Centenary of the War Memorial Art Gallery

Last month, I was invited to a preview of a new exhibition at Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery to celebrate 100 years of the building.

The building is unique in the UK in that it is a war memorial honouring the fallen from previous world wars and also a public space to display artworks both amateur and professional alike.

During the evening. a number of speeches were given, one was by my artist friend Peter Davis MAFA CBPP who is a former archivist of Stockport Art Guild. Peter spoke about the strong relationship between the Art Gallery and the Art Guild.

Me at the exhibition preview of ‘Beautiful Things’

Incidentally, over 10 years ago, before I began this project, I created an etching print of the war memorial art gallery.

‘Stockport Art Gallery’ (Etching Aquatint)

The current exhibition at the gallery is a celebration of the building’s history and role in the local community.

Local children have contributed a colourful creative display of artwork in the exhibition. There is also a good selection of prints on display including some well known artists such as painter and graphic designer Patrick Caulfield

Working with Grok

I have recently been experimenting with Artificial Intelligence tool on my phone and transformed some of my prints into short animated sequences. The results are impressive and bazaar. Sound and music has been added automatically to each clip and on one clip I can hear some dialogue. Take a look below ⬇️

PrintFest visit

Earlier this month, I visited PrintFest in Ulverston. Founded in 2001, the festival brings together top artists/printmakers from around the United Kingdom who showcase and sell their contemporary prints at Coronation Hall (‘The Coro’). Printmakers also share their practices and learn from each other.

I purchased a large etching print while I was there as an early birthday present for my mum.

While at the event, I met up with my artist friend Pete Marsh who was one of the artists exhibiting.

The festival provides visitors the chance to chat with the artists and to attend workshops to learn about the art of printmaking.

A week later, I meet up with Pete at his new artist studio at the Falcon Mill Artist Studios and Gallery (FaMAS) open studios event in Bolton. Pete initially setup the FaMAS studios in 2011. The artist studios have increased in numbers since I last visited. There are now 40 studios at the mill.

I purchase one of Pete’s etchings of a horse rider while I was at the open studio event.

The following weekend, I along with a group of friends visited the Portland Basin museum in Ashton-Under-Lyne. I spotted a Letter press machine in one of the shop recreations inside the museum.

The museum on two floors and is a fascinating and well laid out space. The museum backs onto the Ashton canal and there is a chance to go on a short canal trip.

A few weeks ago, I met with a member of staff from Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery who gave me information on the upcoming Centenary Open Exhibition to be held at the gallery next month in celebration of the war memorial art galleries 100 years. I decided to visit my favourite picture framer to get some of my prints ready for future exhibitions. According to the rules, you can only submit one artwork.

Last week, the walking group that I am a member of organised an evening walk of 4 miles around Vernon Park and Woodbank Park.

The walk has given me inspiration to produce a series of Eco Image Transfer prints based on these two local parks. Here is a selection of my prints below.

In a few months, I plan to host another Eco Image Transfer workshop at Stockport Art Gallery similar to the recent Art for All Day.

As part of my study of Woodbank Hall, I made a sketch of the buildings exterior.

I hope to combining my sketch with Eco Image Transfer technique.

I recently purchased an a4 Pooki relief press which I will be using at home to produce new Lino prints.

As another month closes, I look forward to the next few months and more printmaking in the works and maybe another photo walk around town perhaps.

Cheers for now.

Eco Image Transfer prints

On a very cold Saturday morning, I drove down to Green Door Printmaking Studio in Derby to attend a half day Eco Image Transfer Taster workshop.

The process to create the eco image transfer prints is pretty straightforward to achieve.

The method consists of using concentrated Citra Solv natural cleaner degreaser which you can buy online and mono laser printed designs preferably printed on off-white recycled office paper.

Citra Solv cleaner degreaser — Citrasolv (236ml)

The basic process is to place the laser print face down on the paper or wood of choice. You then fix the laser print into position with masking tape. I then applied to the back of the laser print the Citra Solv solution with a medium sized brush. I then rubbed the back of the laser print with a soft HB pencil with firm pressure. This results in the image on the laser print transferring to the chosen print material such as cartridge paper Fabriano paper or bamboo.

You can let your imagination run wild and come up with surreal and original images.

I used a series of copyright free image supplied at the workshop and combined them together to create new compositions.

You can prepare a design in advance using photo editing software and then print out copies to use to print editions.

Note: Text will needto be reversed on the laser print before you transfer the image.

Below is a gallery of prints I created on the day.

Published prints

I am thrilled to have my etching prints published in a book which celebrated the Derby Print Open 2024 exhibition which was held last month.

Review of 2023 in pictures

Here’s a gallery of prints and images from this year.

My main highlights from this year was having work accepted into The Real Public Art Show (Stockport Open), the first Bury Open exhibition and the 102nd Stockport Art Guild exhibition.

2024 marks 10 years since I started this printmaking project / blog, and in that time I have created a catalogue of printmaking which I am going to present in a future exhibition. The project is not over yet, as I will be producing some new artworks in the coming months. Watch this space 👀

By the way have a happy and relaxing Christmas and here’s to 2024 and more creativity. Cheers 🥳🎄☃️🎇🎁

Prints and tours

Earlier this month, I hosted a meetup event of Staircase House museum which is situated in the marketplace. Staircase House dates back to the 15th Century and houses artefacts right up to World War II. Each room houses a different century and you get the experience of stepping back in time. It’s a gem of a museum and certainly worth a repeat visit. While on the tour of the house, we were shown hidden beams and section reveals showing how the building was constructed.

I am continuing to work on the Vernon Park linocut, which I have been slowly building up layers of colour these past few months. For each colour added, I then remove parts of the linoleum which I no longer need in preparation for the next colour layer. I tend to remove the linoleum at home to save time when I attend the workshop. So far I have printed 3 colours; Light grey, dark grey and a brick red colour on thin black cartridge paper. I have about 8 good prints so far. My next colour will probably be dark Green for the foliage in the background and on the path below the bench.

Vernon Park linocut. Added a brick red colour.

At the same time as printing the Vernon Park linocut, I continued working on The Blossoms etching. I managed to print off a proof print at the workshop. There seems to be a blemish on the print which I will need to fix probably by re-aquatinting the area affected. The print itself looks good so far, and hope to complete this print next month on my next visit to the studio.

December photo walk

While visiting the art gallery last weekend and doing some Christmas shopping, I did a mini photo walk around town to capture buildings I will be making prints of using my photographs as a reference. I headed down to the old Debenhams store which is now closed and took some images.

From there, I walked back up the A6 and saw that progress has been made on the new 1 billion pound bus interchange next to the Hatworks museum and you can see the apartment block being constructed.

As I made my way back up the A6, I made a slight detour and had a look at the Stockport Village area behind the Plaza theatre is in the progress of being demolished. I took a few pictures from behind a metal fence.

Stockport Village (now being demolished)

Stockport Village was once a thriving little shopping precinct hidden away and has been abandoned for over 15 years. There used to be boutique shops, gym and cafe. I remember it in its heyday and is sad to now see it all abandoned and being knocked down. Hopefully some of it can be kept and redeveloped as with the other parts of the town.

Here is a last shot of the viaduct with the sun starting to set.

History walk around town

On Saturday, I organised a guided tour around Stockport starting from Stockport railway station and finishing at the river Mersey behind the precinct with the British History, Social Group on Meetup https://meetu.ps/c/23GkP/b3nJ4/aCheck