A Short Walk to Fort Carré - linoprints

Towards the end of my studio residency at Signal Arts Centre in 2018, I started working on some drawings with the intention of turning them into future lino blocks. As I had been offered a further residency at Signal in 2019, I decided I would shelve the drawings and get back to them at a later date. I previously blogged about the progress of this work here.

The images from this series are all based upon things I particularly noticed in Antibes while going on a short walk, on a hot August morning a few years ago, from the apartment in Antibes, where I was staying, to Fort Carré on a promontory on the edge of the town.

Aloe plants were on the side of the footpath, and shadows were very strong in the sunlight. Palm leaves brushed the pavement in some areas.

From under a palm tree, I thought the branches and bark seemed somewhat prehistoric.

I could see why palm branches would be used as fans.

In the heat the succulent plants thrived.

The shadows of trees were amazing.

After years of visiting Antibes, it was delightful to finally see Fort Carré up close. It is a 16th C fort on a promontory overlooking the Mediterranean. Further information on the fort may be found here. One of the things I concentrated on at my Signal residency in 2019 was printmaking. I cut the lino blocks and printed them up before xmas and bound the series of prints into portfolios (edition of three) last month (Feb 2020). I previously posted information on the binding process here.

A Short Walk to Fort Carré - bound print portfolio

Since I decided on the prints and their order (blog post here), I gave myself till the end of February to get the portfolios completed. I had already created the portfolios, from heavy-weight acid-free blotting paper, at the end of my residency at Signal Arts Centre last year. Before binding, I cut pieces  of acid-free tissue paper as interleaves for protection of the print pages.

I scored the margins of the print pages

before affixing the tissue interleaves with Filmoplast, an acid-free tape.

I realised I also needed to score the margins of the portfolios, and mark the spots where the binding holes would be drilled (an awl can be used, but a drill press is faster and less fiddly).

After the holes were drilled small bits of wire were put in place to ensure that the pages would not move during binding.

Japanese stab-binding (full instructions here) is both simple and elegant. I chose a teal cotton embroidery thread (6 strands) to complement the colours of the prints.

Once everything is in place, the binding doesn't take long.

Completed edition of three: A Short Walk to Fort Carré.

A Short Walk to Fort Carré - in progress

Towards the end of my studio residency at Signal Arts Centre in 2018, I created a number of drawings based on my many visits to Antibes. The size of the drawings corresponded to the size of my lino blocks and I had the intention of returning to these images during my planned studio residency the following year, i.e., in 2019. My focus for the residency at Signal last Autumn was printmaking and bookbinding, and it was relatively easy for me to return to the Antibes drawings of the previous year. I prepared them and transferred the drawings to the lino blocks.

Each plate was carefully cut, and I decided that the connection between the images, while specific to Antibes, was more exactly descriptive of a short observational walk between the apartment where I usually stay in the South of France and Fort Carré.

The images consisted of flora en route, Vauban Harbour, and a corner of the fort itself. My end plan is to make a small edition of prints and bind them in a portfolio.

 I did a number of test prints using black ink. This enabled me to see if any additional cutting needed to be done on the lino plate.

I tried a number of colours before I decided on final tones for the series. I was delighted to be able to borrow a small printer to create the prints. I made a heavy card "window" for the lino blocks to sit in

so the press would not have to deal with the high relief of a lino block.

I have chosen the prints and decided their order of the eight images to reflect A Short Walk to Fort Carré. In the end I was not satisfied with the image of Port Vauban or a zoom shadow, so they will not be bound in this portfolio, in its edition of three.

Signal studio - wind down

My residency at the Signal Arts Centre studio came to an end recently -- don't know if it would have been possible to keep up such a supremely productive pace! I previously blogged about this year's residency here and here. I also had a residency last year, which I blogged about here, here, and here. I am booked in for next Oct, Nov, and Dec too!

In my last few weeks I had borrowed a press and printed up all the lino blocks I had cut. This is a test print, showing also the "window" I made from a heavy cardboard in order that the paper would be lifted off the press base. I adjusted the press roller for the depth of the lino blocks, but the cardboard had the effect of raising the press base such that printing a relief block was not awkward.

I printed all the lino blocks for my intended bound portfolio of prints, "A Short Walk To Fort Carré"

In those last few weeks I also completed a number of blank sketch/notebooks using my modified version of medieval tacket binding. I have blogged about how to do this type of binding here and here.

I also prepared nine pocket size blank sketch/notebooks to include in Signal's annual xmas craft fair. The photo below shows them before using the Japanese stab binding technique. Three have leather covers, three have vinyl covers, and three have acrylic sponge covers. Earlier in the residency I had also made a number of "handbag" books using this binding technique. Several years ago I blogged full instructions to make this type of book, which can be found here.

Once I had all the lino prints done, I wanted to make use of the press during the last couple of days of my residency. I had some oils and one of the carborundum plates I had created during a printmaking workshop I attended in September. I blogged about that workshop here.

As I was cleaning up and clearing out the studio, one of the final "clean" things I wanted to do was cut and create the covers for the series of lino prints I now realised I would not bind until the new year, but I at least wanted to get them made. I always get nervous about measuring and cutting (it's so final!) so I took it pretty slow.

The covers are made of a heavy duty, 100% acid-free blotting paper, and will fold around the print series, bound together using the simple Japanese stab binding technique. The portfolio of prints will be in an edition of three.

On my second last day of the studio, I decided to create a monoprint. Using undiluted alkyd paints on a square acetate plate, I painted the familiar figure. Unfortunately I did not blot my paper dry enough, and it ripped in the press. Rather than daunt me, it just made me realise a few things for next time, as I want to work more with that image.

This is the studio shortly before I moved out: almost everything off the walls, and a lot of work brought home already. On the table near the window, prints are being weighed down to flatten. After a final tidy, I said goodbye to an inspiring workspace and returned the key.

Signal studio - full swing!

Well I'm in my last week of the residency here at Signal Arts Centre, and it has been very productive! The time has gone by very quickly, but a ten week residency provides a perfect limitation - definite time to work on a few specific projects but the limitation does not allow for dawdling. My schedule was a basic 10-5 workday from Monday to Wednesday. Thursdays were a shortened day (including a shortened lunch), and Fridays were always a half day for me. When I first moved in to the studio at the end of September, I did a post that gave an indication of how I was going to work, setting up "stations" for my specific activities. During the residency I planned to concentrate on bookbinding and printmaking, with a daily self-portrait warm-up. For the month of October I added to this as I took part in Inktober, which I blogged about here.

This is the door to the studio, and each morning, after hanging my coat up on a nail, I made my way

to the self-portrait station. The full-length mirror was in the studio when I got there and was handier than the mini-mirror I had brought with me. I had a chair that faced the mirror and would choose what media I would use any day. The moveable computer table was also handy for access and to spread materials out on.

The large table behind the self-portrait station provided a miscellaneous work area. Visible on the foreground table in the photo below are books ready to be bound, one of my sketchbooks, and a cookie tin full of pencils, markers, charcoal, etc. There are two sinks in this studio, and when I arrived someone had placed a board over the second sink. I decided to leave the board and make use of the flat surface for finished books, which are visibly piled on top of each other.

The table in the lefthand corner of the room became a clean are for storing paper, research pictures, and drawings. Later even these things were removed so that there was a clean, flat surface to place finished prints. I taped test prints and drawings to the walls.

I borrowed a portable press from one of my nieces and gave it a clean table to itself. To the right of the picture is the working sink, and the area behind and to the left of the press table is the area where I would ink plates. Directly to the left of the press you can see the "window" I cut from heavy cardboard. The linoleum plates fit into this window, which I later affixed to the press plate, so that block printing would be smooth.

I forgot to take a picture of the other table, against the left wall and beside the clean, paper table above. This specific table was mostly clean, but the one that I worked at most constantly: transferring images to lino plates, cutting the lino, cutting leather and binding books. My final piece from the studio will be a series of linoprints, "A Short Walk to Fort Carré", bound together as a portfolio in an edition of three. I won't be binding the prints together till after I photograph them individually, but I have the portfolio covers cut and the final prints done, so I will be doing a post about them in the new year.