You've Been Tagged

Well it's a bit late to be getting this 'task' (as it were) completed, but it was just a matter of getting around to it. I spent ages getting the eight random facts about myself together - typical me - I always do things too thoroughly. I mean I was just the same recently when it came to the matter of getting my Christmas cards written and posted which is why there are still quite a few hanging around !!. What am I like !!!.
Anyway the 8 random facts are located here on the blog somewhere............
Snippet One (part one of 8 facts about me)
Snippet Two; (part 2 of 8 facts about me )

SNIPPET NUMBER THREE
I have just realised that I never did anumber three so here goes one off the cuff -
While I was doing my degree in Fine art at Trent Park (Middlesex University) , I had an amazing dream about one of my fellow students (whose work I admired),Lori Lirossi.

I saw all these paintings that she was going to be doing and they were lovely pieces. I was quite impressed with this experience . I did tell her about this and she was just SOH frustrated that she could not access the images !!
4. Snippet number 4
5. snippet number 5
6. Snippet number 6
7. Snippet number 7
8. Snippet number 8
9.final footnote of the tagged process
HERE ARE THE PEOPLE I AM TAGGING
Alynn Guerra
Mandy Prowse

Leonie Connellan also known as Crumpart

John Hitchcock over at Hybrid Press
Jade Pegler aka Me-Jade


Marion Michell aka Marjojo
Denise at http://lostvoice.blogspot.com/

My Little Horrors

Just been going through some old CD's of my image files and came across this which is my all time favorite photo of my cats when I first got them.. What a time that was, it was such fun, and they were so precious and highly amusing. I had to toilet train them (as it were) but they really were very well behaved. My neighbors girls, Roma, Aelish and little Grace used to call to visit them. Then, after a while, once these little bundles had gained their confidence they used to pop along the garden in between our back gardens and go visit the girls.

I have a video somewhere of them which I must dig out of them larking about on my old Chesterfield sofa. Kittens are truly one of the delights of life. It only lasted about three months and then they started to look a bit more like fully grown cats. They are still with me and are such different characters who give me much pleasure. It's funny because in the beginning the stripey one was more forward but as adults the situation reversed although he is still not backwards at coming forwards, when he wants something.

Three Masters of Fine Art..........all that TALENT !!!!

Three Masters of Fine Art..........

All those Brains....and creative energy and personalities and artwork and bank loans to repay. oh oh but hey ...we had a gay old time. Now that I am finally going through my christmas card pile and actually getting some letters/cards written up well it makes you think about people friends buddies. People who've been good to you when you've needed a friend which is the case with these 2 beauties. That's me on the left , in the middle is Linda Sgoluppi and on the right is Birna Matthiasdottir.

"TAPIR" artist trial proof, by: Sandra Baxter

TAPIR artist trial proof by: Sandra Baxter
Originally uploaded by ainesse.

I told myself that I would not load this on here UNTIL I had finished doing my Christmas card label sheets on the computer and hooray - I have finished the dreaded task !! Now I know how to use that software as well. I just have to get my cards organized. It seems to me that the most important thing is to send cards and some little pieces of news to people that are far away like Brazil and Iceland and of course Ireland.

I won't need to send one to my friend Susan Carlyle from Australia this year because she is here somewhere in the UK. I have unfortunately lost her current email through the last computer crash where I lost all my email from January to September of this year. So until she gets in touch - I don't know how or where to contact her .
I have not made cards for quite a few years maybe that will be something to aim for, for next year. However those that I do send will be Christmas cards that support charitable organizations otherwise it's just pointless. I feel this way, because a lot of what goes on at Christmas is utterly consumerist driven - it really pishes me off.

Thats a new phrase which I have kind of picked up here in Scotland and I like it - it's a little less vulgar than the raw phrase and always makes me think of Sean Connory in his role as James Bond.

The print image as seen here is by artist printmaker Sandra Baxter, who as far as I am aware, does not have a website which is a shame because she does some lovely etchings of all kinds of beautiful creatures. They really are stunning and beautiful in their mark making qualities.
The photo was very kindly taken for me by Bill Douglas who is a photographer for the Dundee Courier.

Photographs of my New Studio 1

New Studio 1
Originally uploaded by ainesse.

Well it's actually a converted garage but its 'new' to me. I made some prints yesterday and that is why it is such an untidy mess. These I have sent off to Denmark for a forthcoming exhibition - I was being generous also because these guys get to keep the 3 prints that I sent - I must be mad !!
I will upload these to the blog later.

Getting back to the photos of the studio although this probably makes it look like a nightmare to work in -- its not like that at all.

Once my trusty etching press was brought down stairs a couple of days ago - it was like it was/ is officially open!!

At present the etching press seems to be covered in stuff acting more like a table top. That blue print on the left is a trace monotype that I made a couple of years ago when I was testing a whole load of paper samples that John Purcell papers in London sent me.

This was in an effort to find a suitable paper. Something I have been doing for years on and off.
The idea with trying all of these thin lightweight "smoothish" papers ; being that I would then, place an order. I did do that along with probably ordering some Fabriano or maybe it was the Somerset Buff, which I really like to use. The thing is though that as of now,I can not remember what type it was.

I have yet to make a series using this particular paper.

I will upload the little test series when I can locate them - those were fun to do and are totally raw as in no preparatory drawing.


CLICK ON PHOTO IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORE STUDIO/PHOTOS ON MY FLICKR ALBUM

The CHRISTMAS MACHINE is here again......

oh my Gawd.......I'm afraid I do find it all to be a bit of a pain. It's just a consumeristic extravaganza and such an awful amount of money goes to waste that could be put to so much better use. I appreciate that some of you may possibly be saying "bah humbug" and the like but ...well I mean if you are a little kid and you still believe in Santa Claus then Christmas truly is wondrous and magical and to be around such children must be a joy.

I have my artwork in an exhibition of the name Christmas Machine which is being presented by a guy called Kay Biesalski who is an artist and the owner of the MFK gallerie in Berlin. My first time showing in Berlin so that's a good thing. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to beam myself over there like the star trekkers oh if only magic was real ( I know that sounds crazy - by the way is that a 'tautology'? )
The piece that I sent was originally made for a print edition. But this was a different version in that I incorporated an intaglio element, making it a "one off" unique "tradigital" work.


Some of the artists exhibiting include Yuka Yamaguchi ,Toby Tam, Bobi and Bobi, Daniela Orvin, Marcel Prins, Martina Florarce, Matt Mignanelli, Aya Rosen, Yuiko Takada, Matthias Adolfsson, Cecilia Levy, John Azelvandre, Cher MacNeil, F.P.W. (Austria), Galia Ofri, Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva, Billy & Hells, Archi Galentz, K.B. Kleeman, Johannes Heidenpeter, Jonathan C. Vaughan, www.timobeil.com, Rami Efal, Jenny Kocerka, Pilar Berrio, Massioma Nato, Stacey Miso, Hila Amram, Raul Walsh.


You can see a set of images relating to the exhibition on the MFK Flickr album that Kay operates http://www.flickr.com/photos/kay_berlin/sets/72157603214571790/

Good Editions - I guess I must be GOOD !!!

Its now official......as in, I must be very GOOD !!! I actually was thinking to myself that I probably ought to do a post on here about this current exhibition that I had work selected for. I wonder how many people entered for it. It was entry by online submission (which I like) and I hoped that the print I sent them WOULD be selected.

The Very GOOD Show actual physical exhibition will be held at INDEXG, Toronto
from December the 11th through to January 6th, 2008.
The INDEXG art gallery is located at 50 Gladstone Ave, Toronto West-Queen-West art district in Canada. Prior to the show opening the artworks are available for purchase on-line

There are a large number of artworks on view and here are the pieces that I quite liked although to be honest nothing really 'grabbed" me although Serge Clement's piece was probably of most appeal from those that I chose.

There was one other person in this show who was listed as a printmaker/illustrator who did lino cuts. In fact I was surprised to see that she seemed to have just sent a scan of one of her lino cuts, which was decorative in nature.

Unhearing One

Unhearing One
Originally uploaded by ainesse.

I keep meaning to get myself on over to my blog and yet hear I am again on Flickr, not so much browsing around 'window shopping' and amusing myself. Oh no, I am working, I have downloaded a huge load of photos of earlier artworks most of which I still think are good - theres the odd one thats a bit naff , but I leave them in so that people can see that we all 'stuff up" sometimes.
This is a long time favorite of mine. I made it in about 1998/99. I was probably thinking of somehow making it into a print and hence the limited palette. I might still do it sometime .....well maybe.

Catherine King printmaker fine artist

kircalmusepv13x
Originally uploaded by ainesse.

Here is a picture from the exhibition opening that I attended today. This is the artwork of Catherine King who is a pretty interesting collagraph printmaker. These works are rather large almost life size. She has made the pieces in sections and incorporated silver leaf as well as drawing in the head/body areas. The theme of the show was/is Silver and like myself, C. just couldn’t get that excited about the theme although once she settled onto the idea of a buckle ...she was off on her way towards making these pieces. Given that she works full time as a teacher and is a mother of 2 - she works damn hard at maintaining her fine art practice and I admire that. She comes across as a woman with energy and passion!! Good on yah C.

The exhibition " Print Silver`' features works by members of FDPW past and present. It runs from December 1st to 13th January, and is on at the Kirkcaldy Museum & Art Gallery, War Memorial Gardens, Kirkaldy, Phone: 01592 583213

I don't know what's happening to me but I've gone all green !!

UGH what was it that brought this on?.......well I have finally had the time to 'faf' and fiddle about with some files on my computer and to go through some documentation of an exhibition I was in at this time (well slightly earlier October/November) last year i.e., 2006 ( this was in Mieres in Spain, by the way) and so I have been going though the art installation shots of "Ring around the Rosies" and I guess the whole 'green' thing came out of that. Well it is my favourite colour, certainly for wearing.

I also was fed up with my blog header because it was jutting out to the right side of the page, putting things all "out of kilter" and I wanted a 'warmer' feel to my blog. Maybe it's the cold weather - I mean not wanting the 'blueness'. Anyway - so I chose a new template and then started playing around with the hairy print 'semicircs' that I probably love the most, of the stuff from this installation ( by the way that's the central semi circle, in the header above.
Well and then I threw a couple of small details from the "rosies" into that and voila ...there you are.

Wish it was that easy to change the furniture in your house and such like. Wouldn't it be great !!!

I am feeling better than I was - the horrid pain in my leg having abated so thank ee Gawd for that!!! har har har !!!

Bestiary

Bestiarys and such like....I have always loved this kind of exercise as in making a book of animals or beasts which are a kind of hybrid or crossover between humans animals and say....birds to reptiles etc etc. One of the books I have on my shelves is The Book of Beasts which is written by Anne...............and published by the British Library. I cannot remember where or how I came across Briony Morrow-Cribbs, but I like her approach. Her bird human reminded me of an image I made a couple of years back - I actually recently used it in the Aran installation.

Miniprint Finland 2007

Artworks featured from top to bottom:
1. Pirkko Acklin
2. Laura Pohjonen
3. "Anne Makelä
4. Modhir Ahmet






Missed this one this year which is dang...annoying as I particularly wanted to put in a submission. I got a catalog for the 2001 exhibition as I submitted that year but did not get selected. I realized consequently that I had misinterpreted the size requirements.
Anyway I went along to the site and had a look and picked out a few artists whose work interested me for various reasons. There were only two tradigital artist printmakers, namely In Hee Bang and Sigita Dackeviciute.

For an interesting approach to inkjet printing; József Gábos, Pirkko Acklin, and also Kimmo Hakonen.
Theodor Liho and Anne Mäkelä created Intaglio prints that had something quite Interesting about them. I also liked Laura Pohjonen’s hymn book.

Palestine Girl

This is another of the prints that I submitted to the Peacock Christmas Exhibition. It was made originally for an exhibition at the London Print Studio Gallery where I used to go to do my printmaking BEFORE I moved up here to Scotland and of course started using the lovely FDPW

Catching up with myself at Last !!

I really don't feel much up to doing anything much at the moment, mainly because of being at the whim of my shooting nerve pain in my left leg. It's re-asserted itself these past few days and it's very hard going. Even making it difficult to get to sleep or to rest on my sofa which I need to do on and off throughout the day because of the chronic back pain.

Oh it's just bloody awful, I don't even seem to be able to cry tears somehow with the pain, which is kind of weird but perhaps that is a consequence of the medication I am on.

I often wonder whether i should talk about this kind of stuff on here but then it is supposed to be a kind of diary not a Billy Butlin's Holiday camp, for gawds sake!!.

I went to one of those places one time. I was sixteen at the time and such things were a new phenomenon in Ireland, in those days. It was "naff" in a way and I knew it but at the same time because I bumped into this girl on the train on the way up there (we were both "with our families ugh ") and we ended up becoming good friends and having a few laughs together which made it more bearable. That's another story altogether. I am still in touch with her T.. She lives in Cork with her husband and three grown up daughters and even has some grandchildren now. Makes you feel so old.

Not that I need those kind of reminders because with this spinal malfunction I have had, for going on 17 years now, I feel like about 25-30 years older than I am anyway.

This past week I have been going through the final stages of sorting out our boxes of stuff from our "house relocation" from London which is almost a year ago now.

The garage (my studio, from here on in) is almost completed and soon C. will be bringing down the very heavy etching press from it's temporary location in the upstairs office.

He has put up a lot of sturdy shelving on the walls here and has stored quite an amount of art items such as canvases and what not, up in the garage attic which is a smallish space but certainly pretty useful for these items to be out of the way.

I will take some photos of the space at some point to show what it is like in here.

One of the very best things is the big table/work surface on the center of the studio which is made from two old doors. You could have six people sitting round it for a meal - which gives an indication of it's size.

The little image with this post is one of a group of small prints that I sent to the Christmas exhibition at Peacock Printmakers Workshop in Aberdeen. I sent them off almost three weeks ago now and the exhibition will be open to the public by now. I had imagined that I might get myself up to Aberdeen for the opening of the show but the friend ( probable hostess) who resides there is gone away off to Africa for a few weeks and so that put an end to that.
I have visited there previously before TB moved back there, and so I feel an affinity with the place. The print workshop is actually within the Peacock Visual Arts Centre.

Latest suite of Four Prints

Silver Heart Lines
Originally uploaded by ainesse.

Latest suite of Four Prints - made for the Silver anniversary exhibition taking place at the beginning of December near Dunfermline (venue details to follow)
I don't have the size of this piece but its a medium to large size work. I have titled it Lines of the Hear or is it Hear Lines, its connected with the idea of Life lines and the web that is the narrative of our lives. It a secret what it is about , I have my own interpretation. I suppose I can tell you that it is about loss and missing people and well secret identities. It is made using a small amount of digital print as well as the offset of the handmade cobweb that I put through the etching press. I also used the heart hard ground etching, which is one of my favorite recently made etch elements. I have used "mirri card" paper doll like, cut outs too. This is probably my favourite of the four prints I made for this exhibition although "Silver Spoon" is a close contender.

Forthcoming Print Biennials and Triennials

Forthcoming Print Biennials and Truennials

International Triennial Exhibition of Prints, KOCHI


deadline: 31-10-2007


http://www.tosawashi.or.jp/


INTERNATIONAL BIENNIAL OF MINI-PRINTS TETOVO

deadline: 15-11-2007
http://www.mini-prints-biennial-tetovo.blogspot.com/


International Experimental Engraving Biennial, MOGOSOAIA
Bucharest experimental Printmaking

deadline: 20-11-2007
http://www.experimentalproject.home.ro/


Biennial International Miniature Print Exhibition VANCOUVER
deadline: 10-05-2008
http://www.bimpe.com/

Cobalt Series (20)

Cobalt Series (20)
Originally uploaded by ainesse.

Another one from the series which I have now decided to call "Elemental Traces". Made using the offset process and chine colle. Also digital archival print onto Japanese paper.

Silver (work for the FDPW anniversary exhibition)

They images on the left might not look like anything important and in a sense they are not. I "fished" out the measurements for the frames that I will be putting the artworks in FDPW (Fife & Dunfermline Print Workshop) had them fabricated previously for a touring exhibition).

I then cut to size, some old foam board (that I am glad I did not throw away !!).

Doing this enabled me to get a feel for the size of the pieces for this exhibition. I have about 4 or 5 weeks to make this artwork.

THEME:

It's funny how often. at artists' meetings, I have participated in, over the years, I have emphasized the importance of our exhibitions being based on themes. And here I am just after the previous project i.e., "Cobalt", working to another theme - well at least with this one, I am told that it may be interpreted in any way as long as we work to it as a theme.
Well inevitably - I have been thinking about it and I even did a little contextual research last night looking up silver on Flickr just to see what came up - nothing useful there - as it so happened, then I looked up silver in Mythology and in Alchemy and the only thing that had some resonance with my own interests (language symbols; metaphors etc) was mirrors and reflections.

An image I made, for example, a while back that springs to mind, is of a little figure going through a mirror. I have recently well it was about January or February, printed an image onto metallic inkjet foil( not yet loaded up to the web).

That piece - I then layered with beeswax which was an effect that I also though that maybe I would like to use in the future so I may incorporate that into these works.

Or perhaps just the ">wax onto either standalone inkjet prints on printmaking paper.

Maybe additionally incorporating intaglio elements.

As we all know though, it's great fun having all these ideas but making them come to reality is another matter altogether.


I will have to keep to making works to go in frames though.........which in a way is quite a restriction for me.

The Cobalt Series is completed

The picture of the carved woodblock (below) is by Jenn Schmitt

Cobalt Series (6)
Originally uploaded by ainesse.

I thought it was about time that I posted about this set that I have been working on for about the last five weeks

for the Periodic Table Printmaking Project.
Now I just have to choose one of these to send to Jenn Schmitt, the coordinator of this fab project. I had not realized that I would have to put the number of the element on the print and the element symbol or abbreviation so I had better get on with it and get it into the mailbox especially given that our postal workers here in the UK, are striking every 2 days lately in their struggle to fight the government postal service cuts and to get better pension rights.

Contemporary Printmakers from Brazil

Through one of my Google alerts, I received notice of this exhibition opening which is showing printmaker artists from Brazil. It's of particular interest because I have three good artist friends, who work from a printmaking basis, that live in Sao Paulo, Brazil. They are Rosana Paulino who I have previously mentioned on this blog, Paula Torres who I made a collaborative artwork with at one time for a project called "Interlap" organized by a German artist called Yael Hxxgs and lastly Maria Alvires who is showing in this exhibition that I have just heard of. Click here re the notice

A Perfect Web

A Perfect Web
Originally uploaded by ♥babybee.

I love spiders (aesthetically!) having said that I wouldn't deliberately kill one. I probably would wash one down the drain though , with cold water.

Their webs are amazing/

Aran (a photo by Michael Schneider)

This phto was taken by Michael Schneider, he is an Austrian artist, who also was in the Falun exhibition. I think its probably one of the best photos of it. I wonder what kind of camera he used?

Still no positive development re my G4 laptops "blank out".

All my files on my G4 have been "disappeared"

I am on my partners computer now. He is trying to find out what has gone wrong............I can't believe it.

There seems no apparent reason. I was using it earlier this morning and everything was fine.
I passed the laptop over to C. because he wanted to use some software on it that does not work on his laptop ( i.e., this one, the Macbook) and he had the share network turned on - that which makes it possible to interconnect and go to files on my laptop while he is on his own laptop.

That is what the context was - when whatever happened "happened"!!!!

Oh dear god please make things be OK.....................

We did a back up fairly recently but there is still a lot of new work from this past few weeks.

PLEASE............let it be OK.......

Balderdash !! for want of a worse word !!!......

Depite my previous entry about this Cobalt print thing, I don't feel that I AM getting anywhere after all. I had a 'rubbish' day at the studio and it was just frustrating and not very productive. I spent ages 'faffing' about. What with organising all of my stuff on the workshop surfaces and it has to be said, that there was a lot of conversation going on around the place, which of course doesn't help. Anyway lunchtime came and lunchtime went.

Then when I finally did get started printmaking about four and a half hours AFTER I got into the print workshop - every thing that tends to go wrong in the printmaking process seemed to start going wrong.

That blasted plate with the layers of Lascaux hard ground which in the end I drypointed into out of frustration with it not proofing effectively, well yet AGAIN it did not proof successfully onto a digital chine colle image, that I layered onto a pre printed ground. So that was that - cannot be further developed.

Then another ground pre printed on my previous session - well that decided to stick to the plate and inevitably got damaged as I endeavoured to remove it ever so slowly and carefully.
Another print where I put a digital chine colle, and a piece of foil inked up with a fairly translucent mustard colour - well even though I spent ages getting the right consistency - that did a little blob kind of thing --- god --- printmaking is such an exacting process !! People who don't have any knowledge of this process have no idea of how demanding it is. And when you have backbreaking lower back pain to boot --- well you could just scream. The deadline for posting this print off was really about five days ago so I just dont know what I am going to do.

I have done a few little things in Photoshop which I like, as "beginnings". I will print those out in the morning and see if I can do something positive/constructive that pleases me.

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