Crossing Paths - PREVIEW of artist book

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I have been asked by Liz Davidson for a few more images from my collaborative book - Crossing Paths - so here we are - I do hope it will encourage you to order a copy from my Etsy shop HERE - It is a limited edition so there are only another 17 available!

Crosssing Paths - Page 29

Crossing Paths - Page 35 

Crossing Paths - a walking collaboration and artist's book

Sometime ago I promised to post an image of the final book I made for the walking collaboration with painter friend Judith Cockram .

Finished book - Crossing Paths

I finished making one book for Judith's degree show in June and am now busy making another 2. One for myself and another for Mandy Beall who has inspired me by ordering a copy. Thank you so much Mandy for your support and encouragement.

page of book - collagraph Rosie Kearton

We have (Judith and myself) now decided to make it a limited edition of 20. I have put the details on my Etsy shop and there is a link on the sidebar to the right if you'd like to know more or even buy a copy!

End pages of book 

I am really going to make a concerted effort to promote my work more. I sometimes lack confidence in what I do so when other artists and bloggers comment positively about my work it makes such a big difference! Love getting all your comments!

Day 4 - Design school

The final day was with Sofia Stevi who makes amazing book structures like this these 

We divided into pairs and on the theme of Plymouth we researched an image for a section of the book - I worked with Anne-Marie Culhane and we each drew a section of Drakes Circus 

It is a pretty hideous shopping centre but iconic in the region! 

It was then cut into 7 sections each side (14 in total) for each inner spine - I think it will work really well but unfortunately we weren't able to complete the mock up and must wait to see the final book in a few weeks time - frustrating..... 

So that is the end of the summer school - it was very different to what I expected, much more fun and playfulness and virtually no technology! It was fantastic and I have lots of ideas I want to develop - every day was different and exciting - thank you to all involved, the tutors, L.I.E. and Plymouth Arts Centre 

Day 2 at Design School

another full day at Plymouth Arts Centre - we focused on typography. Harry Blackett from An Endless Supply led the day and gave us lots of tips about fonts etc. We started off by designing our own font for our initials 

First attempt

then it started walking - perfect!

In the afternoon we played Bananagrams - a bit like scrabble without the board - it comes in a banana shaped bag which I don't have a picture of but you can see one HERE

 then we designed a page for a joint book - I used rubbings from the tiles I'd been playing with and some of the words that I'd made up

I haven't got an image of the finished book but will post one soon. I am beginning to feel very tired after 2 very full on days - and there's still another 2 to go - I have so many ideas buzzing around in my head for future projects as well.....

L.I.E. - Library of Independent Exchange workshop

An inspiring first day (of 4 days) on the design school workshop at Plymouth Arts Centre run by L.I.E.

We spent the morning playing visual games like the one below where one person was shown an image for 5 secs and then drawing it by memory for 2 mins - this image was then shown to the next person etc. a visual chinese whispers! 

We also did quick drawings from moving images - I used water color paint and really enjoyed myself - the painting led on to the afternoon exercise - we were each given a topic - mine was 'Above the stars' and were asked to produce 8 drawings which formed a narrative - these were then photocopied and folded into A4 booklets - the final task was to make a rubber stamp (something I've been meaning to do for ages!) for the front cover

Finished booklets with rubber stamped covers 

Some open pages 

One of my pages 'Above the stars'

The session leaders Holly Wales and Stephen Smith 

It was a splendid day and I've come away with lots of ideas for my bookmaking - many thanks to Holly Wales and Stephen Smith for making it a full, creative and fun day.

I'm now looking forward to tomorrow's session - more to follow about this!

Collaborative project

I have been making a book based on 10 walks on Dartmoor with a painter friend Judith Cockram - we've had really bleak cold weather and the book reflects this quite well although it was unintentional. The design and printing has given me headaches and was a steep learning curve but worth it in the end. It is A4 landscape with 4 signatures double sided - and it took me ages to figure out how to print this on my very basic inkjet printer but perseverance wins out 

I have sewn the signatures together and all I have to do now is the cover - I'm going to use an old Dartmoor map

I will post a photo of the finished book - hopefully at the weekend! 

Then I have to make another one for me as this one is for Judith and will be displayed at her degree show at Plymouth University mid June 

BABE

I had a wonderful day at BABE (Bristol Artist's Book Event) on Saturday at the Arnolfini  - over 80 exhibitors to look around - such variety 

One of my favorite tables was the p's & q's press and the lovely work of Christine Tacq

The P's & Q's Press table 

Detail of Christine's book

The sun shone and we sat outside on the waterfront watching boats and people while eating our lunch - Bristol is one of my favorite cities.

I came away inspired - now I need to get on and make a book!

Walking

It's been such a wet winter that I haven't done much walking - many of the walks I normally do have been subject to floods and erosion making it quite dangerous to walk in certain areas along the coast. But in avoiding certain areas then new paths have evolved and on one of them I made this recording of body movement during the walk - you can see the parts where it was raining and both I and the drawing got wet - I like the blurring though as it encapsulated the feeling of the walk - misty, damp and circumscribed.......

I have been carrying this tiny book (5cms square) in my rucksack for simply ages and I finally found a use for it - it was a giveaway from Kate at A disorganised life - thank you Kate - I loved using it and I'm going to adapt the idea to make further walking books. It has concertina pages so I can unfold it as the walk unfolds - lovely! I have had to scan the book in 2 parts as it is too long (50 cms) to do in one scan. I would like to post some photographs but I am still waiting for my camera to return from Canon services where it is receiving tender loving care after my accident with it on the beach on New Year's Day - an expensive mistake! But I will post another photo of the whole book when I get it back - hopefully soon as I really miss it!

Making the 'Failure" book!

The essay for the book is finished and has been approved by my tutor. So I am now concentrating on getting the artist book made. Thank goodness I made the book cover a few weeks ago before the University closed for the Easter vacation! It reopened on Tuesday and I've now had a couple of traumatic days of small failures! It's strange how the things you expect to be difficult turn out to be easier than you anticipated and the things you haven't considered turn out to be the challenges and often the 'failures'! I have to say I was nervous at making such a large book - A3 - as the saying goes - size matters!!!

This is the first stage - the glueing and pressing and waiting ! There's lots of waiting while glue drys! I'm making 2 books - it's always good to have a back up copy in case things go wrong!

Then on to the stitching - this book is thick and needed hand drilled holes for the stitching - something I've not done before as my books never needed more than an awl to make the holes - the drill got stuck in the paper and was impossible to remove - but then I learnt a trick - to crease the drill bit with beeswax and it worked a treat!!
I'd hoped to finish the 2 books today but it was not to be - I was tired and not concentrating and placed the book back to front in the cover of my 'best ' one! So I had to take it apart and won't be able to finish it until Tuesday when the University reopens! Sigh - sometimes these bank holidays are not useful!


I'm becoming an expert at FAILURE...................

Hopefully the next post will be the END!!

Oh and yes I have included the tissue paper header in the book - thank you to all of you that encouraged me to do this.

Latest Failure!

Outer front cover

Inner front cover

Outer back cover
















Inner back cover
















The deadline for my dissertation project is looming near (4 May) and I am getting anxious!! I will try to post more frequently now and show you the progress of the Failure project.
The book/catalogue cover is finished and awaiting its pages, the size is A3 landscape - the largest book I've made. I tried to get clearer images to show you but the light has been terrible and the photographs look grey rather than black. I have used blind embossing for the words. I am thinking of including the acid free tissue sheet which was sandwiched between the stencil and the board (the blog header) this would be at the front of the book maybe after the title page - what do you think?
The first complete draft of the catalogue essay is completed and will go to my tutor on Monday. I am still working on the catalogue introduction which is about the work I've received and how the project was set up - I'm not happy with it yet - it sounds pretty boring but maybe that's because I've re read it so many times and I'm my own worst judge!! A failure to say what I really want to say - sometimes the words just don't come! Gosh I've written enough about failure to know it inside out now! Today I am going to transcribe the interview I had with Lisa Le Feuvre - again I'm not sure whether to include the actual transcribe (exhibition catalogues do this frequently) or to refer to it in the introduction! So many editorial decisions - I had no idea!!

'Home from Home' exhibition in Leeds

'With ideas ranging from the domestic to displacement, over 80 artists from 7 different countries have contributed to this years Artist Book Collective exhibition around the theme of Home.

153 Woodhouse Lane, Leeds is the setting for Home from Home, to be shown alongside the 14th Leeds International Artist Book Fair. As a spacious Victorian terrace situated over three floors, it provides the perfect backdrop for this site-specific exhibition.

Artists have responded to the brief through exploring and expanding on the book as a time-based medium, whilst incorporating the notion of the everyday. Traditional book works as well as sculptural objects, text, narrative, video, furniture, audio and performance are represented throughout the show.

The concept of Home evokes various associations, including our experience of domestic spaces in relation to their designated public/private status, as well as the collection and curation of personal possessions within those spaces. Often our sense of self and security is linked to feeling ‘at home’, insinuating that this sensation is not always related to a particular place or building.

At first glance, Home from Home gives an impression of family, refuge and sanctuary, but upon closer inspection, it also begins to uncover associated feelings of anxiety and uncertainty relating to superstition, illness and transience'. (ABC Archive)

I am showing slide transparencies of a family photo archive on an old projector - these will eventually be made into an artist's book of images - this is my statement for the exhibition and an image of one of the slides

















My interest is in how memory is constructed; the fragility of memory and the passing of time; memories that have an uncertain relationship with reality. My focus is on the transitory and fragmentary nature of existence, human identity and mortality, and in exploring the tension between the concrete and the abstract - for this exhibition the focus has been on family memories of the home

The exhibition opens on Friday 11th March and runs until 18th - if you are in Leeds do visit and leave your comments. For more information on the other artists taking part go here

Reflections on white

I’ve been reflecting on the significance of my focus on white yesterday. White has so many meanings – there is of course the religious or spiritual meaning, the pure, clean and simple meaning, and for the artist the meaning of blank or empty as in the empty blank white sheet of paper or canvas that confronts us –

I love a clean new white sketchbook but it can also create a sense of panic too! Where to start, what to do, suppose I make the wrong mark – and so it goes on until a creative block stifles any further work! I have been wanting to get back to some drawing and have been avoiding it – it is much easier for me to take photographs but I look and see differently when I draw……

so today I found a simple white sketchbook that I’d made a few months ago – just 8 folded pages bound with a simple bookbinding technique – these are quick and easy to make – I have resolved to fill it this week with working drawings of trees  from the printmaking class

The drawings are not finished – I will continue working into these first two. On my walk to day I left my camera behind and took a small notebook with me – I did a few tree rubbings and may use these in my drawing tomorrow. I’d love to hear any thoughts on creative blocks, blank white pages and drawing!

I hope you are all having a creative week!

(sub)Missive private view

The private view was great - lots of people turned up

my friend Jane came with her daughter Georgia and friend Kate and son Jamie - it was great to see kids enjoying the work!

this is my bookwork displayed in the lockable gallery vitrines

the response to each set of instructions was very diverse!

My set of instructions to Vivien

Resulted in this response

The cover was cut out and the inside painted gold - it was wonderful!