Lino Cut

Lately I have been working with lino cuts, and finding the process very satisfying. Here is some progress:

The lino print. It is stained from the printing process but this does not affect future prints.

Area of fabric masked off, and painted black.

Test print. A glass plate was placed over the black area on the fabric and printed as a registration print.

Print on the fabric.

Masking tapes removed. It is working so far! Lots more to do yet.....

A Quandary....

Forty-five years ago as an engagement present, my mother-in-law-to-be sent from England to New Zealand, a Royal Albert afternoon tea set. For a wedding present she sent a full dinner service. All pieces arrived in excellent condition, were used with much pleasure, and have remained perfect over the years, until today, that is....

Last evening I had friends come around for a meal and on such occasions I always like to use this fine china. Following our lovely meal we had coffee using the afternoon tea set cups. I postponed washing them until this morning as they have gold detailing and can't be placed in the dish washer.

In returning the cups to the china cabinet, I lifted one of the other cups (fortunately not used last evening) and was amazed when the bottom fell off the cup and on to the saucer underneath with a clatter! I had not knocked it, I had simply lifted it by its handle, and the break was perfectly clean. Thank goodness I had not used that cup during last evening as it would have been dreadful to hand someone that cup with a hot drink in it.

My quandary now is, do I continue to use the remaining cups and risk this occurring again or, was it just one of those unfortunate happenings?

15 art galleries....

While in Auckland (following my Overlander train journey) I spent one and a half days visiting art galleries. The weather was perfect and ten of the galleries were part of ArtPrecinct which is a designated group of galleries located in one city block. The other five galleries were further afield. On the Friday afternoon I flew back to Wellington.

John Leech Gallery

Auckland City Art Gallery (temporary premises while renovations taking place in its usual home)

Tim Melville Gallery, FHE Gallery and Fingers (contemporary jewellery).

There was a wide selection of works on show. I am constantly amazed at creative people. Too many to report on of course but two 'struck a cord'.

The Auckland City Gallery had an exhibition titled Taste: Food and Feasting in Art. Everything imaginable was on display from traditional art to contemporary installations. One exhibit consisted of 100+ chocolate fish arranged to display the word KOHA (Maori word for gift). Viewers were invited to remove a fish and consume, in the spirit of Koha*.

The Tim Melville Gallery was shrouded in black cloth and a slide projector was the only item on display. In this slide projector were 'slides' made of pounamu (highly valued New Zealand greenstone) by Joe Sheehan. I am not talking conventional slides here, these had been carved out of the pounamu itself, and the projector light shone through each piece of stone projecting its colours and patterns on to the screen. It was fascinating interpreting each image. Amazing!

*Yes, I did.....but only because there were several gaps from that day's earlier visitors!

Go the Train

I have just had a great pre-Christmas treat. On Wednesday I took the Overlander scenic train from Wellington to Auckland, a journey through the back country of the North Island of New Zealand which takes 12 hours. The last time I did this journey was about four decades ago! The scenery is spectacular, the seats comfortable, and the weather was warm and sunny. A real treat....

Hey.. wait for us! The engine change at Palmerston North.

Lunch break at Ohakune

The 'grunt' out front...

I flew back to Wellington on Friday afternoon. Next blog I will tell you what I did in Auckland, so stay tuned......

Finished, I think....

I now need to put my current piece away, and review it again perhaps in the New Year. At this point it is not mounted. I have this 'thing' rattling round in my head which is to work a series on past, and present, women who have made their mark in some way, starting with artists. I hope to depict various aspects of their life and/or work. To be honest this is a big vision and having completed one possible piece, I now need to take time out to think it all through further. I am reasonable happy where things are at this point but need more clarity and direction. Definitely something to contemplate on summer walks and working in the garden.

For this initial example I have taken the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo 1907 - 1954. I visited her exhibition at the Wellington City Gallery in 2000, enjoyed the film made of her life, and in 2006 was able to visit her home (now a museum) in Mexico City. I feel I 'know' her quite well.

In this piece I have used colours familiar in her work, the use of leaves depicted as blood red veins signifying her struggle with health problems throughout her adult life. The simple repeat pattern in the lower left corner is from one of her ethnic skirts, and she often placed banner ribbons with text in her work; this one has her signature.

Still not sure whether it is all working, but this is part of the process and, as such, I am sort of happy at this point.

Frida Kahlo, 25cm x 32cm (10" x 12½"), dye and pigment on silk and gauze.

More Lino Printing

This week I have been continuing with some lino cutting and printing. Not major stuff but efficient with pleasing outcomes; I needed to add some leaves to my current piece.

The leaves at the bottom of this photo are the lino cuts and those above are printed from these, on paper.

Here they are printed on my piece (unfinished).

And here is my previous lino cut (of a repeating pattern), bottom left, printed in the same piece (still unfinished but nearly there!).

Portals

Here is another piece from my exhibition, this time using a long horizontal format divided into halves. Using a simplified arched doorway shape, I swapped the patterns and colours in each half.

These were the original colours used....

.... and after it had been put through a discharge bath, which toned it down to colours seen on buildings in Spain.

The main portion of one side was taped into a grid and stamped with a repetitive shape.

My next idea was to place hinges as seen on a magnificent door I had viewed in Spain but these were too complex so I reduced them to very simple shapes. This shows the first print, which then got over-printed as shown in the following, and completed photo.


© 2008 Diana Parkes, PORTALS, dye and pigment on silk, 99cm X 161cm / 39" x 63". This photo shows the true colour, once again showing the value of a professional photograph, the others being snapshots from my humble digital camera. This piece was hung from brass eyelets, not the usual perspec rod which would have sagged over such a length.