Tuesday, March 31, 2015

An English Rose

The proof for another new print for O England My Lion-Heart arrived this morning from the Print Block - here's a small detail, an english rose (and a hint of irish shamrock!). 


This is the first time I've successfully attempted combining inks to create additional colours - in this case, a blue and the yellow to make the green (which I adore) and a purple from the same blue and the rose red. Chuffed with the results!

Friday, March 27, 2015

Wildman of the Woods

Got another of the new prints for 'O England My Lion-Heart' this morning, ready for numbering, signing and framing.
Here, a teasing glimpse of a detail, a wily wodewose watching wildly in the woods…


Thursday, March 26, 2015

Hurrah!

Hurrah for …


A tiny teasing glimpse of one of my new prints for my forthcoming solo show, O England My Lion-Heart, at the Lion Street Store in Rye, opening Friday 1st May.

No prizes for guessing the subject matter here!

Tiles & Tribulations #6

Tiles & Tribulations #6
Progress is being made on the long, slow, winding road to making my own Delft tiles. Here my take on a traditional design, a triton or merman a-blowing on his horn. The contrast between line-work and wash could have been greater, but over all I'm pretty content with the results.
The tile as painted…


...and after firing and ageing, showing the beginnings of some pleasing surface craquelure (desired).


Tiles & Tribulations #5

Tiles & Tribulations #5
Things going well on the delft tile trail. Here an earthenware tile with the traditional image of a Hare seated upon a tussock. As well as testing the contrast between fill/ wash and line, I also wanted to see how the (Chromium Oxide) green carnation corner motifs would look, as I've a fire-place tile project for later in the year that (ideally) calls for them. Pretty happy with the result.
The tile as painted…


...and after firing and ageing.




Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Posters for 'O England My Lion-Heart'


I have now received the posters, printed (for now) in a dark blood red and a navy blue, for my forthcoming solo show 'O England My Lion-Heart' at the Lion Street Store in Rye, opening on the 1st of May.

The posters have been most excellently and lovingly screen- printed by Mr. Paul McNeill (aka Mandy Doubt) of Norwich-based print maestros Print To The People. A great job - I am over the moon!

The posters have been printed as an open edition on white brown-paper (yes, I know!) and those not put up on local walls and in local windows shall be available to purchase from the Lion Street Store once the Exhibition opens.

Monday, March 9, 2015

O England My Lion-Heart (Solo Show)

O England My Lion-Heart (Solo Show)



The invites for my first solo show of 2015, O England My Lion-Heart, have arrived from the printers. 
Print maestro Martin Clark, of Tilley Letterpress in Ledbury, always does such an amazing job! Thank you so much Martin!

O England My Lion-Heart
An Exhibition of Prints by Paul Bommer
at the
Lion Street Store, 6 Lion Street, Rye, East Sussex, TN31 7LB

Friday 1st May --> Friday 22nd May, 11 am --> 5 pm (Closed Tuesdays)
PREVIEW OPENING: Friday 1st May 6 --> 8 pm


The Glaze is always greener…

The Glaze is always greener…
Fired
A personal delft tile project I hope to take on by the end of the year requires, if possible, a green corner motif (when done it will all make sense). So a couple of weeks ago I spent an evening playing around with Copper Carbonate and Chromium Oxide greens on an old discarded biscuit-fired bowl.
The Copper Carbonate, the more turquoise of the two greens shown, proved to be a tricky bugger to work with and almost burnt out to nothing on the firing. Perhaps Copper Oxide might prove more satisfactory?
The Chromium Oxide on the other hand, although perhaps not diluted enough, went on, and fired, to a most pleasing Lincoln Green.
Unfired

Unfired

Unfired

Unfired

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Lessons from Amsterdam

I am just back from a wonderful few days in the beautiful city of Amsterdam, with my partner Nick and our good friends Will and Marie from Old Town clothing (http://www.old-town.co.uk). A bit of a jolly admittedly (and to celebrate Will's umphtht birthday!) - but one with a serious research intent as well.


As progress with making my own delft-style ceramic tiles has come on in leaps and bounds of late, I thought it would be of benefit to re-examine delft tiles en masse and in-situ in the country that developed and first produced them.

And it was very encouraging to see, with the cold grey eyes of experience, that the Delft tiles of Holland have come in all forms and show many of the variations and 'flaws' that I myself have experienced in my tile-making trials.


By and large all Dutch delft tiles measure approximately 13 cm or 5" square. But after that, its pretty much a free-for-all - thicknesses between 6 and 13 mm, variations in the cobalt blue from the very dark, almost black, to the barely there, 'glaze creep', crazing (or not), line distortion and image slippage during firing, smudging, blurring, variable tin-glaze colour and thickness, corner motifs (or not), 'burn out' on the more densely-concentrated spots, pitting of the tin glaze and speckling of the washes. And a finesse of detail ranging from the extremely detailed to the almost unreadably crude and simplistic.

I am vindicated! Onwards and upwards my dear friends!






F & M Chicken & Egg


Another glimpse of the Easter Chicken & Egg visual tag I designed for Fortnum & Mason just before Christmas. On the shelves now!



The design as visual tags and as a 'wallpaper' background.


Tiles & Tribulations #4 (Random)

Tiles & Tribulations #4 (Random)
Another brace of the Delftware trial tiles that I painted, and had fired, last week. This time I used different minerals for the outlines and the wash colours to get a better contrast, and attempted to get a more refined and dextrous line - both of which I have achieved!
Here are the tiles (old rejected trials) before firing. 


And the same tiles this morning out of the kiln. Although now cool to the touch the craquelure of the surface (here made more evident by applying ink or ash and rubbing off) is still forming - I can hear the tiles merrily 'chinking' beside me as more cracks form!