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.