PPA social day – Part 2

We currently have a lot of members interested in gelli plate printing. Whether that’s because it’s something new to them, or that it’s very portable, or even that during covid restrictions they have been stuck at home and found this a great way to produce a variety of designs on paper, who knows. We’re finding that not only do our members want to create their own sheets of paper they also want to form them into books and design their own covers and content.

Both Dinah and Claire came to the social day with a stash of newly created designs which caused quite a bit of dialogue due to their different approaches.

Claire has been exploring a method whereby stencilled designs can be produced in a very precise manner. By combining different viscosities of paint over several layers, and ensuring a wide colour range has been applied she has produced a range of vibrant patterned papers. Her aim is to include these as endpapers in handmade books.

Dinah recently purchased a set of petite gelli plates and has been working with those in conjunction with her larger plate. Her approach has been very different to Claire and she’s produced a range of more organic, less structured, prints.

Not only has Dinah been using her gelli plates but she’s also been experimenting with patterning using shaving foam.

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Once the day was over we were amazed to receive a photo later that afternoon from our member, Marguerite, who had returned home and immediately set to work trying out the shaving foam printing method.

Great results!

With so much interest in these techniques we’ve decided our next Special Interest day, to be held on Thursday, 1st October (yes, next week), will concentrate on gelli plate printing. So if you have a gelli plate, bring it along; if you haven’t got one come anyway because you will still be able to participate.

There will be a group of members experimenting and showing those not so experienced a variety of print methods. Dinah has sent an email to the membership outlining what to bring.

Note: The studio will still be available for members wishing to use the printing press. This is a members only event, no visitors please.

PPA social day – Part 1

With a good turn out of members, all bringing along their latest paper-related creations, it was a vibrant and noisy get together in the studio this week.

From book making, to gelli printing, to etching, to vessel construction, to yarn knitting; it was all on display.

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Dinah showed us a very clever book she had made incorporating many of her prints. This design is known as a ‘Flat-Style Australian Reversed Piano Hinge’ book and it separates out into individual loose-leaf pages.

We recently featured our new member Vivian when she attended our special interest day earlier this month. At that time she was working on a large lino cut and was taking some proofs. I’m sure we’ll get to see the final prints before too long.

This time she brought along the basis of a collagraph she was slowly putting together and also this lovely hand-coloured etching.

We were very pleased to welcome her friend Karen who will be joining our next basic paper-making workshop in October.

Bonnie attended a workshop last week and brought along her hanging. She also brought paper she made at PPA using orange pulp. Having attended our vessel making workshop earlier this year she has discovered something she loves creating and is working up quite a collection of paper vessels; some with coloured pulp, some painted, and she’s now working on ones with textural features. She’s even started adhering designs to the outside creating lovely small scenes round her pots.

Judith has been creating her own paper yarn and knitting with it. It’s a fascinating process resulting in beautiful lacy art pieces. Her next step is to stiffen and mount her art works.

Diana showed us her latest artist book entitled ‘Making a Mark‘. It should be noted that it’s not just the book construction Diana in interested in but also the content, and every page has been enriched with her own mark making and collage.

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We had a lot going on at the studio and more images will be posted in Part 2

Latest news from Helen Hiebert Studio

Registration for Helen’s latest online class is now open. Entitled Handmade Holiday Series she will be running this creative paper course over four weeks with a different category being covered in each class: cards, holiday decor, ornaments and lanterns.

Create three different designs during each class as you gain skills and new ideas for crafting with paper. Many of the designs collapse flat, and all are lightweight.

Listen to what Helen has to say about what you will learn in this short introductory video.

The course is currently being offered with an early-bird pricing which ends on 1st October. So if you’re interested now is the time to sign up.

Click for full details and to enrol

Focusing on Corinne Welch

Corinne Welch is a self-employed designer/illustrator living and working in Bristol. She completed her MA in Multi-disciplinary Printmaking at the University of the West of England in 2014, and has continued to develop her interest in printmaking and making books.

In the final year of her studies she concentrated on creating books which, for her, was an ideal combination of graphic design, illustration and printmaking. She is interested in documenting collections, often related to the natural world.

Her website is split into 6 sections and each is a joy to discover. Her clean, bright, minimalist designs appear fresh and vibrant and cover a wide range of visual topics.

Her blog is full of interesting, colourful creations, information on interviews she has been engaged in and a host of books, illustrations and other art related items.

Webmaster Note: Yes, I wiled away quite a bit of time perusing her blog and enjoying her printing and bookmaking.

Find out more about Corinne and visit her website

Resources:
Images and some text taken from website with kind permission from the artist.

PPA Special Interest Day

By PPA member, Dinah Beeston

It was a small but happy group that met for our latest Special Interest Day and it was good to meet some of our new members there.

Vivian who is an experienced printmaker was working on a large lino cut. She had prepared the lino before she came but wasn’t sure how it would look so wanted to make some prints. Rather than get the press out, Vivian pressed it by hand which didn’t give her the sharp lines but showed her the basics of the print. As a result she cut a portion of the lino away and was much happier with the resulting print.

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Bonnie was working on a small pot that she had previously made. It was made from white pulp and then the outside was decorated using pieces of paper serviette. Bonnie loves trees and plants so had carefully cut out the tree bits from a serviette. She then painted the inside of the pot a bright orange which gave it a wonderful lift.

Syd was working on some collages using different types of paper, some paints and lines in the right places with black ink.

Lisa brought a pile of square papers that she had prepared ahead of time. The papers were tracing paper and she had decorated them with a felt pen. During the day she folded them in a few different shapes but mostly into boxes which will probably be used in an installation in the future. The tracing paper folded very well and stayed in place once it was folded. We look forward to seeing the resulting artwork.

While we were having fun, Lou and Ang were working hard installing the display in the Mezzanine area. Most of the works had been displayed at the Incinerator Art Space but there were a few different pieces by Lou and Sophie. We’ve already had some very pleasing comments about another terrific exhibition. Thank you Lou and Ang.

Paper on skin 2020

Design Eye Creative ‘paper on skin’ 2020 – The film

Burnie Arts Council presents their 2020 challenge to create wearable garments from at least 80% paper. Entries came from seven countries, producing 30 pieces. View the entire collection and some beautiful scenery from Tasmania below.

Mount Kembla workshop

PPA members get printing

By PPA members, Lee Downes & Claire Brach

Lee writes:

We spent a fun and creative day exploring monoprints in Claire’s studio.

With Claire facilitating (and sharing her print making knowledge and skill), we created multi-layered prints, using a limited palette of Payne’s gray, pthalo blue and red for contrast.

Making the most of the ink on the plates by making ‘ghost’ prints, we created multiple backgrounds using a variety of different objects as masks and to provide different textures.  We then built up layers of shape, colour  and texture by repeating the process until we were satisfied with the result.

It was interesting that for this exercise we used drawing paper and copy paper.  Using these papers takes away the anxiety of wasting ‘good’ printmaking paper (and money) with experimental prints, so that mistakes become happy accidents, often with serendipitous results.

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While we used Claire’s printing press, this exercise can equally be done using a gelli plate, making it more accessible to most people who are suffering from print making deprivation during COVID.

A big thank you to Claire for a great day!

Claire writes:

What a pleasure it was to print with Lee for the day.  We’re great friends and complement each other with different strengths and weaknesses in our art, enabling each of us to benefit from the experience and preferences of the other.

Using simple shapes we built layers of print, confining ourselves to a very reduced colour palette.  It was a good lesson in ‘never discard anything that doesn’t initially look good’ because as we overlaid colours and shapes the prints unified into great outcomes.

It was really fun and so much better working alongside someone else than printing alone.

I created a blizzard book to hold my prints and, using a print I made in the Tips & Tricks day with Diana Brandt late last year, I covered thin board to make covers.

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Before I got my book finished I was thrilled to receive an email from our president, Dinah, showing me some of her blizzard books.

The Sketchbook Project

Initiated and run by Brooklyn Art Library this is an opportunity to leave your legacy at a global art library.

The concept is very simple; order a sketchbook, fill it up and send it back to be part of the world’s largest collection of artist sketchbooks.

Anyone – from anywhere in the world – can be part of the project.  Once completed and returned you will be able to track where your book travels and how often it is viewed.  You have the option for it to remain solely as a hard-copy book living permanently in the Brooklyn Library or to have it digitized, which enables it to also be stored in their on-line library.

What a fabulous initiative and a great way to share a little of yourself with the rest of the world.  This is an annual event and to participate in the current project (Volume 17) you will need to order your sketchbook by November 14th, 2020.

CLICK HERE for full details and to order your sketchbook.

Want to see some of the digitized sketchbooks from previous years?  Then CLICK HERE and enjoy perusing some of the collection.  You might even get some inspiration for your own!

In addition to this Brooklyn Art Library are running a 28 day sketchbook challenge.  Join up and you will receive an automatic email every day for 28 days with a creative prompt.  You can find out more details and sign up by clicking HERE.

We would like to thank our member, Louise S (who is already participating), for bringing this event to our attention.

PPA Upcoming workshop

Primrose Paper Arts
are pleased to offer this one day workshop

Creative Colour & Composition
with Claire Brach

26 September, 2020

This workshop will take you into the world of colour experimentation and decision-making; how colours react together, how colour perceptions affect us and how to choose what to use and what to leave out.

Together with Claire you will then take this further by looking at composition in art and how to create works that fulfill a range of outcomes.  Perhaps your interest lies in creating designs with repeating patterns, or pieces with specific focal points, or dynamic abstraction.  You will get the opportunity to explore all this and build your own range of unique small samples.

Guaranteed to be a fun day with lots of interactive exercises, you will leave with a resource folder full of ideas that you can refer back to as you work on your own pieces in the future.

Time:  10am – 4pm
Cost:  $80 members $100 non-members
Material fee:  Nil

Click here to download booking form