Aimee Durnell – Today, I have been working on our Pondhead Conservation stand at the New Forest Show. A couple of tents down I found Aimee Durnell, a local artist and printmaker. We had a lovely long chat about the use of colour in her lino cuts. Although she does occasionally create different plates for printing layer of colours, she prefers to print the linocut in black and then painstakingly fill the negative areas with water colours. I find this an interesting concept that maybe worth investigating further, certainly the works that she has produced have a translucency about them that Iare matbe easier to produce than use layers of printing ink.
I cannot find any good images of examples of her work, but the above two certainly show the process of her technique of a black linoprint that is then added to with watercolour.
We also chatted about cleaning printing tools as I have found it difficult to clean the water based oil inks from the brayers. I did watch a video online that suggested using vegetable oil, yet to be tried. Aimee suggested I try baby wipes, this is what she always uses with success.
Note: I have had success with both baby wipes and vegetable oil for cleaning tools and lino.
Here I’ve taken a print of my pebbles and overpainted with water colour paint. There is some bleed from the black ink as it was water based. Possible solutions – don’t use so much water, don’t paint to edge in hope that the paint continues to bleed towards the edge, oil / alcohol based inks, pencil, pastel.
Hetty Haxworth – Themes and ideas draw upon the organic forms and patterns that she finds in nature and on the beach. Prints are abstract and Hetty plays with the form, movement of light and abstraction of colour from the world around her where landscapes become a geometric study, stripes of ploughed furrows & lines of fences, blocks of colour from the colours of the fields, pebbles and boats.
It’s not been easy trying to find information on this artist but below is an exert from an article in the magazine Homes & Interiors Scotland – Hetty explains her process of how she moves from the visual influences around her to a finished print (mainly silkscreen).
Springtime in rural Aberdeenshire is beautifully colourful. Daffodil fields and oilseed rape cover the landscape in a patchwork of yellows and greens. Patterns are there to be sought out and found. Small Christmas trees polka-dot the terracotta earth, regular furrows provide stripes, and tall sinuous grasses catch the eye as the wind jostles them.
Framing this scene are the man-made structures, the rigid lines of fences and the cattle barns, turning the landscape into a geometric study. On dark, brooding days, the sun moves from between the clouds to light up sections of the terrain for just a moment – a glimpse of intense colour – while the shadows turn the ploughed fields into rich greys and browns.
This print is one of a series that documents the movement of light over my local landscape, capturing a moment in colour. When I return to my studio each day, I turn my memory of the composition into a collage or drawing and then eventually into a print.
To capture the intensity of colour in my prints requires the overlaying of several flat tones to build up vibrancy. The journey is an uncertain one and I often find myself adjusting colours by overprinting extra tones to make the hues vibrate against each other. Usually, only at the end, when it is all printed, does the effect reveal itself. For me the simplicity of the work comes from a direct feeling, a response to a moment.
I have been drawn to her work, partly form an aspect of abstract and colour but I am looking at ways to develop my pebble ideas in project 6 and Hetty has several series of prints relating to the water, seashore and pebbles.eg; Aqueous, Boulder & Waves, Pebble & Skimming Stones and Shore.
Aqueous VI – I’ve included this example simply because I like the way in which colours have been laid over each other, maybe pebbles in the sand joined by a discarded fishing wire and hook or stacked pebbles toppling to the floor.
Blue Skimming Stones – To me this print reflects the flatness that comes with a skiming stone, half in and half out the water, the pebbles relecting different colours of wet and dry.
Shore – This is just how I see the pebbles and seaweed on the beach, different shapes and sizes, some patterned with natural colours, others wrapped in seaweed or with barnacles attached.
White Pebble – Again, here are the pebbles on the beach, different colours and shapes, a variety represented by various marks.
- http://www.hetty-haxworth.co.uk/mainpage.htm [accessed 11/8/19]
- https://homesandinteriorsscotland.com/2015/art-words-by-hetty-haxworth/ [accessed 11/8/19]
Matisse -I’m now looking for Seaweed, and have returned to the paper cut outs of Matisse. His series of work, Oceania, The Sky & Oceania, & The Sea, was developed and then expanded on from 1946 – 1954.
Anfitrite 1947 
Lagoon 1947 
Villa le Reve 1948 
White Alga 1947
Initially these works were nothing more than paper cut outs of birds, sharks, jellyfish and seaweed stuck to his studio wall, memories of a trip to Tahiti; but, the collection grew to cover many walls in various buildings and as the years went on the cutouts became more vivid in colour and intricate in shape, shapes that were often moved and changed so as to interact in different ways.
There is fluidity in these cut outs, almost as if they are plants floating through the air or flowing along in water with bold minimal colour providing vivid contrasts.
- https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2014/matisse/in-the-studio.html [accessed 11/8/19]
- http://www.henri-matisse.net/cut_outs.html [accessed 11/8/19]
Angie Lewin – would seem an obvious choice to research, not only how she translates the form of pebbles and seaweeds, but also as a printmaker thats uses lino and woodcut for many of her images. It has been interesting to watch a couple of video’s of her working, not just at the printing stage but from the beginnings of her journey and search for clues for her next series of works. Walking by river and sea, sketching, painting, placement of still life arrangements, through to the carving of each work. Only small snippets but a wonderful glance into how a professional printmaker works.
Northern Shore 
Pebble Shore
I chose these two prints in particular because they are linocuts. In contrast to the seaweed of Matisse which are soft and curvey, Lewin’s seaweed is quite hard and angular at its top but a sense of movement is created by the bendy and twisted stems.
Likewise her pebbles differ to those of Haxworth, they appear rounded, while Haxworths appear flat with depth coming from the vivid colours and overlaps. Lewin’s colours are softer and more details are provided, each standing on its own, almost as if they are asking to be picked up and caressed and explored.
I certainly don’t dislike this work but I think I prefer the bold vivid colours and forms that have been created by both Matisse & Haxworth.
- https://www.angielewin.co.uk/ [accessed 11/8/19]
- Lewin, A, 2010, plants and places, Merrell Publishers Ltd, London
Lucienne Day – I have just happened across an article in the January 2017 edition of Embroidery magazine, a short article on Lucienne Day Centenary. Day was inspired by 20th century abstract art and is known for her pattern designs and use of colour, be it designing textiles, ceramics, wallpapers and carpets and many of her prints are of a timeless design that work as well now as they did when first designed. Many of her design ideas coming from the plant structures that she found in her garden.
Looking at these two designs, based on screenprints, I find her work not disimilar to that of Lewin, but I find them more pleasing to the eye, more abstract, they are naturally less complicated and fussy.
https://www.robinandluciennedayfoundation.org/ [accessed 27/8/19]
Angela Harding – Her lino cuts draw on her knowledge of etching and dry point and she enjoys mark making through line. Her prints are often mixtures of paper stencils with screenprint, which she uses for the print colour, and lino or vinyl cut, her inks are a combination of water and oil based.
Harding’s inspiration comes from the plants, animals and birds of the English countryside and she tries to capture the mood and atmosphere of countryside rather than a factual image.
From theabove two examples, (Blackbird & Berries & Snape Bird & Nest) I have taken on board thats it’s ok to pick out and use minimal key colours. Whilst I don’t know what her original sighted image was, she has mentioned on her web page, that it’s not necessary to replicate literally, I imagine she takes extracts from the observations around her; and as I have seen with other artists different printing disciplines are mixed in the production of one print.
https://angelaharding.co.uk/collections/prints
Anne Desmet – specializes in wood engravings, linocuts and mixed media collages, I admit that I find most of her prints very dark and durgy, however what does intrigue me is her presentation, especially in the ‘Tower Series’ where the prints reach skywards. Likewise some of the collaged and engraved maps take me on a journey through the streets top to bottom or bottom to top. Both examples encouraging me to move onto the next part of the print on a journey of discovery.
Scarlette Homeshaw – In contrast to the dark work of Anne Desmet, Homeshaw’s lino cuts are bold and bright, almost luminous in colour. Much of her work uses the ‘reduction method’ where the lino is printed, cut away, printed, cutaway, thus producing a print in layers. Her inspiration comes from ‘place’ and the exploration of buildings and locations personal to herself and her colours from her relationship and interpretation of the subject.
Building on multiple layers (sometimes as many as 17) her works are intricate yet abstract and suggest time, concentration and patience.
https://www.scarlette-homeshaw.com/
Additional research following Tutor feedback:
From the work that I have completed in Part 2, my tutor has suggested that I view the work of Dale Devereux Barker (lino work) & Jeanette Barnes (spontaneous drawing). My notes and thought are below.
Dale Devereux Barker
https://www.daledevereuxbarker.co.uk/ [accessed 13/11/19]
Many of his works, be they prints, paintings, mixed media or sculpture are fun and bright, everyday objects and form are translated into a busy complex mix of layers, full of intrigue that makes your eyes work hard as you journey from one layer to another.
I must admit that I look at his works with an amount of envy and ask myself why I can’t develop my work into something more abstract, why do I have to be so ‘pictorial’. It’s a new year, I think I need to look at my direction and research more artists that follow a more abstract path.
Jeanette Barnes
I have found an interview that Jeanette Barnes gave to the OCA http://jeanettebarnesart.co.uk/?page_id=604 in which she describes her creative process, from her first thoughts and sketches through to the finished work. A process that can combine many location visits, sketches and drawings, often over periods of months and one that is as important to her as the finished product.
A very interesting and informative read from which I can glean snippets of advice such as how to move on when stuck, different methods of working and pulling ideas together and imprtantly how to maintain energy and immediacy. Something I feel that I am struggling with a bit in this exercise as time has dragged on while ink dries.
BILLYDOOPRINT1 