Another early image, made using only tools within Paintshop Pro or Photoshop Elements. I still like this one, although to be honest, it works better on screen than in print form. I need to do some work perhaps to enrich the depth of colour, perhaps boosting saturation levels a little and printing on matt, watercolour style paper. The concept would also work I think as a collagraph or perhaps even as a solar etching.
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Another early digital print, made from a photograph of the National War Memorial Gardens in Dublin, taken from across the River Liffey. More or less behind me is Phoenix Park. This is also an early example of my 'just because you can't see the colours in the scene, doesn't mean they aren't there' approach, hence the sky...
Available printed on matt finish art paper in two sizes. The A4 size includes a mount to fit a standard 30cm by 40cm frame (other sizes possible - let me know in the message to buyer). The A3 size is unmounted to keep shipping costs down. Price includes shipping to anywhere in the world.
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One of my more succesful early digital prints, based on a detail from a photograph I took in Tinahely, in Co Wicklow. I made this entirely with the tools built in to Photoshop Elements (I hadn't by that stage discovered the wide range of add-ons available) but I think it avoids the 'one click and you're done' feel of many such pictures.
Available printed on matt finish art paper in two sizes. The A4 size includes a mount to fit a standard 30cm by 40cm frame (other sizes possible - let me know in the messager to buyer). The A3 size is unmounted to keep shipping costs down. Price includes shipping to anywhere in the world.
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Acrylic monoprint, coloured pencil, cut out image, gold pen and photocopied text.
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I've finally got myself organised enough to queue up posts with Typepad's scheduling feature, although for the moment I'm simply picking up pictures from my Flickr account. That at least will avoid the long gaps that have been appearing too often of late. I'm also using these flickr pictures to make yet another shift in the blog focus, to more explicitly include my own prints and other art work. I expect the more overtly political pieces will still appear, but with less pressure on me to 'perform'.
Image via Wikipedia
Probably foolishly, I'm also taking part in National Novel Writing Month again (NaNoWriMo to the cognoscenti!). That starts on November 1st, so anything I write will probably show up here, although I will probably put them on Pages, rather than as blog posts. I'm cheating slightly as I will be starting with edited versions of my alternate history 'A Frozen Spring' which is based around the idea of a German occupied Tyneside during the severe winter of 1947. This isn't based on the Nazis winning WW2 - in this universe Britain and Germany are nominally allies. You can read the background here. The chapters written so far are linked under More Information on the side bar.
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Show us endless neon vistas
Castles made of laser lights
Take us to the shopping sector
In the vortex of the night
Past the shiny mylar towers
Past the ravaged tenements
To a place we can't remember
For a time we won't forget
Warren Zevon
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It's 5:00 P.M. on a weekday, friend
There's one of me and two million of them
The whistle blows and the factories close
There's a million more commuters on the access roads
The brake lights flash--there's an RV crashed
I'm in the passing lane going nowhere fast
The traffic crawls and the engine stalls
I'm stuck on the edge of the urban sprawl
Warren Zevon
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A week or so ago, while browsing through Flickr, I came across some pictures of rock carvings in Northumberland and North Yorkshire taken by Brian Kerr.
These are of course brilliant photographs of difficult subjects, but it was the carvings themselves that grabbed me. Living as I do not far from two of the most famous examples of standing stones in the world, at Avebury and Stonehenge, I was aware that the so-called Stone Age was by no means as benighted a time as popular culture would have it. However Stonehenge and Avebury, andf their counterparts in Carnac, Brittany seem somehow remote and even a bit ‘corporate’. In contrast, these relatively crudely carved symbols spoke to me in a very personal way. They are the work of individuals and somehow that individuality still shines though after 6000 years. My first reaction was to start drawing these simple shapes in a sketch book with charcoal or pastel. I uploaded some of these to Flickr. Some examples are here.
I’m now planning to take these themes further into some prints, probably collagraph or monotype, although if I can get the kit ready, I may also try some solar etchings. In the interim, I have been playing with them digitally.
I can see this one as a monotype, although a mixture of collagraph and monoprinting is another possibility. 
I can see this one as a collagraph, using fabric and discs of canvas or card. The circles could be drawn or painted in afterwards. Another possibility is for the textured background to be made as a collagraph and the circle shapes collaged on top. This is as far as I’ve got, although I have some other collagraph plates ready to go. Watch this space for more to come.
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I've been working on a series of collagraph prints, all based on the same two plates used in combination. I've been experimenting with using the inks very thin (using plate oil) and building up the colours in layers, almost like glazes. At last count I have 7 in the series, although some remain to be scanned in.
The two above are on Etsy - follow this link to see them and others in my 'Dales memories' series
The print above is already on my web site. Click on the image to go there. The others are on Etsy but will be on the web site soon. There is another here.
For the rest of this term I'm working on some monotypes. The prints above have up to 5 or 6 impressions so I'm waiting until next term to start a new set - probably using more spring greens perhaps than these autumnal colours.
This is one I did earlier (currently you can see it here ) - rolled ink plus paper cutouts to form the sails. I also have a couple at the studio to collect today that will fit into my Dales memories series based on Fylingdale and the golf balls. Watch this space.
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I'm looking for places to try and place my prints. If anyone knows of good places to try in the Wiltshire/Gloucestershire/Avon/Somerset/Dorset/Hants/Berks/Oxon area please drop me a line or put something in the comments.
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