Exhibition in Paris May 2018

OK It would have been nice to go along to this exhibition in Paris................but an excursion of this nature would be too exhausting and extremely painful - more than I could bear

In December 2017 - I received an email from artist printmaker called Akane, inviting me to participate in an international exhibition of printmakers, taking place in Paris,  May 2018.  She also mentioned that there would be 5 other artists exhibiting in this show and that its an annual 'event' that they stage at gallery in the city.  I think she said it was called "Estampe+".
YES - I was interested and also keen to know about the other artists ? - I mean I didn't want to show with any who either made sexist, racist or otherwise offencive artwork.  My other concern was I didn't want to exhibit with unprofessional low standard artists.  However having looked up HER portfolio website  I could tell that yep...... it was going to be good all round.

The week before last (i.e., at the beginning of April 2018) - I was thinking “oh great - that's good, jpegs and lists all finished with and emailed off to the exhibition organiser…….

Now I just need to package up the actual artworks in as wide a cardboard tube as I can find, and then post them off to this Paris based group exhibition and that will be that !!  - task done and dusted!” 

I can get on with some new work

Great…but oh oh.............then I got an email from her, saying that my selected artworks were the wrong way round………………
duh…………..what's she talking about…”wrong way round ?- oh no !!”??

Akane said that they needed to 

a) be all the same size

b) be ‘portrait’ orientated

and 

c) that they all should be no more expensive than 200 euros gallery retail price.

Unfortunately I had misunderstood the instructions/specifications she had sent to me, well in advance - which were translated from French, concerning what each artist can show.  The following was included in email instructions I originally received from Akane 

“sizes (Jésus vertical) or 2 raisins”.   I  have to admit I found this translation or phraseology hilarious.

It also said that for the four smaller pieces of art  it would be - “appreciated with a reasonable price”

I have to admit that when I looked properly once again (just this minute in fact)  at the original instructions I had been sent

In addition to sending two larger art works.............

 ........it had also said

“four same small sizes on paper of 29.7 x 21cm or 30 x 24 cm vertical(framed by the gallery)”

OR 

“four portrait size prints on 30 x 24 cm paper” ............of course she  was correct ..........

It was probably the Jesus reference that threw me………….(what with my traumatic Catholic upbringing and all)

I suppose I was looking through the smaller size pieces that I had and just selecting those that I thought "suitable". 

Because everything takes me so much longer to do now because of the spinal pain being exacerbated by standing/walking………I find myself reluctant to do more than I absolutely  have to.

So I selected the following

“Perduras Dream” it’s a copper hard ground etch on Inkjet - boy I tried so many different hybrid copper etch plates to find which one worked out best.

“Catalan Birdsong” Made using polymer ’spit bite’ hard ground etching and digital chine colle. (landscape orientation)

(To my mind) It would fit into an A4 size picture frame.

“Contemplation” (portrait orientation). Made using a hand spray administered aquatint (I used a salad -oil ‘pump action’ spray).
I also added some collagraph materials to the plate to get the outcome I needed, having decided that  It would be easier to do that than go back and forward, and back and forward to the etching mordant and apply resists / and then remove them etc etc etc.  

Anyway so that is what I did with that image.  Incidentally - the little face is inkjet chine colle.

“Attic” portrait orientation, mainly etching zinc with a small amount of acrylic resist hard ground applied to the top plate, using a stencil mask.  When it dried, 

I just inked the whole thing up.

ASIDE. I think theres a close up photo of this image "Attic", 
in Mark Gravers book “Non Toxic Etching”

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/non-toxic-printmaking-9781408113257/

I must say that given that there are a couple of my images featured in that book - it doesn’t seem fair that I don't have a copy of that book in my library.

OMG - I have just been on the web to look up the url for the book and it is so damned easy to get distracted on the Internet especially if you get taken onto PINTEREST.  I do try my best to stay off it.   Unless, of course,  I have a very specific focused objective.

By the way if any of you printmakers who happen to read this have that book will you please have a look in the book for me - and drop me a line in the comments box.....I'd really appreciate it.

Anyways so yeah those were the artworks I was going to send until it was pointed out to me that  as well as needing to all be the same size, they needed to be portrait-orientated because of the way the gallery staff  hang the exhibition/wall space etc, in the gallery.

What I also really liked was that they would also be framing all the pieces that us printmakers would be sending.

So the following week I worked my butt off getting these artworks done - mainly because of this stipulation that the artworks all needed to be portrait orientated.  More on this, to follow.