The upcoming Printmakers Council exhibition, titled Thinking for Printing, takes place at the start of February at the wonderful Bankside Gallery, along London’s Southbank. I am delighted that one of my recent mixed media prints, Titled Semi Permeable and created as a response to drawings of Mawddach estuary, has been selected for the show.

Location - Bankside Gallery, Thames Riverside, 48 Hopton Street, London SE1 9JH

Dates - 31st Jan - 5th Feb 2023

Times - 11 - 6

Semi Permeable is part of a group of monochromatic drawings that respond to an immersive time looking at, and drawing from, the Mawddach Estuary in Wales during a residency in May 2022.

Thinking for Printing features work by members of the Printmakers Council.

‘For this exhibition, the Printmakers Council sent each of their members an A5 sketchbook and invited them to record and respond to the concept ‘Thinking for Printing’. The result of this exciting project will be displayed alongside the finished artworks at Bankside Gallery’.

Some reflections on making.

The timing of the arrival of my pristine new A5 sketchbook, courtesy of PMC, just before the Welsh residency was perfect. I love working in sketchbooks though will admit that I found the A5 size quite challenging - definitely out of my my comfort zone. I tend to go for A4 landscape shaped sketchbooks and i think that the reason for this is that it encourages me to be more flexible with shape and composition. Looking back over the drawings in this cute A5 book i’m noticing them to be more compact and with more of a square format. I did try some stretched out, more panoramic drawings but they done feel as strong.

Working in a sketchbook for me is an opportunity to take risks, to explore, write, rub out, tear out; it doesn’t matter, and thats why journals and sketchbooks are great. I always love looking at other artists books so it’ll be a fantastic bonus to have these books on show with the finished work. They really are - and should be - an insight into the artists mind.

Reflecting on the process of making these prints, it hasn’t at all been a straight route. My initial sketchbook drawings reveal a fascination for the textures, and chance finds along the shoreline of the estuary and local town of Barmouth - The historic structures and fragments at the waters edge.

The area I was studying sits at the base of the Snowdonia National Park. The varied landscape of intertidal waters, peat bogs and distant mountains was quite simply outstanding. So much possibility and only 2 weeks to study it !! My solution to this was to focus on 2 aspects. One focus was the estuary itself and the other was the area of land behind our lodging at Mawddach Crescent. This was Arthog Peat Bog of which I write a bit about in an earlier Blog Post. In this previous post I also write about the benefits of working alongside fellow resident Artist Sue Jarman .

So, having decided on working on 2 sketchbooks - one for each focus (and group of work) - freed up my brain to compartmentalise each aspect of this study and how to make the best of the 2 weeks. This post examines the stages of creating prints that respond to the drawings, collages and research into the Estuary.

Prints in progress at Portsmouth Printmakers studio,

The sketchbook development and especially the collages, helped my mindset for what followed. A new way of ‘seeing’ the estuary. A way of revealing what was drawing me to this subject. After a couple of very immersive studio days at Portsmouth Printmaking Studio in early Autumn, working with some new A5 photopolymer plates, it was back to my garden studio with the prints and some more collage ideas.

It felt important to keep the prints very monochromatic because it was the patterns, movement of water and sheer beauty of all those varied shapes that drew my eye. I had also collected quite a few of the images at night time and was drawn especially to the light on the water. Often silvery and always mesmerising.

Collage, like printing, is a process. I find it helpful to begin with something that acts as a foundation and then build up layers from there. Sometimes I use layers to push back a part of the print or break up an over busy image. Often I use stitch to draw attention. Maybe to reveal line or strengthen tone. I also like to draw into the work but I try to make this very minimal. Adding stitch is better than drawing as it can of course be easily taken away if it goes too far.

Semi permeable i, work in progress - At Portsmouth Printnakers studio

Some of the prints from this study On show at;

Jack House Gallery - current show runs to 15th January

Bankside Gallery - Thinking for Printing - 31st January - 5th February.