I really enjoy lots of explorations, so I'm often testing out different techniques and ideas and looking at ways of layering things together. I move between different resources and techniques, sometimes due to the season and weather and also depending on the natural resources available. I often mono-print with leaves when the season is right, then switch to lino cutting and collagraph at different times of the year. The images in this blog post are some recent printing explorations with several different techniques, including lino cutting, collagraph, mono-printing and geli printing. I've worked with lino, collagraph and mono-printing for many years and love the different possibilities and qualities they all hold. In the last couple of years I've discovered the delights of geli printing, a delightful form of mono-printing where no press is needed (I have access to a couple of great presses with Sherwood Printmakers in Nottingham, when I'm able to get into the studio there, so having a range of other printing techniques that don't need a press is great as they're easier to use in my work space at home). I'm just beginning to experiment with using tetra packs as printing plates and really enjoying the potential there too.
I've been exploring printmaking for many years, working with lots of different techniques, often combing and layering things. I'm especially drawn to techniques that enable lots of possibilities and create lots of different results - things that trigger further ideas and possibilities. I adore it when unexpected things appear. As with all of my work it's ways of exploring connections and responses to nature that deeply interests and drives me. I really enjoy lots of explorations, so I'm often testing out different techniques and ideas and looking at ways of layering things together. I move between different resources and techniques, sometimes due to the season and weather and also depending on the natural resources available. I often mono-print with leaves when the season is right, then switch to lino cutting and collagraph at different times of the year. The images in this blog post are some recent printing explorations with several different techniques, including lino cutting, collagraph, mono-printing and geli printing. I've worked with lino, collagraph and mono-printing for many years and love the different possibilities and qualities they all hold. In the last couple of years I've discovered the delights of geli printing, a delightful form of mono-printing where no press is needed (I have access to a couple of great presses with Sherwood Printmakers in Nottingham, when I'm able to get into the studio there, so having a range of other printing techniques that don't need a press is great as they're easier to use in my work space at home). I'm just beginning to experiment with using tetra packs as printing plates and really enjoying the potential there too.
0 Comments
Cyanotypes / solar printing - explorations with sunlight and leaves as the seasons change.9/22/2022 There are many processes I use in my work (both the work I create myself and the sessions I run with the groups I work with); solar printing is something I've been exploring for years and really adore. It harks right back to the early development of photography, it invites huge exploration and experimentation and you never know exactly how things will turn out.
The images in this blog post are some recent cyanotypes / solar prints using plants from my garden and images I've taken of local trees (which I've manipulated to work with the cyanotype process). Much as I love my digital SLR camera equipment, I really adore processes like this which are so experimental and connect with early photography. I also really love processes like this where you are working hand in hand with the elements and natural materials: you never quite know how things will turn out I use both cyanotype chemicals and solar inks in this work - the process is the same, just with slightly different light-reactive liquids; they are both forms of alternative photography. You prepare a surface with the light-reactive liquid in a dark space, let the surface dry and then place items onto this surface. You then expose this to natural light so that the UV rays create an image as the light-sensitive surface you've created reacts to the sunlight and parts of the surface are blocked by the items you've placed onto it. Exposure times vary widely - it can take a three or four minutes in incredibly bright summer sun and 20 minutes or more on a cloudy day or low sun. It's a wonderfully unpredictable process - which I find delightful, though you have to be prepared for very many different results. The images below were created at various times of the spring, summer and early autumn: the quality of light and amount of UV present changes, so your exposure times change and you have to adapt constantly. I love working so closely with the elements in processes like this, you never quite know how things will turn out because of the way light changes as the seasons and cloud cover changes. It's one of those processes where there's lots of preparation involved and lots of keeping a close eye on the weather... This process is sometimes referred to as sun printing or solar printing and also as photograms - which is where objects are placed on light-reactive surfaces to leave behind an image once the surface is exposed to UV light. You can use many different things but it's plants that I'm most interested in and which I use in many different processes that I work with. Once the images have dried I use them in different ways and I've been layering them with other prints, with text and with objects. Sometimes I frame them as they are and other times they invite exploration to turn into books or into layered collage and more. I've been continuing to explore ways of creating eco prints over the past few months and am rather addicted to the processes involved! Its such a wonderful way to explore a natural space by investigating the colours hidden within the plants there... I've been using an on-going combination of plants I grow in my own garden, plants from the community garden in Nottingham and a few leaves I collect when out on woodland walks. Different colours and patterns appear at different times of the year, so you never know exactly how things will emerge - which just adds to the wonder.
Its something I'm really keen to investigate much further, there's so much to be discovered and so many ways different colours and patterns can be revealed... Its a little bit of alchemy! I've run a few workshops with groups as an introduction to eco printing and its so wonderful seeing people excited by the process and wondering around collecting leaves and gathering materials to use. I think its one of those techniques where the gathering of the resources to use (in this case leaves and petals) becomes such a crucial part of the entire process that you are deeply caught up in the act of collecting - and thereby you become absorbed (and wonderfully lost) in the looking and gathering and wondering ("will this leaf do anything?"). Some of these images were taken last weekend at Arkwright Meadows Community Garden in Nottingham where I ran an introduction to eco printing and natural dyes workshop with a great group of participants. We wondered around the rich resources of plants there, gathering leaves and fallen petals to see what might happen... It was great that people went home to carry on their experiments and then over subsequent days people have been sharing their results on the AMC Gardens facebook page, its so lovely to see things that people have gone on to make. https://www.facebook.com/AMC-Gardens-Arkwright-Meadows-Community-Gardens-121448337881840/ Its been an incredibly busy but wonderful time at the Inspirational Outdoors Conference at the start of this week. My head is busily digesting everything and eager to put some new ideas into practice.
This is the second year of the conference, it was fantastic last year and has now grown into a 2 day event packed full of workshops, talks, discussions and so many amazing ways of sharing ideas; the delegates came from across the UK with some international presence too and the ideas were flowing all over with such excitement. I was really delighted to be running sessions this year, as well as attending the whole conference, it was a deeply immersive experience and the layers of inspiration run deep. I camped at the venue along with a few other participants, which enabled us to cook our meals outside as we watched dusk set in and continued to discuss so many aspects of creativity outside. The 20 minute walk down the hillside to the beach is an added bonus and enabled us to be sat on the sand watching the sun sink below the horizon as we unpicked our ideas and thoughts around the millions of ways connections with nature encourage creativity, calm, learning and ignite curiosity. I ran sessions which were a bit of a whistle-stop tour of exploring ways of working with clay outside and of working with natural materials to generate colours; the participants were wonderful with their ideas and enthusiasm and warm energy as we explored lots of different things. It left me buzzing with further ideas and being able to share thoughts about ways of working creatively outside with groups feels very important. It feeds deeply into all the long term groups I'm working with in Nottingham and Derbyshire. I was able to participate in so many sessions, discussions and listen to talks, its such a vital thing to have time to do this, it reinforces so much and ignites so many ideas. Meeting and listening to Niki Buchan speak was wonderful, she'd travelled in from Australia to talk with a wealth of knowledge and examples of outdoor education from across the world. We were all transfixed. The fantastic Gill Mulholland from The Eden Project ran brilliant sessions on using the outside to ignite stories and poems and so much more, I also learnt to make pewter casts over an open fire, something I've wanted to have a go at for ages, the really lovely Lisa Chell ran a great session on this. Phil Waters ran a wonderful storytelling quest with the entire set of delegates and there was so much more going on, its hard to know where to start to digest it all! The venue is the deeply inspirational Mount Pleasant Eco Park which holds unexpected delights at every turn - worth a visit just to see everything that's being developed there. The conference is organised by the wonderful Niki Willows an outdoor play specialist and Martin Besford of Highway Farm (again, one of the most inspirational educational settings I've visited in the UK). Details of next years conference are here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inspirational-outdoors-2019-cornwalls-outdoor-play-learning-conference-tickets-47063722862?aff=erelexpmlt HUGE THANKS for the photographs below, I was too busy to take many images this year, so most of the images below were taken either by Martin Scull for the conference or by Simon Turk of Treecreepers which I am incredibly grateful for. After returning from Wales with some new energy I've found time to dig out lots of pots and pans that I use for natural dyes and to experiment with the wonderful technique of eco printing, something I've been meaning to explore for AGES! Its already really addictive and hopefully I can make lots of time to play around with ideas before autumn sets firmly in and leaves and petals are then harder to find.
I got together with the very wonderful Claire Crowley and Claire Uttley, two other creative forest school leaders who also wanted to explore this technique. We spent at day at AMC Gardens (where I work a little bit of each week) and used the plants around us there to test lots of ideas out. Once back home we've all continued to experiment - the day together was exactly the impetus we each needed. Bundle dyeing is a technique lots of people know through the work of the amazing artist India Flint, who creates really beautiful work and has published some very inspirational books, there are quite a lot of people exploring the technique now, partly through a desire to create work that has low impact on the environment, partly as part of a desire to slow down and take a more mindful approach to creating work and also as part of the interest in using the plants around us as a source for creations. I've been using plants to print with for many years, but mostly by working with printing inks and then layering up plants and papers through the printing press, which does give results I really love. I've been exploring natural dyes for some time, but mostly onto raw sheep's fleece and then using this for felt making (though I'm determined to learn to use a spinning wheel too!). This technique of eco bundle dyeing / printing is one I've been researching and its wonderful to finally feel I've begun my journey with this. I love working with plants that surround me in different places, its part of forming a deep connection with the land and its definitely something I indent to continue to develop. I grow many plants in my own little wildlife garden that are good for dye stuff and this printing process is like asking them to yield up new secrets! The actual process is very much about trial and error and also about stopping, slowing down and not needing a quick fix. Taking time to walk and explore and gather the plants is important, some research into which plants are good for dyes is important too (although testing many out will give interesting and surprising results). I'm especially enjoying the results onto paper and it will feed into all the little books I've been making. The paper and fabric is bundled up tightly and steamed (for at least an hour, but often much longer) and then left to cool before opening (the longer its left, the more the colours "cure"). There's lots of ways of adding mordants and colour modifiers and then also over-dyeing and re-dyeing etc, so its all very much about testing and experimenting and then recording results - its that wonderful cross over between art and science. I'm just off to gather more leaves! SO very lovely being part of Belper Arts Trail again this year. HUGE thanks to the team at Oxfam Books for playing host to me again, it means a lot exhibiting in there, I really value the global work Oxfam does and really love the way charity shops enable old items to have a new lease of life.
Today (Sunday April 30th) was the first day of the trail, its on again all day tomorrow. There's 140 artists exhibiting in so many different venues across the town centre, the town is alive with creativity and community. I've got lots of my altered books with me and lots of photographs and prints. I've had some more greetings cards printed of my photographs, including some of local woodland, of the Belper starling murmeration and of my altered books. I've had some wonderful conversations today with people visiting Oxfam - chats about stories, old books, local woodland, the Belper starlings and so much more. Huge thanks to everyone who came and stopped to chat. If you get a chance the trail is REALLY worth checking out - and the arts trail is just the very start of Belper Arts Festival, there's lots more going on throughout May, including the Woollen Woods, various gigs and Belper Open Houses. Its a wonderful town, such a buzz of genuine community and creativity. http://www.belperarts.org/ It was wonderful being part of the Melbourne Festival this past weekend, there was a really lovely atmosphere and a real buzz about the town. HUGE thanks to everyone involved in organising it, there was such a lot going on and a really great selection of artists, live music, food and storytelling. I was exhibiting in the Assembly Rooms as part of a set of artists all creating work inspired by woodland, nature and woodland creatures. It was a great group to be part of, we had some wonderful conversations about woodland walks, spotting badgers, watching hares, finding intriguing trees and so much more.
It was really busy all weekend with people of all ages coming in to view the artwork - and sample the wonderful cake on offer in the café too! I had some really great conversations with people about books, stories, woodland, old books, unusual finds, about paper, old phrases and so much more. Its lovely to be able to share some of my creations like this, its great when I can see the altered books are generating smiles and thoughts... I had some wonderful comments about how the whole installation was triggering off other thoughts and ideas. VERY MANY thanks to everyone who came to look and to stop and chat, it was so lovely meeting everyone. I've just been installing some of my work in Sherwood for the Art in Shops part of Sherwood Art Week.
Its a really wonderful arts festival which I've been involved with for several years - I adore that its organised at grass roots level and showcases work of artists from all walks of life who have a connection with Sherwood. Its an incredibly vibrant community there and Sherwood (which is just north of Nottingham City Centre) has a very active community of creatives and independent businesses. My work is in the window of Divine Coffee House - a great venue which also hosts Book Crossing books (a wonderful project) and is a lovely independent business. I've got some work in Whitegates also and with a group installation with Sherwood Printmakers in HH Estate Agents and the TSB. There are so many artists exhibiting in Sherwood shops for this part of the festival - and some wonderful yarn bombing adorning Mansfield Road. The work in shops is up all week and there's such a rich variety of creations. Next weekend on Sunday 26th June I've got a stall at the Remarkable Recycling Gala (the website link features one of my books on the home page) which is a great event and there'll be lots of artists there but also demonstrations, food, performances and lots of great information. I've been further exploring ideas gathered in Wales - and there's much more experimenting I would like to do with all of this, for me this is about gathering ideas and testing out different things, rather than creating finished pieces.
I've been playing around with found words, layers of colours, adding to lino-cuts that I began in Wales (working onto old books I gathered there), mono-printing to make tiny books and sorting through the photographs I took to gather thoughts, impressions, words and colours. The colours of the sea-scapes have really seeped into me and I'm really drawn to the subtle ways these layers of colours shifted and constantly changed as you gazed at them. It really is like a form of meditation. The soundscapes of Wales were really strong for me too - the waves, the bird calls (there were so many), the pebbles being pulled and churned by the tide, the breeze, the buzz of insects on the coastal plants, the grasshoppers, the sounds made as plants swayed... there were so many gentle layers of natural sounds. Its incredibly special to make time to work with other artists in this way - to share ideas, thoughts, resources, inspirations and musings. Because we are all working with groups a huge chunk of the time its vital to keep your own ideas fresh and to test out new things - but equally its really easy to let this slip if you don't create dedicated time for it. And much as you can make time to work in isolation I do think that you benefit in a far deeper way by sharing time with like-minded souls; a process of osmosis takes place and ideas seep between you. Your attention is drawn to new things because of what the others around you notice and by pooling your thoughts and reflecting together I think you are pushed to explore and experiment with greater depth than you might alone. Working with groups is central to my beliefs as an artist / educator, I feel so strongly about the importance of time for children and adults to connect with nature, to connect with their own creativity, to share and to celebrate. By testing out new ideas I hope I can thereby bring new techniques, inspirations, ideas and new starting points to groups. Am just back from a week long retreat on the coast of Snowdonia with close friends who are all artists; we’ve been sharing ideas, discussing thoughts and work related issues, making new things, experimenting, exploring and gathering inspirations. Such a precious way to spend time – and something that feels vital but is quite rare to make time for.
We’ve found a cottage that we’ve returned to (a wonderful thing when you discover somewhere like that); it has a truly inspirational wildlife-friendly garden with perfect views of the sea and mountains. There’s hills behind with red kites, ravens and buzzards soaring so close at hand, and at the bottom of the garden at sea are so many interesting wading and sea birds – with the added delight of seals and dolphins. My binoculars were close by constantly and there was so much to be found in the details in the landscape around us. I really love living in Derbyshire, but the sea is a huge pull for me and to spend days on end gazing at a vast expanse of waves has been incredibly special. Its incredibly meditative watching the landscape like that, the colours and lines in the sea, clouds and distant mountains changed constantly. We all created a huge range of work in response to our time there – and also in response to the ideas we were sharing together. Textiles, old books, paint, photography, printing inks, yarns, words, found objects, drawing and stitching all wove themselves together as we worked and gathered thoughts. In vast open landscapes like that I find myself drawn to the bigger sweeps of colours and textures – but also to the teeny tiny details that hide away, clinging to the crevices and nooks and crannies. The cottage beach was a treasure trove of drift wood, pebbles, crab shells, seaweed in a rainbow of colours and little plants such as thrift growing in tiny cracks in the rocks. Amongst other things I began a series of lino-cuts whilst there and am now working on these back in Derbyshire. I'm also further exploring working with old books and found text - adding words onto drift wood and pebbles and making tiny books out of old books. |
Claire Simpson
Archives
October 2022
Categories
All
|