ABC collage session

Really great online collage session in mid-February led by @catherine_cartright_artist for ABC. Catherine put together packs of papers for everyone, and we all snipped and glued away, making collages on the theme of ‘pairs’. Very interesting to hear how she uses collage in her work with trauma-based community groups. On a much less meaningful level, I made a small book of funny faces. What I love so much about collage is not having a plan, so the end result is always a surprise. Many thanks Catherine for an excellent way to spend 45 minutes on a Wednesday evening.

POTATO

A new book I’ve made is currently being exhibited in the ‘Pattern:Books’ exhibition at the Upright Gallery in Edinburgh… Artist bookmakers were invited to submit artworks for the annual artist book exhibition held every December. The brief was to celebrate pattern in artist book form. Over 80 handmade books are on display from 35 artists in an exhibition co-curated with Edinburgh based artist book maker and tutor Susie Wilson.

The book POTATO is a digitally printed edition of potato prints and backdrawn monoprints. Started as an experiment in making printed repeat patterns with carved potatoes at my kitchen table, I then drew the carved potatoes as backdrawn monoprints. It’s fun to see the book travelling up to Edinburgh to be exhibited, and then making it onto the cover of Art Mag at the beginning of December. An exciting journey for a handful of humble potatoes.

Chinese thread books

Excellent online workshop by Gen Harrison last week for the ABC group at UWE – learning how to make a version of a Chinese thread book (Zhen Xian Bao). Layers of compartments in one small book structure. Boxes within a book. Mine was a bit clunky, despite the expert tuition, but it was so great to be making again. Many thanks Gen!

Following on from the online workshop, I made another Chinese thread book (Zhen Xian Bao) so I don’t forget how to do it. A bit less wonky than my first attempt, and fun to decorate the paper with rubber stamps...

Week fifty two

One final collage of offcuts for the year

My small article in the latest issue of Printmaking Today

Penultimate dye experiment of the year – Yarrow (achillea)

December’s daily drawings - back-drawn monoprints with natural ink

And so ends my 2021 Garden Residency... it’s been a diversion, an excuse to experiment, some much needed structure, and license to play. A creative sabbatical. Accompanied throughout by my trusty studio assistant, Otto (a Vizsla of senior years).

One final collage of monoprinting offcuts before the year came to a close. If in doubt, cut out circles and arrange them in a grid. Always a useful creative un-blocker.

My last two dye experiments of the year are out of the dyepot... that makes 55 in total. Shown here is Yarrow (achillea) and I have Teasel drying at the moment. To be honest the colour palettes are very similar. A rather unexceptional end to a year of colour creation, but I’m looking forward to using some of the dyed fabric, yarn and thread from my dye experiments in new work next year.

In a piece of perfect timing, I received some exciting post on the penultimate day of this year-long project. I’m thrilled to bits to have a small piece on my garden residency in the latest Printmaking Today magazine. Many thanks to editor Leonie Bradley for including me in this issue.

My final month of daily drawings... 31 days of (rather splodgy) back-drawn monoprints coloured with natural ink (mostly marigold, black dahlia and oak twigs). As with all of the other eleven sheets, it’s interesting to see the overall effect as they accumulate through the month, rather than focusing on one drawing in particular.

I’m pleased to have completed my year-long challenge of a drawing a day, and I think I may have unintentionally made it into a habit (although I may reduce it to just weekdays as this is easier to build into my work schedule). Here’s to more drawing in 2022!

Amongst many other things, this Garden Residency has been a useful exercise in maintaining a weekly blog entry – based on my many Instagram posts throughout the year. I’ve really appreciated all the words of support, encouragement and feedback – it’s been a good way of feeling more connected during an otherwise isolated year.

I now need to finish recording my work in my journal, and take some time to consolidate and reflect, before working out my next steps. In the meantime, wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year... x

Week thirty seven

I made a tiny snake book of roses, made from an insert from a David Austin catalogue (rescued from the recycling bin). The grid of photos was printed on both sides of the paper, so it opens in both directions.

I needed assistance with labelling my latest dye experiment. It’s an unusual mix of colours - pinky brown and grey on cotton and linen; ochre and very dark green on wool and silk. I thought the plant in question was called Toadflax, but after some light googling to check this, I realised I’ve been using the wrong name. Thanks to the expertise of some of my followers on Instagram, I now know that this needs to be labelled ‘Yellow Loosestrife’.

Finally this week, I made another collage with offcuts from the rubber stamp test sheet from last month’s daily drawings. It reminded me of watercolour, so I reproduced it in paint. Not that excited by the end result, but I really enjoyed the process. Bespoke colouring-in... an exercise in slowing down and not thinking too hard about what you’re creating.

Week thirty four

Quick collage of post-it note masks used in making rubber stamp prints

Dye results from Rowan… leaves on the left and berries on the right

I’ve made my plant form drawings into a small concertina book - black hellebore ink with backdrawn paper monoprints on somerset paper. I like the combination of natural ink and monoprints and would definitely like to explore this combination further.

An unusual pop of colour in my garden residency... I’ve been carving a daily rubber stamp through August, and I’ve been masking areas off with post-it notes. I was about to clear the paper masks into the bin when I decided to stick them on a bright piece of paper instead. Instant collage gratification.

A surprising set of dye results from Rowan. The bright berries (photographed a couple of weeks ago) only gave out any bold colour onto silk and wool (see browns on the right hand photo) but the leaves - which I only boiled up as an afterthought as I only had a few - gave a wide range of ochres and browns across all the materials. Shows it’s worth splitting up plant material to get a wider range of colour - a useful lesson!

Week twenty eight

Mark making with new Chinese brushes

Dye batch from a large Cordyline flower

A week of mark making and a little bit of dyeing. I’ve been experimenting with using some new Chinese brushes - quick sketches in the veg patch and also a drawing of a tree peony leaf. I also tried a new approach for monoprinting… painting black oil paint onto a piece of paper and then drawing on the back of the sheet as a transfer. Much quicker than inking up a perspex sheet, and I like the marks of the brushstrokes that are transferred to the printed drawing. I made some prints into a concertina book, but it’s just a prototype as the paper was a little thin and cockled when glued together.

My latest dye experiment was with a large Cordyline flower from the garden, which I chopped up as soon as it had finished flowering. I had high hopes as a lot of colour was immediately extracted when I covered it with boiling water, but the end results are a little bit underwhelming… some nice buttery colours on protein fibres, but on the cotton and linen there was very little colour at all. It does however win the coveted title of stinkiest dye bath so far… definitely one for boiling outside, and a heady whiff of men’s urinals drifted across the gardens of Coombe Dingle when this was on the hob!

Week twenty

Blacking out the background and the addition of some collaging

Paper cuts of leaves in my garden – starting to play with the shapes in Photoshop

Natural ink drawing of a young chilli plant

More natural ink sketches from the garden

An unusual pop of colour this week thanks to a bookmaking session with the UWE Artists’ Book Club. The prompt was “These books are rubbish” – we were encouraged to make a book in an hour from materials that would otherwise be thrown away. I chose a Sarah Raven catalogue destined for the recycling bin, and folded one page down into a single sheet T book. I then coloured in all of the backgrounds with a black Sharpie pen, before collaging on a few more flowers and excerpts of the rather florid text. A spine made from another page of the catalogue holds it together as a booklet. I chose dahlias because I’m growing them for the first time this year, and I was suckered in by their bright colours in the catalogue in the depths of the last lockdown winter.

I enjoyed making some papercuts of leaves in the garden, and have scanned these in to start playing around with different colours and compositions in Photoshop. I think some of them would also make good rubber stamps, so that’s something to add to the ‘to do’ list…

The weather here in the UK is unseasonably cold at the moment, and as a result I‘m sharing my bedroom with all my young chilli plants before it’s warm enough to re-home them in the greenhouse. I noticed that they had rather dramatic silhouettes, so I drew one of them with natural ink. I also continued my quick garden sketches with white pastel resist and natural ink - it’s good to work quickly without worrying too much about the end result.

Week seventeen

Scans of Acer leaves unfurling (once a week from the end of March)

Reconfigured grid drawing (acorn gall+ iron ink and masking fluid)

Grid drawing filled in with natural ink

Single sheet folded book of flowerpot base plasticine prints (and acrylic paint)

Carving and stamping one of the flowerpot prints to create a repeatable pattern

A week of continuing on with projects started earlier in the month… happy to complete April’s daily drawings (now one third of the way through the year - doesn’t time fly when you can’t go anywhere?!) The drawings this month were done with a ruling pen and masking fluid, then coloured with a range of natural inks. Some worked better than others, but I’d like to use these as a starting point for some embroidered drawings. Edging slowly towards using colour as the garden begins to brighten up.

I’ve been scanning buds/leaves from the Acer tree outside my studio each week since the end of March. Fascinating to see the progress of the leaes as the tree comes into full leaf. I’m going to try to remember to keep scanning monthly from now on to capture the colour changes between now and October. I made the sequence into a short animation, which you can see on my Instagram feed.

I photocopied my garden grid drawing from last week and cut each square in half to reconfigure the layout. I tried this out in monochrome with acorn gall/iron ink and then masked out a second version for natural inks. It feels like work in progress rather than a finished piece, but I’m interested to see how it’s shifting into quilty territory. This garden residency is confirming my longstanding interest in switching between paper and fabric.

I also re-visited my flowerpot base plasticine prints - making an A4 sheet of prints into a folded single sheet book (the colour is neon pink acrylic, but looks like a flat red in the photo). Frustrated by the ephemeral nature of the plasticine, I traced one of the early prints and carved it in rubber. This makes a stable block to create a repeat pattern… unexpectedly starts to feel a little like a medieval tiled pattern. Not sure the bottoms of plastic flowerpots were the original inspiration for church floors all those centuries ago!

Week fifteen

The pots in question

Collage of dragon leaf fern prints (with ink made from rhubarb root)

paper weaving with natural ink sample offcuts

A short film I made about my concertina books for BABE 2021

A rather less productive week as I’ve been pitched back into catching up with work. The week ended with BABE 2021 – The Lost Weekend…. an online celebration of artist’s books to replace the usual amazing event in Bristol that was due to be held this year. Not the same as a real life book fair, but a wonderful chance to take part in some collaborative projects and to watch short films made by lots of other book artists (still available to watch here). I made one about five of my concertina books – illustrating the versatility of my very favourite book format, and showing some of my processes and inspirations – you can view it here).

One of the collaborative challenges set for BABE 2021 was to photograph or trace the backs of things… I made some plasticine prints of the bottoms of flowerpots from my shed. I really liked the bold patterns, and plan to carve some rubber stamps based on these prints. I also printed the backs of some dragon leaf ferns - less successful as a print, so I cut it up and made a grid collage using masking fluid and rhubarb root ink. It starts to look like tiger fur!

Finally, some simple paper weaving using more offcuts of my natural ink samples – I’m interested to see the crossover between paper and textile work that’s evolving as part of this ‘garden residency’.

Week fourteen

Ink sample flags, labelled on the reverse

Some lovely pinks and browns from a defunct rubber plant

Making good progress on my latest garden map

Drawing more on my week off - a young apple tree from the slope in my garden

Pencil crayon sketches of Spring flowers from the garden

A relaxing week off work – although just spent at home as lockdown continues, I enjoyed having a bit more time to draw and develop some of my recent projects. I finally finished my flag book of ink samples… a few false starts, and it was a bit of a headache keeping track of the labelling, but I’m pleased with how it’s turned out. The flags are made from such heavy paper that it makes a lovely click-clack sound when opened.

I’m very happy with the colour range extracted from a recently defunct rubber plant. I made three dye baths… from the leaves, the branches and the roots. The roots were the palest colour, but the leaves and branches gave quite similar results. I’m hoping this is a more stable pink colour than those I’ve managed to extract previously from berries.

I made good progress with the latest iteration of my garden map. I cut out all the components from my stash of naturally dyed fabric, and bonded it onto calico. This is now ready to start embroidering.

Despite the unseasonably cold weather, I braved some time sat outside in the garden drawing with ink and coloured pencils. I’m determined to continue carving out a bit more time for drawing - slowing down and close observation is making me appreciate the garden so much more. Good to capture some of the Spring colour before it disappears until next year.

Week seven

Book cover of torn Somerset paper with a tracing paper wrapper

‘24.01.21’ – another snow markings book

The black paper shows off the markings well, but is maybe a bit heavy for the snowy subject matter

A tiny circular concertina book with a stitched line which follows a drawn line walk down my garden steps

Experiments with natural ink (made with red cabbage and a discarded bouquet) and masking fluid

Latest dyeing results – the multifarious browns of bramble

Feeling the gravitational pull back to making books this week… three tiny books have emerged from recent mark making work. Interesting to see how I’m still drawn to presenting work in a book format even when that’s not a conscious decision. This is process led though, which is different to my usual approach of choosing a format and then thinking of appropriate content. I’m enjoying experimenting with my natural inks and masking fluid (although I’m not sure how stable the colour will be, so probably best to scan these in to preserve them in some way). Quite a bit of dyeing going on in the background - this week’s finished results are from bramble prunings… a surprisingly broad range of browns. After a biting cold snap, the temperature has started to rise again and it’s beginning to feel like Spring is finally on its way. Hurray!

Week six

Playing around with homemade inks - thank goodness for the blue of the red cabbage to break all those browns up a bit!

Christmas bouquet dyeing experiments (1)

Christmas bouquet dyeing experiments (2)

Drawing and traced outline for a woodcut print

Starting to carve the woodcut print

White posca pen on tracing paper to record snow patterns from bitmapped photos taken last month

A work-in-progress kind of a week… I’m stitching on top of a small collage of naturally dyed fabric scraps (see top picture) whilst hibernating in the evenings. I’ve been playing with my homemade inks to see how the colours look alongside each other (bit of a crossover with my stitching trials). I’ve catalogued the results of (non-scientific) dye experiments with Christmas bouquets of flowers donated by a neighbour once they were past their best. There was more colour in them than I expected. I’ve been carving a woodcut - my first in years - based on a sketch I did whilst taking part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch at the end of last month… looking forward to doing some printmaking again. Finally, I used some photos I took in the brief snow we had in Bristol on 24 January as a basis for some white posca pen drawings onto tracing paper. I’m planning to make these into a small book (what else?)

Week five

The cover of my single sheet book of line walks

Line walks in my garden - one a day for seven days, using different drawing materials

Dye results from Christmas tree branches - lovely chocolatey browns

More Christmas leftovers - yew sprigs and holly berries from a friend’s festive table centrepiece

A ladder of dyed thread samples – these are all the colours from January’s experiments

A pleasing symmetry - a tiny woven panel of yarn dyed with oak twigs, sewn back onto one of the twigs from the same tree

My January sheet of daily drawings… last month was silhouettes, this month will be line drawings

A week of consolidation… I’ve collated all my artwork from January into my large sketchbook so I have a record of the year as it unfolds. I’ve set myself a challenge within the ‘residency’ to complete a small drawing every day - the final image above shows the completed sheet for January. I started off simple with ink silhouettes to get me into the drawing habit, and I’m moving onto line drawings this month. I’m hoping that the silhouettes will be useful source material for rubber stamps, stencils and patterns. It’s been an interesting exercise in looking more closely at plants, and it’s good to start each day with a drawing.

At the end of January I completed a drawn line walking down the garden each day for a week - they became more interesting when overlaid. I made this into a single sheet book - it doesn’t exactly follow the path of the journey down the garden the way it’s cut and folded, but it’s a more compact way of containing the visual record.

Some more dyeing experiments have been dried and catalogued – Christmas tree branches, yew sprigs and holly berries. Mixed results, but I really like the range of chocolate brown tones from the Christmas tree. It was also good to see January’s dyed thread experiments all together on a sample card. A much wider range of colours than I had realised.

Finally, a tiny panel of woven yarn (created on a card pin loom) dyed with oak twigs – I sewed it onto an oak twig from the same tree, which seemed to be the most appropriate way of displaying something so small. I’d like to make more of these, linking the dyed yarn back to the trees of origin.

Week four

Wax resist ink drawings based on photos on branches in the snow taken in the brief window of white stuff on Sunday morning

Ink drawing of a Viburnum branch - colour rubbed from the actual berries and leaves

Collage of natural ink offcuts with drawings of fruit tree branches

A neater version of the stamped pattern I created a couple of weeks ago for covers on a coptic bound sketchbook. The linen thread is dyed with red onion - a perfect match for the ‘pear tart’ ink stamp pad

Experiment with stitching onto paper. Naturally dyed linen thread over the top of the corresponding homemade ink. From left to right: onion skins, hawthorn, holly berry and eucalyptus bark

A close up of the holly berry circle… this is my favourite ink so far - a really rich colour

Another productive week… my ‘garden residency’ seems to be balancing well with my day job so far - by doing something every day, I find I get into a rhythm of working and can maintain some momentum. This first month has been a lot of trying things out, but having just spent a day pulling everything together into a large scrapbook to record my progress, I’m happy with how it’s shaping up. Results have been a bit hit and miss, but I’ve learnt a lot and had fun getting back to playing again. It’s certainly been a welcome distraction in a particularly bleak January, and has left very little time for feeling bored or hemmed in at home.

Re:connections

Really pleased to be part of the ‘Re-connections’ exhibition of artists’ books at the Upright Gallery in Edinburgh, which opens today. The two books I made during the first lockdown will be on display until 19 December, alongside a wonderful array of bookish loveliness from around 30 artists. More photos and films of individual books can be seen at @uprightgallery on Instagram.

Here’s the official description of the exhibition…

‘During the lockdown we were all forced to reconsider how we could best keep connected with people and life in general. Artists were not exempt from this challenge. Many had to rethink how they physically carried out their work, what their artworks meant and how they connect with their audience in an unprecedented time. This exhibition will show artist books on the theme of connections - past, present and future.’

Many thanks to Susie Wilson, and Ian Farmer from the Upright Gallery for curating the exhibition – I wish I could visit in person, but hopefully you can go along if you’re north of the border.

STOP PRESS: I was very excited to learn that my two books in this exhibition have been bought by the National Galleries of Scotland for their Artists’ Book Collection. An upbeat note on which to end a topsy turvy year!

Keep cutting

I really enjoyed the online Collage Colloquium hosted last month by the Centre for Fine Print Research at UWE and the London Centre for Book Arts. There were filmed talks by Jeremy Dixon, Jean McEwan, Daniel Lehan and Jeff Rathermel, followed by two discussion sessions with all the artists. Very inspiring, and the talks and discussions can still be accessed here. I jotted down some quotes from each of the artists during their talks, and then in the time between discussions I made them into a small single-sheet book using collage, letrafilm and typewritten text. I made this as a memento of the event for myself, but then decided to make a small digitally printed edition for the participants and other people I know who work with collage. Quite fun to make a book so quickly and to turn it into an edition without over-thinking it too much.

Ramble chat

I’m thrilled to bits to be part of the online Print and Book Festival organised by the Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England.

As part of her ‘Print in Conversation’ series, I had a chat with Angie Butler about my love of making books and the low-tech processes I use. We also talked about collaborative projects I’ve worked on during Lockdown, and the challenges of staying creative during this weird and wobbly time.

You can find my talk on YouTube by searching ‘Corinne Welch CFPR’ or through this link to the festival line-up.

The festival has been an inspiring line-up of talks, demos and print challenges over the past two weeks... and although it’s coming to a close, all the content is archived so you can peruse and view it at your leisure. Many thanks to Angie for inviting me to take part... a definite step outside of my comfort zone but I really enjoyed taking part.

Lockdown – A Pocket Manifesto

I’m pleased to announce that a small edition of my new book ‘Lockdown – A Pocket Manifesto’ is now available in my online shop.

It’s digitally printed (thanks to printed.com) from my original hand-carved rubber stamp illustrations on 150gsm fresco gesso paper. It costs £6 (+p+p) and £5 from each sale will go to Bristol North West Food Bank, who really do need all the help they can get right now. The original book was made for a mail art project for Artists Book Club (ABC) at UWE and was inspired by all the things I identified as being important to focus on at the beginning of the Lockdown...

A tiny new book

The Artists’ Book Club (ABC) at UWE set a Mail Art challenge to keep members connected during Lockdown. I made a small folded single-sheet book with rubber stamps to send to letterpress artist extraordinaire Gen Harrison up in Scotland. Sneak peeks here, and a shop update with a printed edition of the final book will follow early next week…