Brian McKenzie

Saggar firing of suited figures

2012-02-16T10:55:00.006Z

I have been asked about the glazing finish on the clay suited figures I have been posting images of. There is in fact no glaze involved but what I love using is a saggar. A saggar is a heavy clay tomb like box that can be used to create a kiln within a kiln. Originally saggars were used to cleanly fire precious clayware in coal-fired kilns where the heated atmosphere would have been full of nasty contaminants. Each glazed bisqued piece was carefully sealed inside its own saggar and these were stacked inside the kiln keeping their micro-environment hot but clean. I use the saggar in exactly he opposite way by sealing in contaminants with the piece being fired. I have experimented with packaging the figures with all sorts of things such as wood, bones, metal, coal, shells in fact anything is worth trying.

The saggar is loaded up and sealed tight with clay and fired.

Then opened to reveal interesting colouration and effects.

2012-02-16T10:41:00.000Z

2012-02-12T15:47:00.000Z

Damaged protective suits.

2012-01-24T10:02:00.002Z

Nunhead Chapel Artwork Removed!

2012-01-08T11:10:00.006Z

My installation in Nunhead Chapel has been removed without any consultation or discussion at all. On Thursday just gone the creature, his bedding and food and I travelled by car to the beautiful old ruined Anglican Chapel and the artwork was installed ready for 3 months out in the elements. The animal figure which I have nicknamed Bosci is the central element of an installation piece called Animal Within. It's the second in a series of artworks in public places curated by Jolanata Jagiello under the title Angel Looks On.

I'm really hoping the decision will be reversed and the public will get a chance to see this intriguing piece soon, so check back for an update. Leave a comment. Or contact the Head of Cemeteries at Southwark Council here in London UK. It seems the artwork was considered too scary but I have spoken to lots of visitors who loved it and were spreading the word that it was something to see, despite the short time it was there. I think people are being denied the opportunity to engage with a thought provoking piece and if found scary, denied the chance to examine why that should be so. He's not intended to scare but to represent us all. In the meantime I'm posting some images of Bosci in the making to give you some idea of what he is like.

Admittedly the early head structure is a little weird.

Materials like leather and wire will ensure the sculpture lasts the coldest wettest three months of the year. The eyes, lids, lips and teeth allow changes of expression to be made over the period of the display.

The carefully built body, hands and feet can also allow changes of posture and expression. A removable fur mask gains access to the face.

We discuss the imminent move to the cemetery.

The day of travel arrives.

Then its aurevoir....

On our way to the chapel. Thurs. 5th Jan.

2012-01-07T13:16:00.001Z

Three figures in survival suits

2011-11-26T12:28:00.002Z

Head specimen number 1.

2011-10-03T16:16:00.002+01:00

These three little etchings are made by creating an initial tonal shape using tusche lithographic ink. As the tusche solution dries on the plate its microscopic emulsion of greasy particles settles into amazingly detailed patterns which can be etched . Then I enhance these marks adding linear structure by etching many short bites.

Head specimen number 2.

2011-09-28T10:14:00.001+01:00

Head specimen number 3.

2011-09-27T00:46:00.001+01:00

2011-09-22T23:09:00.002+01:00

Come and visit....Open Studio next weekend April 2nd and 3rd

2011-03-28T00:11:00.002+01:00

Next weekend you have a chance to see lots of my work in our house in South London.

See here for a map to locate my and all the venues.

http://www.telegraphhillfestival.org.uk/findus.htm

This is part of an annual event that forms part of the Telegraph Hill Festival. Dont miss another venue; the now world reknowned Nunhead and District Municipal Museum and Art Gallery where I have been kindly invited by the great grandson of the illustrious Museum Founder and general philanthropist, George Alfred Gellatly, to exhibit some recent work in the Gallery. There are wonders to see there including a full lecture and theatrical performance programme running over the weekend from 2 to 6 pm on both the 2nd and 3rd of April. There will be commemorative busts of the great George Gellatly available at bargain prices in the expanded Museum Shop; and a chance to see the soon to be unveiled redevlopement plans for the site.

Objects from a recurring dream

2011-03-24T17:40:00.004Z

I've been working on some sculptural pieces for an exhibtion which forms part of our local Telegraph Hill Festival here in South London ,UK. If you've never visited before then its certainly worth while and all are welcome to visit my home and see plenty of new and old work. If you want to find out more simply google Telegraph Hill Festival to find lots of events and a map of the 25 artists venues including no. 15 which is mine. More on this soon.

Burry Man Suit

2011-01-10T00:20:00.003Z

survival suit

2010-12-26T17:31:00.002Z

2010-12-13T10:03:00.000Z

More work for sale up North

2010-11-29T11:01:00.004Z

I have several small prints in a nice show in Hull, Northern England at the Artlink Mini Print 2010 exhibiton. The theme is obvious, small but affordable print work in any medium. The show starts this Friday the 3rd Dec. 2010. I'm posting an image of a new print re-vitalising an old favourite theme of mine; Kinder Egg Toy instruction sheets. Sadly current Kinder Eggs are far less rewarding often being simple solid one piece characters but in the good old days I used to love buying them, mainly for the small piece of paper showing how the complex item was to be put together. Here are some I wish they'd made.

here details of the miniprint venue;

http://www.artlink.uk.net/index.php?idsection=3&subid=2

Xmas Art Bazaar

2010-11-18T16:02:00.006Z

If you live in South London or fancy visiting the area where I live (called Telegraph Hill) then pop into The Hill Station and find some affordable art to buy. From next Monday the 22nd of November until December 26th our wonderful community space-come-cafe are hanging massive numbers of small desireable artworks by local artists all for immediate purchase and all keenly priced.

I'm posting here a picture of a recent drypoint on perspex. This work wont be one of my submissions as its rather too big but do come and see if you can spot my other things.

more about The Hill Station and the Bold Vision here;

http://ourboldvision.blogspot.com/search/label/art%20bazaar%20christmas%20gifts

See more new work up North

2010-11-10T14:02:00.005Z

I've been selected to show some new work in an exhibition at the beautiful Northen Print Gallery in Newcastle here in the UK. The show is called Northern Footprints and is a follow up to the successful Northen Print show last year where I sold out my large "A crime-free day in the busy life of Batman" drypoint edition. So if you are in the area pop in and see printmaking at its best in many different forms. The exhibition is on from 17th November to 22nd December 2010.

http://www.northernprint.org.uk/pages/gallery/current-exhibitions-events.php

Northern Print,
Stepney Bank,
Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 2NP

below are some small sections of a new very detailed print I've recently finished which is available for purchase entitled "Disaster on Adam West commemorative flight HA29".

2010-11-09T22:04:00.000Z

2010-11-09T16:21:00.001Z

Meet Yvonne and Barry

2010-11-07T16:29:00.002Z

Come and see Yvonne and Barry; hanging in Morley Gallery this week.

See some new work. South London

2010-11-07T16:22:00.003Z

I have a selection of some of my more recent prints in a group exhibition in South London at the moment, ending Friday 12th Nov 2010. The venue is Morley College just near Lambeth North Tube Station. Come and see, come and buy! see above. Come this Thursday the 11th to our second (closing party) P.V. and meet me and have a glass of wine.

the eyes of a god

2010-05-10T11:41:00.003+01:00

new prints

2010-03-15T14:12:00.002Z

ceramic figures and heads...prints...paintings...photography.

2010-03-12T22:21:00.001Z

new work

2010-03-12T11:19:00.003Z

next weekend

2010-03-11T01:27:00.003Z

come and visit

2010-03-09T13:30:00.009Z

I'm opening up my house in London soon as part of our local Telegraph Hill Arts Festival. The festival itself runs from Wed. 10th through to Sun 21st with loads going on; to be found by googling "Telegraph Hill Festival". There are 19 artists venues including mine opening up their houses/studios for the public to visit on that last weekend. Opening times are 2 to 6 pm for both days so please come along and visit me here in our lovely bit of London. This year aswell as my print work I'll be show for practically the first time, my ceramic objects. Making things from clay has come like a revelation to me and I think some of these things are the best things I've ever done. My claywork relates closely to the sort of subject matter in my prints and paintings so if you know and like my work or if you've never seen it before please come and see all the new stuff. My partner has become an accomplished photography despite her busy role as chief of Flow Associates and this year some of her latest images are on display.

click on the little poster image above to see a map of the area and other artists involved...

2009-09-18T12:23:00.001+01:00

Postcards from the Northpole

2009-07-05T13:15:00.002+01:00

coloured prints

2009-05-13T12:00:00.003+01:00

I've been working a few new smaller prints recently and will post them over the next weeks. These are slightly different from my usual work in that they are more colourful. I hope you like them and make comments. These prints are from drypoint (scratched) plates where several different identically sized plates are printed onto the paper one on top of the other in sequence, each plate providing its own colour. Traditionally with the more normal metal plates one complication with this technique is that its tricky to ensure the images register exactly. I use a transparent polycarbonate plate material which means they can simply be placed on top of each other with all layers visible. I'm making these prints in small exclusive limited editions of only 5 or 10 so they will sell out much faster than my larger edition work.

Your new friend.

2009-05-05T14:03:00.002+01:00

Sorry I havent been posting as frequently as I have in the past. I've been busy with another new medium ; clay. I shall keep posting images of sculptural work as well as new prints and paintings as they are made. This is a recent print which is really a cheats mezzotint, Rather that using the traditional and extremely laborious method of preparing the plate with a mezzotint rocker I have used a small "mezzotint type" roller to produce an equally rich and lovely black printing area that is then reworked by scraping and mostly burnishing the copper surface to pull whites and mid-tones out from the black.

Visit South London this weekend.

2009-03-17T23:06:00.001Z

2009-03-16T18:13:00.005Z

repair pod

2009-01-27T02:03:00.002Z

re-pollution system

2009-01-22T00:01:00.001Z

Halloween Witch for Aeron Alfrey

2008-11-06T14:33:00.004Z

I have a great e-friend whose blog is well worth visiting if you like creatures and beings weird and wonderful. Its called Monsterbains and is listed in the side bar just here and has a huge back archive of superb material including some of Aerons own work. Myself and some other artists were asked to produce images to post especially for the Halloween period just passed on the theme of Witches. Here is an artists proof (in other words the printing plate is still not totally finished) of my work. Legend has it that those people who were real witches were sometimes great drug takers and this is the inspiration for my latest print.

What......is that a painting!!

2008-10-01T22:43:00.005+01:00

I'm posting an image of a work on a theme that has fascinated me for years now. Living in South London as I do there is the ever present sight of aeroplanes passing over on their way to land at Heathrow Airport. Almost one per minute in fact Far from disliking them they have worked their way into my psyche and I have become slightly obsessed with them and eventually this is becoming apparent in some of my artwork. This is the first painting of mine I've put on this blog. I've been painting more lately hence the lack of recent posts of etchings. No fear though more work is in the pipeline.

Snowmen

2008-09-05T12:43:00.003+01:00

Here's another in a recent series of prints on a snowy theme utilising the high contrast achievable with this technique, as described below. This is a re-working of a similar image I posted a while back. If you're new to this blog then you may wish to see archived older posts of my work by clicking on the links in the side-bar.

Lost

2008-08-29T14:26:00.002+01:00

This is another carborundum print made as described in the post below.

Carborundum

2008-08-20T13:09:00.005+01:00

Carborundum is the naturally occurring mineral silicon carbide that has the beneficial property of being extremely tough. In a printing studio its often found as an abrasive used to grind lithographic stones flat. One other use however is to simply mix it with PVA glue or acrylic paint and apply it directly to any robust plate material. The carborundum areas will hold ink beautifully and give fantastic texture. Its particularly useful for colour printing where several plates each inked in a different colour and printed together.

I'm posting a few prints where I painted carborundum onto a perspex plate. The perspex areas can be wiped totally clean if desired and the carborundum areas left full of ink to give a nice high contrast image.

No longer a smoker........

2008-07-01T15:28:00.003+01:00

This little image was made some time back now an falls into the category of my work that I'd describe as miscellaneous or oddities. I did in fact make the print when I was trying for the manyeth time to give up the evil weed. If you have no idea what I look like and I'm sure thats the case for millions of you out there then this will give you a bit of a clue. Not a self portrait but something of likeness of myself or at least as I was then some 15 years ago ,,,I'm proud to say though that I am no longer a smoker. hooooray

2008-06-20T10:18:00.001+01:00

Figures from the deep

2008-06-05T10:48:00.003+01:00

These two prints are made using a commonly seen etching technique employed to create tone called aquatint. I paint acid directly onto an aquatint prepared plate to build a dark deep image and then add structure with linear work aswell as gradually revealing form out of the black tone by scraping and burnishing away the etched surface. The resulting image is rather like to more involved mezzotint process but far easier to acheive.

In Tribute to George A. Romero

2008-04-25T20:50:00.001+01:00

Chiroptera

2008-04-23T10:12:00.003+01:00

Drawn of the Dead

2008-04-15T22:55:00.003+01:00

This is a large drypoint print drawn on a perspex plate. This series of large 50x60 cm images on perpsex, some of which have been posted in the past on my blog here are tricky to print and relatively quick to wear down and so are limited to editions of 5 or 10 only. All my work is available for purchase. If you want to contact me about prices then click on the my profile bit at the top to get my e-mail address.

A Tribute to Patrick Troughton

2008-04-08T00:17:00.002+01:00

A while back I developed a way of producing images on printing plates which like this example resemble a photograph to some degree. The soft edges and gradual changes of tone are made with traditional aquatint; the difference is in the way the aquatint dust is applied to the plate. A carefully made mask of thin card is cut out and suspended above the surface of the piece of metal before it is placed inside the aquatint box. The dust falls through the holes in the mask and is deposited on the plate (subsequently to be etched through) but because the "image" (the cut out holes in the mask) is raised about 5 to 10 mm above the plate the the dust scatters and spreads slightly around the edges avoiding the usual hard edge quality that would normally occur with aquatint.

Telegraph Hill Open Studio, March 8th and 9th 2008

2008-03-04T11:52:00.005Z

Visit my Studio.

2008-02-27T10:47:00.005Z

I shall be opening up my studio which is in my house soon as part of a local Arts Festival. On March 8th and 9th 2008 from 2 to 6pm all are welcome to come and see my work and space. I'll be exhibiting work throughout the house aswell and this will include other things not really shown on this blog so today I'm posting images of some sculptural and digital pieces. There are lots of other local artists taking part all within a short walk of each other dotted around Telegraph Hill in South London England so why not visit several. For more details simply Google "telegraph hill festival" to see this and other events,,for a map of participants check out "venues".

Twisted and Distorted

2008-01-14T12:34:00.000Z

As time goes by I get to understand more and more about the threads of connectivity that run through my work. A lot of the printed scenes I create almost make themselves with the subject and detail revealing itself to me as the image is built. Almost always something is not quite right, something is distorted or erksome, something is there to be discovered to encourage one to reflect on ones own nature and being.

Freeze

2007-12-22T22:32:00.000Z

Heres a large image I made for my Body Prints Exhbition in London about this time a year back now but havent posted before. It it part of a series of cold/snow works that are a bit different from my usual highly detailed relying more on empty space to make up the image. They are drypoints drawn on large pieces of perspex and are limited to a very small edition of only 5 plus one artists proof. I only have a few of these left for purchase but please do enquire about this or any other prints in you're interested in owning one.

A world full of mad people....

2007-12-13T10:21:00.000Z

Here are some prints I made a while back now depicting a sort of imagined hybrid mediaeval world full of odd charatcters. More of these to come soon.

More Exquisite Corpses

2007-11-24T23:13:00.000Z

Three hundred and thirty-six combinations

2007-11-21T23:14:00.002Z

Here are a few of the exquisite corpse prints that I have printed up so far. I believe my maths is right in calculating that there are 336 different creatures ...so far possible. The series is not finished yet. I'm already working on the next batch of beings beyond the eight so far. Another four will push the number of creatures up to a staggering 1320 different prints. This is obviously going to cause me some editioning and catalogueing nightmares but worth it I think as the prints have come out really well.

All welcome this Sunday Nov. 18th 2007.Open House Exhibition

2007-11-13T19:32:00.001Z

I'm having an open house exhibition this coming Sunday November the 18th in my house in South London. A lot of my work will be on the wall for sale and much more in browsers to peruse and hopefully buy. I'll be selling some of my small scale sculptures too; some of the things I dont really show on my blog here. I'm sharing the space with another local artist Elizabeth Cook who works in textiles. If your interested in coming along the opening hours are from 3 to 8 so please e-mail my for fuller details. You can find my e-mail address in the profile section of the blog just at the top.

Exquisite destruction

2007-10-30T19:14:00.000Z

This posting is an image of the latest print in a series of etchings I'm preparing for my Exquisite Corpse edition. I now have eight carefully composed characters ready. If your not sure what this is please look a little further down for fuller details under posting "consequences". I'm printing only a very limited number of the individual complete plates (like the giant robot here) before the process of chopping and recomposing plates begins... I'm not much of a mathematician but I reckon the number of possible creature combinations must be very high.

What to do with old perspex......

2007-10-24T22:30:00.000+01:00

I used to work somewhere where perspex was used as a glazing material for framed pictures. One of the problems of using perspex is that it scratches very easily and the scratches are virtually impossible to remove once theyre there. Fortunately those very properties make it a great material for use as a printing plate. Any sharp tool will create a line that will hold ink beautifully. Here are a few large quick life-drawings using perspex in this way. For any printmakers keen on this drypoint technique I suggest a thinner and more user friendly alternative material called Makrolon polycarbonate (1mm is a good thickness) made by Amari plastics.

Crocodile specimen and chained Yeti.

2007-10-08T22:12:00.000+01:00

This is the next print I've made and printed up today for the Exquisite corpse series ( see the next two posts below for fuller details). So far I've been etching two individual creatures on the one copper plate which wll be halved and then chopped again.

Consequences

2007-09-28T12:19:00.000+01:00

I couldnt wait to see how some of the creatures from my "consequences" or "exquisite corpse" print series might look so I have scanned, digitally cropped and re-assembled some of the finished prints to produce the mock-up above. I'm really excited about these and soon will make real prints in limited editions of some of the the huge number of possible weird beings. The idea is that each of the creatures ( like "Batman" below) is drawn and etched on copper in the normal way, then the plates are chopped into three sections and these parts re-assembled with parts from other plates and printed as a whole.

Batman, sliced in three!

2007-09-24T00:16:00.000+01:00

I'm currently working on a series of printing plates of various characters with the intention that when complete the plates will be chopped up then creating oddly mixed up beings comprising their randomly re-assembled head, body and legs elements. This isnt a new idea ; it is of course the old classic drawing game that I love still to do that I know as "exquisite corpse", usually done on folded paper which is passed to the next participant. I'm expecting that this series could continue to develope for years as new characters are drawn each time adding to the possible permuatations.

Diverse Divers

2007-09-20T11:25:00.001+01:00

The favourite theme of divers continues.

McKenzie clothes?

2007-08-22T14:21:00.000+01:00

Imminent Death

2007-08-07T14:36:00.000+01:00

This title is only a working title at the moment. Sometimes it takes me a while before I decide on what a work should finally be called. Its another drypoint print and depicts a man deep in the sea.

Drypoint on aluminium

2007-07-26T13:47:00.000+01:00

Here is the second in this series of five large prints made on aluminium. Please dont forget that virtually all the work on the site is available for purchase.

A free-diver

2007-07-15T00:32:00.000+01:00

I'm posting one of a series of large prints I've been working on latley. In these I've returned to some favourite subjects of water and divers, breathe and death. These recent works are drypoints where the plate is simply made by scratching directly into aluminium which I find one of the best metals for this process. In this instance the beautifully scuffed and damaged metal sheets came from a skip.

Four Figures

2007-06-28T12:05:00.000+01:00

Rejected by the Royal Academy.

2007-06-10T09:44:00.000+01:00

I recently submitted a small print to a prestigious UK open entry art exhibition in England, The RA Summer Exhibition. Unfortunately despite success in previous years they rejected my "five Warriors two Beetles and a Frog". I'm posting it today so viewers can see it and feel free to leave comments and also to offer an oportunity to buy it outside the exhibition.

A Book about Belief

2007-06-06T23:30:00.000+01:00

.........

2007-06-06T23:15:00.001+01:00

I have recently finished a series of 6 small etchings which are compiled to make an artists book. The Book is called "some things unseen" and is currently viewable as part of an exhibiton along with some 20 or so other artists books in a superb London bookshop called Crockatt and Powell in Lower Marsh near Waterloo station. The book is editioned 50 copies and sells for £40. There are many links and messages to be fathomed for the careful reader.

What an odd chap.

2007-05-17T11:55:00.000+01:00

transformation and sleep

2007-05-02T10:55:00.000+01:00

Here are three large drypoint prints based on the theme of pupation and transformation from one state to another. These were made specifically for my recent Body Prints exhibition in London. Such large drypoints made on perspex plates are difficult to print and the plates deteriorate quickly so works like these are limited to an edition of only 5.

The beauty of zombification

2007-04-03T14:05:00.000+01:00

I've got a bit of a thing about zombies at the moment. Regular visitors to the blog will see how they can fit in with my body of work... themes of strange distortions and aberation from the norm are my sort of thing. These three chaps are prints made using a lithographic ink called touche painted onto a zinc plate. With a little bit of encouragement and follow up etching this material naturally creates intricate beautiful detail which I have subverted to create these horrific undead. Hopefully the detail can be seen if you look closely.

Kinder Eggs

2007-04-01T12:11:00.000+01:00

I used to avidly buy and collect small childrens chocolate eggs that contained a construction toy. Half the joy of these (the chocolate usually went into the bin) was the little instruction sheet showing how the toy should be assembled. Here are a couple of prints on that theme, instruction sheets for my own objects.

A Beast

2007-03-22T10:24:00.000Z

Make up your own story.

2007-03-16T11:43:00.000Z

Beings from Dreams

2007-03-08T15:06:00.000Z

The Mad Professor

2007-03-02T13:31:00.000Z

A collection of odd bones

2007-02-25T10:09:00.000Z

This is a series of small drypoint prints. I have a large collection of skulls and bones; often things I've found whilst beach-combing on the Thames foreshore in London. These prints are more in the vein of being studies and distortions of real bones. They are made using two separate identically sized plates to provide line and colour.

Fantastical Headwear

2007-02-12T22:53:00.000Z

A bit like the demons in the last post, the helmets and headwear in this image are not exact copies of the authentic article but my own version drawn from inspiring images and texts that i love.

Army of Demons

2007-02-07T14:05:00.000Z

Heres a print I did after returning from a holiday in India..What an amazing experience that was! Such fantastic religious imagery everywhere!!

Strange goings on

2007-02-05T23:43:00.000Z

Heres a post in honour of the recent beautiful full moon. Please do leave comments and contact me if your interested in knowing more about my work or wish to purchase prints.

Mystery objects

2007-01-22T21:49:00.000Z

Whilst going through a stack of prints recently I came across a long forgotten work that caught my attention. It is part of a small series of images I made a long time back. Ocassionally whilst watching a film I'd notice a brief intriguing glimpse of a picture or photo or paitning or suchlike on the wall of the film set. Usually these images are very blurred and brief and this series of works was about filling in the gaps and re-interpreting what the image might have been with of course the added influence of my particular slant. "video image" is such a work. Along similar lines "snowscene" is a work from my recent exhibition where its up to the viewer to use their own experience to determine exactly what is going on and what the shapes mean.

A cold winter?

2007-01-22T01:02:00.000Z

I'll be starting up regular postings of old and new work again now that the massive enterprise of a recent solo exhibition is over. Today two works made especially for that show which was split into two themes of snow and transformation. A lot of the new works in the show were on a much larger scale than most of my usual print output. These are two examples of those bigger works; both drypoints printed from perspex printing plates.

London Exhibiton 14th December 2007

2006-11-19T13:20:00.001Z

London Exhibiton 14th December 2007

2006-11-15T01:20:00.001Z

I'm posting news of my imminent first London Solo show here. I've been working hard lately making lots of new works, some on a much larger scale than my usuual work for an exhibiton at the Sassoon Gallery London SE15. Please see above for fuller details. There are some new works here too which I hope you will enjoy and comment on. Its a new subject matter, rotten figures, and what I hope to achieve is to depict a horrific subject with beautiful and delicate line and tone.

Beekeepers

2006-10-21T16:20:00.000+01:00

The Letter

2006-10-05T11:58:00.000+01:00

I'm often asked what the full story is in the images I make; whats going on? I never fully answer as I like the viewers to determine for themselves, and reveal to themselves something of their own deeper nature.

Centrifuge

2006-09-27T17:26:00.000+01:00

Hairy Daniel

2006-09-14T23:16:00.000+01:00

Heres a little drypoint print, drawn from life of an old friend called Daniel Collings. Theres been a nice lot of comments from new viewers lately...Its always great to recieve feedback so thanks to you all.

Odd Clothing

2006-09-11T14:00:00.000+01:00

Nunhead

2006-09-03T00:35:00.000+01:00

Beings from Dreams

2006-08-28T00:23:00.000+01:00

Today I'm posting three prints from many I have made in this series. The printing plates are made in a way similar to the well known Rorschach inkblots. There is a large amount of random influence in the way the plates and prints are made but I try to rend some level of control over these forces. I find it is the asymmetrical elements however which give life to the creature, rather as in the biology of Nature.

Vauxhall

2006-08-27T00:17:00.000+01:00

I used to work near Vauxhall Bridge in London and this print is my version of a particular spot near that bridge. In a lot of my work I like to use hats to repesent the status or mental state of people. Moustaches and beards having meanings too.

Apparition

2006-08-24T17:34:00.000+01:00

This is one of a series of prints I made a while back of strange imagined events occuring in some of my regular haunts. Theres also an element here of confusion about whether people see what others see in the same space or situation.

Soft body hard body

2006-08-22T23:21:00.000+01:00

Protective clothing 2

2006-08-21T21:39:00.000+01:00

This is a new print and I'm sure regular visitors who are getting to know my work will see how it fits in with some of my recurrent themes. Stay tuned for more posts soon.

more interesting headwear

2006-08-11T10:20:00.000+01:00

This is a recent drypoint print. The subject matter is intentionally paradoxical in that the scene is full of soldiers who are not fighting but enjoying a good old dance. For those interested in technique; this one was drawn or rather scratched with a needle onto perspex which makes an excellent surface from which to make prints. Unlike with a metal plate though mistakes cannot be erased. The second image here is another printing technique using carborundum powders, board and glue. This is the first print using this technique I've posted and as you can see its great for achieving full rich black areas aswell and nice tone.

Anatomy

2006-07-25T13:51:00.000+01:00

Those of you who regularly check in to see my Blog might appreciate that I have a great love and interest in anatomy. Some of the most wonderful early anatomical engravings were produced by a chap called Pietro De Cortona. Todays posting is an etching of mine of him, appropriately dissected.
My thanks to all you regular viewers out there who leave comments or contact by e-mail to chat or arrange purchasing work. I'm always working on new things and still have much to post for the future. If you're new to this Blog or not familiar with the way things are archived automatically by Blogger and want to see more dont forget to look at the "archives" near the top of the page.