £30 per person payable by cash or card. Please email seamus@onepoetsvision.co.uk to reserve your place.
Future sessions will look at more advanced techniques including using more colours with rainbow rolls and jigsaw prints.
Advice about the range and quality of equipment and materials available will be provided and, although I may be able to advise on suppliers, I am not able to supply equipment and do not have any arrangements with suppliers.
Last week I collected professionally printed greeting cards and Giclée prints from a small printshop in West Yorkshire.
The images on both the cards and prints are reproduced from my own pen and ink drawings of birds including a Grey Heron, a Mute Swan, a Flamingo, a Stork and a Pelican.
Prints are a Limited Edition of 50 from each image and each is numbered and signed. They are high quality Giclée prints on 300gsm acid free paper with Epson archival inks.
Greeting cards are A5 in size and supplied with enveloped in cellophane sleeves. Both cards and prints are now available for sale in my folksy shop at https://folksy.com/shops/onepoetsvision
I was very pleased to be approached, in December, by Touchstones, Rochdale’s Art Gallery and Museum, asking if I’d agree to be a featured artist in the Gallery shop. After a successful Christmas Market I took a portfolio of images along and agreed the range that would be on sale, and the pricing.
As of today, 13th January, some my work is for sale in the gallery shop for the first time. The Touchstones gallery and museum is well worth a visit and is open from Wednesday to Saturday from 10.00am to 5.00pm and on Sundays from 10.00am to 4.00pm and admission of free of change.
There are handmade linocut prints in two sizes, greeting cards, photographic prints, Rochdale postcards and copies of my poetry book, Thinking TooMuch.
Over the next few weeks I will be adding some recently completed greeting card designs and a number of giclee prints.
10×8 Handmade Linocut Prints on Japanese Agwami paper with archival oil based ink and mountsA selection of professionally printed 10×8 photographic prints and postcards of Rochdale landmarks10×8 professionally printed photographs of Hollingworth Lake at sunrise, a duckling and a gull at sunriseSmall 8×6 handmade linocut prints of a vintage Kodak Brownie camera, Whitby Pier and Whitby Abbey
Over the next few days I’ll be adding more items including handmade prints, photographic prints and postcards.
Folksy is the online shopping home of British Craft where you can find thousands of pieces created by artists, designers and makers working in studios and at kitchen tables across the UK.
So if you’re looking for that perfect original gift or you want to shop small, shop independent and give handmade, we suggest sitting down with a cuppa and having a look through the amazing creations on Folksy – all made by clever hands crafting away across the British Isles.
Folksy has original art and prints for your wall, hand-knitted scarves and gloves to keep you snug, beautiful designer jewellery, studio pottery and handmade ceramics for your table and your shelves, as well as hand-printed cushions, crochet blankets and original textiles and decor for your home and so much more. What will you discover on Folksy today?
And of course, from today, Folksy has original works from OnePoetsVision too.
