Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Porca Miseria!

I really need to get off my arse and lose some weight - all this comfort eating is making me, well, uncomfortable...

Self-portrait as a Roast Suckling Pig.

Death & Cabbages (screenprint)

Recently-created screen print, three colours, 29.7 cm by 42 cm (A3), a small Limited Edition of 30, signed and numbered by the Artist.

Inspired by a quote from the 16th Century french philosopher Michel de Montaigne 'Je veux que la mort me trouve plantant mes choux' - I hope that Death finds me planting my cabbages!

Montaigne also famously once questioned whether he was playing with his cat, or whether his cat was playing with him. So I have included Montaigne's moggy at Death's feet.

Available to buy from my Etsy shop, a steal at £55

https://www.etsy.com/listing/101420378/death-cabbages-screenprint?ref=v1_other_2

The Seventh Seal (screen print)

Recently-created screen print, black and white, 29.7 cm by 42 cm (A3), Limited Edition of 45, signed and numbered by the Artist.

Inspired by Ingmar Bergman's 1957 classic film, The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet, in Swedish), where Death (Bengt Ekerot) and a weary knight, Antonius Block (Max Von Sydow), play a fatal game of chess...

Block asks 'You play chess, do you not?'. The Grim Reaper responds 'You have heard that?'

Available to buy from my Etsy shop at the criminally low price of £55.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/101420641/the-seventh-seal-screenprint?ref=v1_other_1

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Tile Trials: Some progress is made...

Some progress is made...

Whilst continuing to investigate transfer decals as one option for creating my delft ceramic tiles, I have also been looking into using on-glaze colours and cobalt oxide powder in solution. My heart wasn't really in it, but I thought to try it and eliminate it as a possibility.

Here are all the tiles I trialled before firing. The pale blue ones were created using a premixed cobalt blue on-glaze solution, the black ones using cobalt oxide powder in a medium of water and gum arabic for adhesion. I'd hoped that the on-glaze would darken, and that the oxide would fire a lovely bright blue. I wasn't holding out much hope for the on-glaze, which were pinned entirely on the oxide.

Unfired

The words on the tiles indicate the three different models of crackle-glaze dutch Delft tiles: - 'Authentic', 'Antique' & 'Ivory'.

Artist, friend and all-round good egg Rob Ryan offered me the use of his kiln in Bethnal Green to fire the tiles to around 800º C.

And here are the results!

After Firing

Quite a surprise. The oxide powder images had remained a dark almost black and had barely fused with the crackle. A disaster. A shame too as I'd found it easier to draw with than the on-glaze.

And the on-glaze images, which I had thought so little of, turned out to be the ones that worked. The colour had darkened nicely and fused perfectly and permanantly into the tile glaze. Result. Quite a difficuly medium to use, but one I could get much better at. The addition of gum arabic to the on-glaze might make it adhere better and next time I shall wait a day before applying the 'wash'...

This is my favourite, the 'authentic' tile. With all these the painting is quite crude but its fired to a good colour with a fantastic and pronounced crackle-glaze surface. I've aged this one further a touch by nipping a few chips off the edges and rubbing with ash.

On-glaze Authentic

The 'ivory' tile was my second favourite of the three. A good dark rich blue but not enough crazing in the glaze for my needs...

On-glaze Ivory

Finally the 'antique' tile, my least favourite. The colour for me is too bright and the crackles in the tile affected the way the wash went on...

On-glaze Antique

All in all its looking quite hopeful...

Notebook Sketches - Delftware Designs

Notebook Sketches - Delftware Designs

A couple of pages of scamps from my ongoing tile trial in my current notebook, number 144!

Divers delfft tyle dessignes

Friday, August 10, 2012

Guildhall Art Gallery - Panel Headers

Guildhall Art Gallery - Panel Headers

As well as creating the Poster and Promotional Postcard for the current exhibition at the Guildhall - Butcher, Baker, Candlestick: 850 Years of London Livery Company Treasures - I was also asked to design eight panel header illustrations for the sections within.