Mono and Lino printing editions

I tought I would follow the 20x20 post with a post about the printing that I am working on and the edition I sent to the 20x20 exhibition at the Hotbed Press in Salford. I have been enjoying experimenting with Gelli prints and although it is difficult to edition something so variable, I chose to make an edition of monoprints of the childrens shoes. The theme of the shoes has been a continuing one since lockdown and the paintings I made about childhood, so the shoes represent the artist as a child. I was focussing on a particular event from my childhood that I remember distinctly of being out on a walk with the family on a summers day. We were walking in the Peak District. As everyone else got up and continued the walk I remained lying down in the long grass enjoying the sunshine and the feeling of just being. I was unaware of the concern I caused as the rest of the family were searching for me. So, this litle memory has become a series of prints.

I started by using the Gelli plate to create a background of grasses. Using Caligo inks, watersoluble.

Then continued to monoprint draw the small shoes on top.Using watersoluble lino block printing in that has been left overnight to almost dry, drawing blind on the reverse of the paper to pick up the line in ink. I like this technique as it gives a line that cannot be achieved any other way and creates a freshness and immediacy to the drawing.

I then diverged from printmaking and used a handpainting technique with an acrylic paint mixed with an extender to create a light almost transparent layer to fill the shoes. These techniques really only worked on finer layout paper as so I was unhappy with the result at first as I tried it on Japanese Kozo paper. The Kozo paper was unable to pick up the monoprinted drawing. I completed the edition on layout paper for the 20 20 exhibition. (One problem being that the paper was not very robust for the way they display the images, just using bulldog clips. Something I have learnt to change for next year) I had already made the backgrounds on Kozo paper so I created another edition on the same theme, this time creating a simple lino cut for the top layer and ommitted the monoprint drawing.

I have made some similar prints using monoprinting techniques on the same theme. This time creating an opaque hand painted layer to infill the white socks. These are slightly different as they depict ater experiences at school when asked to stand up and answer a maths question. The shoes are roughly drawn to represent the awkwardness of the child. Socks unevenly pulled up feet maybe turned in.

Some of these images are available for sale from my space on the website for Yor Mill Craft Shop and Gallery. www.yoremillcraftshopandgallery.co.uk Thanks for reading the blog Julie

20x20 Printmaking Exhibition

This year I teamed up with Green Door Arts Group to enter the 20x20 printmaking open call exhibition which is run by Hotbed Press in Salford.

Each printmaker makes an edition of 20 of their prints and send it with the group collected works to Hotbed Press who then collate and exhibit the works in their premises. They then send each participant 20 prints in return. The returned prints could be from all over the UK and beyond, they could be amateur or proffessional printmakers, total beginners or acomplished printmakers. We then had a small exhibition of our own at Yore Mill Craft Shop and Gallery in the studio space, showing our entries and those we recieved in return.

We were also twinned with another group of the same size, Square Group, and we have also exhibited their work too. I have no contact for their group and so am unable to acknowledge their ownership of their images.Likewise, there are too many artists to list here for the collections. I hope you will forgive me if you recognise your work.

Participating artists from Green Door are: Myself; Julie Edwardson, Kath Lockhart, Robert Finch, Gilli Slater and Frances Winder.

We opened the exhibition on the 2nd and 3rd of December 2023 and it runs until we close for Christmas on the 22nd Dec 2023 Julie Edwardson