December (2021) selfies & goodbye studio!

 It seems so long ago now, but it was just last month that I finished my studio residency at Signal Arts Centre. (Do a search on this blog for other work done, both this year and previous years, during this residency.) As was my daily practice while at Signal, I did self-portrait sketches as a warm-up exercise. Though by the beginning of December I had already brought most supplies home, I made sure to keep my cookie tin of materials for the selfie sketches. For this one I used a soft charcoal pencil.

When working with watercolour for selfie sketches, I like to limit myself to three colours, blocking in the colour first and then using a watercolour pencil to define a few lines.

After drawing in the basics of my face with watercolour pencil for this sketch, I decided to highlight my festive earrings. I have different daily festive earrings to wear in the month of December!

I got into the habit of doing a blind contour drawing every Friday while in the Signal studio, so this was my very last selfie sketch of 2021.

After packing the last few things to bring home and a quick tidy up, I turned to the studio for one last look before closing and locking the door. I left the table coverings for the next resident.

collage cards

One of my visual activities during my studio residency at Signal Arts Centre was replenishing my supply of collage cards, which are always handy to have around for those special occasions or short correspondences. So when packing items to bring down to the studio, I made sure to include a supply of card stock, pva glue, glue stick and a folder full coloured paper scraps and bits of paper that I thought I would make use of. 

The first group of cards were simply based on a recent painting from the Memory Is My Homeland series. Florence Road: Butterfly Wall can be seen here and information on both the work for Memory Is My Homeland and the past four years of autumn residencies at Signal Arts Centre can be easily searched for on this blog.

As is my usual practice, I make several collage cards at a time with variations on a theme. The same but different!

Last summer I did a major clearout of books and magazines. I have been a subscriber to Aramco World for at least 20 years now (it is similar to National Geographic but with a focus on the promotion of understanding between Western and Muslim cultures). Before putting the magazines in the bin to be recycled, however, I meticulously went through each issue in order to rescue recipes (included in most issues) and colour images for later use. Some of these images made excellent background patterns for collage cards.

Here are a number of floral cards I made. At home my xmas cactus was blooming so I had done a few sketches in preparation for collages. The iris and wild rose are meaningful stand-bys for me.

I created another group of collage cards with the chimneys and wires motif that I haven't fully explored in my work.

Of course Fort Carré found it's way into the new collage cards - with the studio feeling positively wintry some days I can't help but reminisce with myself about the south of France! I haven't been to Antibes since 2018...

The last collage cards I made at the Signal studio are based on a photo I took of a rainbow and tree outside my house.

All Creatures Great and Small - exhibition at Rathfarnham Castle

I was at Rathfarnham Castle last week for some discussions about my own upcoming exhibition, Memory Is My Homeland, but I also had the opportunity to view the current exhibition, All Creatures Great and Small.

This is a group exhibition, curated by Jacquie Moore (Art Adviser for the OPW), from both the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the Northern Ireland Dept. of Finance collections.

There is a huge variety of work and media within the show. Each piece features an animal or insect though each artist has treated this subject matter in a unique way. For instance, one piece by John Kindness (he has two prints in the show) is a humorous double portrait etching of a rubber duck, suggesting both its outward and inward - skeletal - appearance.

I enjoyed seeing Kindness's other print (etching & aquatint), Big Fish, because it reminds me of visiting Belfast and seeing his huge public sculpture, Salmon of Knowledge (The Big Fish).

I love that the print has the same "feel" as the big sculpture, a colourful, huge, three-dimensional mosaic. While obviously the print is not "huge" there are details of print that it shares with the large sculpture, which are only recognisable on both artworks with close examination.

The Pistol Loop room is an intimate space where each work can be viewed closely on its own or within the group of neighbouring work

There are three false walls in the Pistol Loop room, which nicely converse with each other.

Last but not least, there was one lone surprise print (etching) in the grand Dining Room. Colin Martin's Dog (Motion Capture) beckons to the viewer on entering the room. There is plenty of humour here: I was wondering what on earth the dog could be wearing, then realised (by the title) what it was and indeed this dog - normally in constant motion - has been "captured" in stillness, on the wall, in a moment in time. It stands on the verge of motion.

This show continues until the end of January and there is a free full-colour catalogue accompanying the exhibition.

November selfies (2021)

Happy New Year! Before I start with this year, however, I have to catch up on the last couple of months of 2021! As per the past few years, I had a studio residency at Signal Arts Centre for 10 weeks, in Oct, Nov and Dec. One of my self-appointed daily tasks was to do a warm-up self-portrait sketch everyday that I was in the studio. I blogged about the October selfies here. For other information on the residencies for the past few years, a search on this blog for Signal Arts Centre should turn up loads of information and pictures.

This is a soft pencil sketch.

Limiting myself to a few watercolours and one brush, I can work very quickly blocking in an image. I like to put in some drawing over the watercolour to add some definition. In this sketch I used a watercolour pencil for the line work.

I got into the habit of doing a blind contour drawing on Fridays. For this sketch I used a brown felt tip marker. When else will I ever use BROWN!?

I had my folder full of different paper scraps at the studio and some glue, so I decided one day to do a selfie collage.

Back to a limited water colour use but this time using a fine tip black marker pen to do some line work.

Lots to choose from in my cookie tin of materials, so this day I decided on a soft charcoal pencil.

This entire sketch is drawn with watercolour pencils but mostly I used them as dry colouring pencils. I wetted the tip of a purple one to draw in a few defining lines.

Season's Greetings

 Season's Greetings and a very happy xmas to everyone. Remembering loved ones both near and far, walking this earth or speckled among the stars, always with much joy. Above all keep safe and well in this our second pandemic holiday.

Annual Craft Fair

Every year, for several weeks in the month of December, Signal Arts Centre gets in to the seasonal spirit and switches its purpose from a gallery to be a venue for local artisans and hosts a lively craft fair.

Every kind of handcraft is represented - jewellery, knitting, ceramics, crochet, bookbinding, metalwork soapmaking (to name a few).

The gallery is set up like a gift shop, with something for every budget and every taste. 

Seasonal fare in the form of handmade cards and decorations are available, but many items make wonderful year-round gifts.

These pictures were taken last week when the fair first opened but the setup has already changed as I notice some items missing from these pictures, having been sold, and new stock has been brought in since. The fair is open daily (including Sundays) from 10 am to 5 pm until xmas eve, and well worth a look!

bookbinding

 One of the things I clearly intended to do during this year's studio residency at Signal Arts Centre, was make some more books. I had a fabric sampler folder and thought I would make a number of cloth covered books for Signal's annual Christmas Craft Fair. Having this in mind, I bought a pair of pinking shears in order to cut the cloth but the other very important aspect of bookbinding is measure, measure and measure!

I decided fairly early on that I was going to do a simple Japanese stab binding technique and, after matching various coloured threads to various patterned cloth designs, it was a fairly simple operation. this picture shows how a piece of wire acts as a specific placeholder until I get my needle and thread to it.

On larger books I also use pieces of cardboard and lion clips to hold the covers in place while I bind. On this one I decided to use some beads for embellishment.

Here are the cloth-covered books I made for the craft fair. They are all A5 in size, but the top two are bound as landscape while the others are portrait.

I used brightly coloured paper as endpapers in the blank notebook/sketchbooks.

I had a few bits of other material so I made an A5 leather-covered book and 2 A5 vinyl-oilcloth books.

The Christmas Craft Fair runs at Signal Arts Centre daily (Sunday included) from 10am-5pm until December 24th.