Hello
If you were one of the many people who came to the York Printmakers Print Fair at the weekend then a huge THANK YOU. You can see from our happy faces that we had a great time and really enjoyed meeting you all. We hope you enjoyed it too and came away inspired, enlightened and possibly with something to brighten your home.
As always at face-to-face events like this, I spent a lot of my time explaining how reduction linoprint works. I don’t mind that at all (I can happily talk about printmaking all day) but it does remind me that it isn’t obvious and is a mystery to many. This was why I added a What is a reduction print? page to my website last year. So if you’ve been wondering about that then pop over and have a look and of course feel free to click the ‘Leave a comment’ button here if you have any questions. Don’t be shy to ask, because it’s likely someone else who reads this will want to know the same thing and will be glad you did.
Something to see
Last week I escaped from print fair preparations for a morning and took myself off to Beningbrough Hall, a National Trust property a few miles outside York. A new exhibition had just opened featuring the artwork of three women artists of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, but principally ‘The Botanical World of Mary Delany’ (1700-1788). I had a particular reason for wanting to visit which was that my disgustingly talented friend, ceramicist Kate Buckley, has created an origami installation to accompany the exhibition.
Kate has also organised an Origami Room where visitors can make their own creations following her written and video instructions to attempt a tulip (easy, it says), butterfly (medium) or beetle (hard). I went down the middle and picked butterfly, which probably does count as medium as it wasn’t easy but on the other hand I only swore under my breath once. (It was mid-week and no children were present). Visitors can choose to take their paper triumphs home or leave them in the room to be added to the display on the walls. I opted for the latter.
If you are in the York area I really do recommend a visit to Beningbrough Hall. It’s a charming house with lovely grounds including a traditional walled garden and a brand new Mediterranean Garden created to be resilient to the horticultural challenges of climate change. And of course, being National Trust it has scones and a full complement of friendly and enthusiastic volunteer guides.
Printmaking bargains
If you are a printmaker yourself, or would like to be, then it might be useful to know that Jackson’s (UK art suppliers but deliver internationally) currently have 15% off much of their printmaking section. It’s a short lived promotion and ends at midnight tomorrow (27th September). I will probably take the opportunity to get some more paper as nearly £20 off a pack of 25 sheets is not to be sniffed at. Click here to visit the sale.
Now in the shop
Having made their debut at the Print Fair, ‘Cloudy with Sunny Spells’ and ‘Morning Bluebells’ are now on my website. Only a few of each will be available for online sale as I will be keeping some for framing and exhibitions.
I’m going to take a couple of weeks off from printmaking now to try to catch up on other things that have been neglected, so my next letter will probably be random idle ramblings. I hope you will join me again.
Thanks as always for reading.
Jane