A little burst of printing inspiration....

I was lucky enough to have a child free day on Saturday so I took full advantage and made a much needed and well overdue visit to an exhibition. 

After a quick search I decided to check out the East London Printmakers exhibition at Embassy Tea Gallery on Union Street and I was so glad I did. Being just off the beaten track it was lovely and quiet, the sun even shone which makes all the difference in London! 

The exhibition is amazing and it was lovely to see so many printmakers exhibiting together. It's running until the 27th September so you still have time to check it out.

Here's a few of my favourites..... I'm attracted to the lino prints and screen prints as I love the style they produce but there were very clever things such as mono-prints on leather and ethereal etchings.

Some clever printing onto a plaster slate and bowl.....

Mixed media with etching and stitch.....

I loved this collection of drypoint prints made from people's broken phones complete with very funny personal stories.....

Giving printing a magical and whimsical edge. 

For the full catalogue of the exhibition click here.

I then headed over to the Tate modern after stopping off at Intaglio print shop to treat myself to some more lino and a much desired soft rubber roller (can not wait to start using it after admiring it for so long : )

Loving the construction work on the side of the Tate modern and cant wait for its completion. The scaffolding is a work of art on its own!

I made a bee line for the war posters in the Tate as I love their style, passion and how easily they portray movement, these were my favourites.....
 

Then with some weary legs homeward bound I went, inspired to get working on some new prints! Hope they provide a little inspiration your way too.

Kirsten

Happy New Year

It's a little late but we've been hit with the usual winter bugs and have been couped up in bed. But apparently cupcake cures depression so after a mammoth cupcake session with my sister, that included 8 huge bars of chocolate, i'm now feeling back on track with a fridge full of cupcakes to keep me company!

Image came from fffound, a great site for lots of inspiration.

I did get a great Nikon SLR digital camera for christmas so when I felt brave enough to embrace the cold I went and got snap happy! Here is one of my favourite pictures that I took at Richmond Park of the parakeets near the river. I still find it crazy the amount that live in the wild over there but it's great to see them.

This is a basic sketch from my picture, I love to simplifly images as much as possible to create something striking. I then worked into a rough etching which i'm hoping will be really delicate.


Here's another of my favourite pictures that i'm working on for another print.

I'll post the outcome as soon as I get onto it. Which reminds me of my New years resolution, to finish things i've started!!
Kirsten

Printing bug....

Hello,

In October we went along to Inky Cuttlefish Studios for their 'Introduction to Printing' workshop. I loved it so much, i've now got the printing bug and want my very own studio and equipment but that won't happen anytime soon so i'm making do with my coffee table!
It was taught by Nick Morley who was great, I think he knows everything there is to know about printing and was very patient with all of our questions!! Check out his work and if you get the chance go to the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green for the Wonderland exhibition which he is part of.

Back to the printing - there were only 6 of us on the course which made it nice and intimate and we covered silk screen printing, fabric printing, etching and lino cuts. My favourite was the etching but you end up with a tiny piece from so much effort so I might just stick to silk screen printing.

Here's a few pieces of our handiwork....