Finally finding time to return to my collage project using paper rescued from the recycling box. The final box of collages will form part of my submission for the ‘Found’ exhibition at UWE in December.
S is for…
Latest rubber stamp illustration in my Anglo-Swedish ‘exchange of words’ collaboration with Eva Hejdstrom ... S is for scission - the action or state of cutting or being cut. The more I do of these, the more I like the wonkier registration, and the use of negative space seems to becoming a bit of a thing.
R is for...
R is for 'rivning' meaning demolition in Swedish. The latest rubber stamp illustration in my 'exchange of words' collaboration with Eva Hejdstrom.
Q is for...
Latest rubber stamp illustration in my Exchange of Words collaboration with Eva Hejdstrôm - Q is for querist: someone who asks questions.
Memento Mori – Part II
Miniature, digitally printed version of my embroidered Frankenstein book ‘Memento mori’ finished and posted off to North Carolina to be part of the Asheville BookWorks exhibition ‘It’s Alive: Frankenstein, 200 Years’. An ironic title in my case because the content of this book is most definitely not alive. Flat sheets were printed by printed.com on gesso paper, and I've bound them with bookcloth covered hard covers, vintage endpapers and a laser foiled belly band. I'm planning on making a small edition of these...
P is for...
Some early morning carving and stamping... the latest rubber stamp illustration in my exchange of words collaboration with Eva Hejdstrôm ... P is for ‘pratglad’ – Swedish for someone who is talkative. Nice textures printing onto laid paper, and a chance to use some of my many rubber stamp alphabets.
O is for...
Bit of catching up to do on the blog, so a flurry of posts in one go... Here's the latest rubber stamp illustration in my collaboration with Swedish artist Eva Hejdstrôm. O is for O is for obstacle – a thing that blocks one’s way or prevents or hinders progress. Influenced by a misspent youth in the 1980s playing early computer games.
When we call a place home...
The finished book, just before it headed off to Athens...
The importance of pressing the books overnight ('before' at the back and 'after' at the front)
A quote from Frank Cottrell Boyce for the endpapers (I heard this on the radio a few years ago, and wrote it down in the hope it would come in useful one day)
Starting to take shape, with the addition of Trodat stamped dates
Grappling with my vintage typewriter to add the memory captions to each card. Who knew centring type was so tricky in the good old days?!
Hand lettering on the pockets of all the road names
Stamping on top of the digitally printed illustrations
Hand carved rubber stamps for the house numbers
Lots of folding to create the pocket concertina structure
Illustrations were digitally printed onto A3 gesso paper, and then cut down into individual cards and the corners of each rounded with a punch.
Carbon paper illustrations of my second five homes
Carbon paper illustrations of my first five homes
A new book created for an exhibition as part of the Athens Print Fest 2018, on the themes of nostalgia and interruptions.
It is a catalogue of the ten places I have called home – the depictions of these houses represent punctuations in my life. The houses are originally illustrated with carbon paper – a transient medium that fades over time – but digitally reproduced for longevity. The concertina format reflects the chronological nature of the content, and the use of cards and pockets is reminiscent of childhood memories of library books: checking in and out of each place. The visible information (house number, road name and date) is factual, with typewritten personal memories of each place hidden within the pockets. I chose to cover the books with woodchip wallpaper – a common feature in all of my childhood and student homes, and a wall covering I have spent many hours scraping off walls of homes I have renovated as an adult.
I've only finished three books so far, but it will be an edition of 20 (once I can carve out a little more time to make them!)
N is for...
After some procrastination, my latest rubber stamp illustration in my Anglo-Swedish exchange of words collaboration with Swedish artist Eva Hejdstrom. N is for Nickedocka, meaning a puppet and also someone who says yes to everything.
Riso Birds in Uppercase
Pretty blimmin’ excited to receive my latest copy of the always-excellent Uppercase magazine... the theme of this issue is CMYK, and features my Riso Birds book! Many thanks to editor Janine Vangool for including these chaps... a real treat to see them on the printed page.
Grand unveiling
The grand unveiling of my Frankenstein book ‘Memento mori' in all its morbid glory... packaged and sent off to Liverpool Book Art for their exhibition at Liverpool Central Library. Met the deadline by the skin of my teeth. Here's my statement, which hopefully goes some way to explain why I've spent the past three months stitching dead people...
Memento Mori is inspired by the theme of art as a means of remembrance: a recurring motif in Frankenstein. William was carrying a Miniature of his mother, Caroline, before he was murdered, and this then became a defining piece of evidence in implicating Justine. When Victor returns home from university, he is moved by the Miniature of William on their father’s mantelpiece, under a painting of his mother kneeling by the coffin of her dead father. The death of Victor’s mother acts as a powerful catalyst for his experimentation with creating new life, and the memories of his loved ones lost at the hands of the resultant creature lead to his desire to avenge their deaths.
I have altered an existing hardback book and transformed it into a ‘memento mori’ for all the characters who lose their lives. The book has a new cloth hard cover with a foiled title, and opens as a case in two sections. These contain eight framed oval cut-aways featuring embroideries of all of the expired characters (Caroline, William, Justine, Henry, Elizabeth, Alphonse, Victor, and the monster). The embroideries are vignettes of each individual death, each labelled with the character’s name.
I chose to hand embroider the illustrations as the process forms a symbolic act of remembrance, and embroidery was a popular handicraft of the time. The morbid fascination with death in Victorian times, along with the themes of grief, memory and loss in Frankenstein, are reflected in this new work.
Stitching complete
Pinning out the final trimmed embroideries for photographing...
Memento mori (part two)
The untimely death of Caroline Frankenstein.
A broken hearted Alphonse Frankenstein dies in his son’s arms, after losing his wife, young son and adopted daughter.
Frankenstein’s monster perishes on a pyre of his own making.
A rather belated post to show the remaining embroideries for my Frankenstein book.
Memento mori (part one)
The murder of William Frankenstein
The death of Victor Frankenstein
The murder of Elizabeth Lavenza
The washed-up body of Henry Clerval, also murdered
Stitching furiously to meet the April deadline for my submission to Liverpool Book Art's Frankenstein exhibition. I'm working on a book that will open to reveal eight embroidered vignettes of the deaths of the characters in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I was inspired by the recurring motif in the story of using art to remember the dead, and Victorian society's morbid fascination with death. I hope to reflect the the themes of grief, remembrance and loss in my final book. In the meantime, I'm finding it strangely enjoyable embroidering dead people. Each to their own.
L is for långtifrån
Latest illustration in my Anglo-Swedish exchange of words collaboration with @eva.hejdstrom ... långtifrån, meaning ‘far from’ in Swedish.
K is for Kip
K is for Kip – a short sleep or nap. The latest rubber stamp illustration in my exchange of words collaboration with swedish artist Eva Hejdström.
J is for jordnära
The latest rubber stamp illustration in my collaboration with Eva Hejdstrom, exchanging Swedish and English words. J is for jordnära, meaning close to nature.
I is for illumine
The latest rubber stamp illustration in my collaboration with Eva Hejdstrom, exchanging Swedish and English words. I is for illumine, meaning to light up. Inspired by my early evening dark dog walks now the clocks have gone back.
H is for Hovra
The latest rubber stamp illustration in my collaboration with Swedish artist Eva Hejdström: H is for Hovra (Swedish 'to float'). The orange is stamped with neon ink, but unfortunately looks very flat when photographed.
G is for Gluttony
The latest rubber stamp illustration in my collaboration with Swedish artist Eva Hejdström: G is for Gluttony (the act or habit of eating too much or being greedy).