vinyl experiments with owl

I learn everyday and hope one day to do some more acceptable work. This experiment was using vinyl floor covering. I begged an offcut from a neighbour who had done his kitchen floor. It cuts so easily it is a joy. Obviously it will not do very fine lines, but after a light sanding took pencil and carbon paper marks very clearly. I also used it to make an embossing plate. The latter is the last plate in the sequence. It is reversed as I printed it from underneath with the paper still damp.

I used the usual dry pigments with water. The paper was very absorbant and I brushed gum arabic on the embossing plate to ensure that the embossing held its' shape. I am not too sure about the latter as it seems perhaps a bit too strong, but time will tell if it settles down. Maybe I will dilute the gum arabic another time, it really all depends on the paper.... another whole topic about which I am still very much a beginner.

Yesterday spent the day in London. The Cezannes in the Courtauld (Somerset House) are well worth seeing, as also their print exhibition of French 19Century artists French prints from Manet to Picasso. A simply amazing double bill, plus the usual wonderful collection of French Impressionists. As a viewing experience it beats The Hermitage. I recommend it to any visitors in London this summer. www.somersethouse.org.uk/visual_arts

The next stop was the Royal Academy http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/ the summer exhibition had some very interesting prints of all kinds, but found no moku hanga, There too is an exhibition of Vilhelm Hammershoi:Poetry of Silence. Stunning work. I emerged feeling I had just been through a long Scandinavian winter where a gleam of light gains huge significance, and a sunbeam carries pure joy.

Happy printing