They've let me in again

Printfest 2024 - photo © Kate Kirkwood

Back in 2023 I recklessly applied for Printfest Ulverston, one of the most prestigious print shows in the country. I had heard of many excellent and often well-known printmakers who had been rejected over the years but I reckoned that if I didn’t apply then my chances of taking part were ‘zero’, while a submission would at least push the odds up to ‘infinitesimal’. To my utter astonishment I was accepted and offered one of the 42 stands available. Imposter Syndrome immediately decided that this must be an administrative error and I was faintly surprised that no-one spotted and corrected the mistake before I travelled to Cumbria to set up.¹

To my relief no-one looked confused when I arrived and there was even an exhibitor’s pack waiting with my name on it. I had a very successful weekend, which as it happened followed on immediately from the two weekends of York Open Studios. I sold more work in three weekends than I had in the previous 12 months. After that I had virtually no stock remaining and felt the need to lie down in a darkened room for a year or so. I didn’t even consider applying in 2024. This year, now no longer committed to spending all the spring preparing for and then taking part in York Open Studios (I stepped down from the committee after last year’s weekends) and with a bit more stock built up again, I decided to give it another go. Blow me, they’ve only gone and done it again and offered me another place.

The Coro, County Square, Ulverston
Friday 2nd May (preview) 6.30pm - 9.00pm
Saturday 3rd May 10.00am - 5.00pm
Sunday 4th May 10.00am- 4.00pm

Tickets for Saturday and Sunday (£5) can be bought online or on the door. Friday Preview is advance tickets only.

Mini prints

Printfest aims to make art accessible and affordable for all so with that in mind I am experimenting with some small prints measuring just 10 x 10 cm. I have no idea how long these will take me so I can’t be sure yet how they will be priced, but they should work out at quite a bit less than my larger prints. It’s been an interesting project to simplify images both in content (less in them) and process (fewer layers) so that they will work in a small format. I've just done the third layer of the print below (the image shows the print before and after) and there will be two further layers, so this is quite a change from my usual 9 or 10 (or more) layers. I’m rather enjoying doing these and I hope I might be able to fit in some more before May.

The saga continues

The print I showed you last time, with its missing ink, has not progressed very far - partly because I ran off to Thailand for two weeks (yes it was lovely, photographic evidence below) but also because the layers I have been printing have had a lot of white in the mix which we all now know takes ages to dry, and disaster can ensue if printed over too soon (posts passim). Then add winter into the equation and my drying rack is now a focus of impatience and frustration. Thank goodness I’ve had my mini-prints to keep me busy.

However I’ll be back soon with, I hope, something to show you. Until then, thanks as always for reading.

Jane

Bamboo rafting in the Khao Sok National Park

Phang Nga Bay

1. This was not actually that inconceivable; in 2022 a very high profile open exhibition (NOT Printfest) had emailed everyone who applied and told them all their entries had been accepted. This was not corrected for a week, by which time people had made announcements on social media, organised diaries and travel and ordered the very specific framing required by the venue. In my own case, I was originally told all three of my entries had been accepted, but this was downgraded to one. A lot of people were downgraded to none. Yikes. Pity the poor porters on handing-in day who were in the firing line dealing with artists who had ‘not seen’, or just ignored, the follow-up email and turned up to deliver rejected works. Double yikes.