images and notes

Photo etching @ Thames barrier print studio

2012-01-23T21:26:00.001+01:00

The course on the 4th of Feb is fully booked. Getting ready with materials and equipment.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-10T12:45:00.000+01:00

My blog has been quiet for some time. I plan to resume publishing new pictures from the studio in 2012.

2011-07-09T00:42:00.001+02:00

2011-06-30T11:30:00.000+02:00

Letter to a Fan

2011-06-29T11:56:00.006+02:00

On 21 Jun 2011, at 11:24BST, 05J******** wrote:

Hello, thank you for replying :) my questions were:

When did you first become interested in art?
what made you focus on the human figure?
as your main subject is the movement of the body, do you use models or is it more spontaneous than that?
what made you use printing to make your works? why not oil paintings etc.
which in your opinion is your favorite piece or pieces of work?

thank you again,

J

Hi J,

- i became interested in art as soon as i could distinguish between colours and shapes and started to learn to communicate which according to my memory happened around my 2nd or 3rd birthday

- i focus on what interests me the most. i draw to communicate my thoughts. mainly on what we all have in common, which is the body and the mind and the space they share.

- i do not use the models. i draw mind constructs. my work is more abstract than first appears. the figurative aspect is a sort of provocation.

- printmaking preserves the energy of a line drawing like no other medium, yet it is generous enough to accommodate the colour and depth/texture. i also like the idea that my original works reach many more people then would have been possible with paintings.

- if speaking about my own work - the one i am thinking about right now. you have to really fall in love with an idea to start the work. like in any relationship, you work hard on it, sometimes you remain friends with your work, sometimes you fall out of love.

hope this answers your questions.

good luck,

V

details

2011-06-13T14:59:00.001+02:00

places i have been lately

2011-05-13T19:29:00.001+02:00

spreading out

2011-04-30T14:10:00.001+02:00

Fish tank

2011-04-28T11:46:00.000+02:00

progress report II

2011-04-27T11:53:00.000+02:00

this will take some time...

Progress Report

2011-04-23T21:39:00.002+02:00

I had forgotten my trusted etching needle in London. I am used to it as a violinist would be to his precious violin. But needle is not a musical instrument and is not allowed in a hand luggage. Etching plates are, but I have to give an art related lecture to an airport security personnel every time...

With heavy heart I went to town to buy a replacement. A local art shop had only one variety. It did not look much of a tool - hobby like wooden handle, very fine needle. It was very light, not at all heavy like my old needle.

First few lines I almost hated it. But the thing is, I had no choice but to trust it. The alternative was a sawing needle, a paper pin, a nail, a kitchen fork etc. but I do like to draw and I like to do it with a proper needle. For me, there is nothing better than the feeling of the needle point slicing into the waxy ground like a knife in butter. It is a pleasure to knit a line of hundreds of miles long without a single stop to recharge inks or paint.

So I did trust my hand to work out how to deal with this new extension. And it did work. Now looking at two finished plates, I know I was right not to think of a possible flop but just get on with it. The new line is somehow finer and looser, but it fits tight on the plate and works the ground well. I guess I won't be throwing this new needle away just yet.

Tomorrow is another challenge - the first etch.

Things that sail past my studio window

2011-04-20T21:26:00.002+02:00

to the right

to the left

two new plates

2011-04-19T14:32:00.001+02:00

I have been etching big work lately, very exciting but difficult as much. So much so that I feel a need to change the scale, make something smaller, more intimate. So here are two smaller designs I will be working on this week and fingers crossed I will have two good etchings to take back to London.

spring cleaning

2011-04-18T22:43:00.002+02:00

My rusty little press has had a scrub and a polish. I might do some experiments and a bit of printing here whist i am in the North. A lovely press like that likes to be used.

Back to where i like to be

2011-04-15T21:25:00.002+02:00

The snow has melted and the air is clean. It is my spring "detox" time. After months of tiring physical printing in London now is the time to step back and think of better things than chasing tails....

all welcome

2011-04-04T17:30:00.000+02:00

coordinate system series. print 1

2011-03-01T10:32:00.001+01:00

first of the series of the new silkscreens(!!!) , edition 30.

printed on the thinnest Japanese

Bib Tengujo 12 gsm KOZO paper and 250 gms Somerset

"Wind Up Instrument"

2011-02-28T13:23:00.003+01:00

deep bite etching

50 x 50 cms

on black somerset cotton 300gms paper

more sneaky peaks

2011-02-10T13:37:00.002+01:00

this is a tiny scaled model of the Ornithology box and book i was building this morning. will be starting to print 36 + spreads next week. if all goes well - will see the book before my 37th!

sneaky peeks

2011-02-02T20:03:00.002+01:00

2011-01-27T23:31:00.001+01:00

morning glory

2011-01-27T11:05:00.002+01:00

My everything aches after almost a week of nonstop etching and biting, but the prints are coming along very well and that is why i am hanging on to happy

in the flow

2011-01-25T16:20:00.001+01:00

Back to front

2011-01-17T18:52:00.002+01:00

Just to prove that the printmaker's brains are not wired in some funny alien way. Although I draw in reverse I do check an image before biting in acid by flipping its photo in Photoshop. This is to make sure all elements will work together as an impression on paper.

...with the price of zinc at £200-280 per sq m mistakes are not an option.

a good sunday

2011-01-16T18:23:00.002+01:00

the plate (s) is almost there after two days of drawing

needlework 3

2011-01-15T16:18:00.003+01:00

more needlework

2011-01-13T15:56:00.002+01:00

Needlework

2011-01-12T01:54:00.006+01:00

(work in progress on the new print)

Festive Printmaking 2

2010-12-23T17:59:00.002+01:00

The studio headquaters are moving back to the "garden studio" for the festive season.

Festive Printmaking

2010-12-17T19:47:00.009+01:00

Tea Lights. Printed on both sides of semi-translucent paper porcelain.

Every studio has a chair

2010-12-16T12:57:00.001+01:00

This is mine. I admit I hardly ever sit there, my bag usually does it for me.

just in: an update from Mackenzie gallery

2010-12-15T13:14:00.004+01:00

("xmas allsorts" at Liz Mackenzie gallery, Teddington)

"Coordinate System"

2010-12-15T00:46:00.003+01:00

a bigger sister to the "four corners game"

edition 10

2010

50 x 50 cms

Kozo & Somerset papers

available online

variations on the theme

2010-12-07T20:06:00.011+01:00

Old images - new rendition: Printed on handmade paper, which, in this case, is the paper made by my very own hands. The thread by which the prints are suspended is actually inside the paper sheets and the effect gives a rather cool impression of images floating above the mount.

Making your own paper is a great primal experience anyone working with paper can have, it really does connect you with the medium and makes you think of it as if it is not merely a support but an essential structural component. And yes, i am hooked and there is more to come.

unique / available from MacKenzie gallery

new age

2010-12-01T15:29:00.007+01:00

Two things:

i have finally joined Twitter www.twitter.com/vetagorner !

and ventured into digital printing, something i though about for a while. Very helpful Andrew Turnbull printed two huge (1x1 sq m) and stunning images on beautiful Somerset paper. They are available through my web-shop at an introductory price. They are so good they want to find a home fast! The fully archival quality images are not reproductions but created specifically to be executed digitally and will remain a very very small edition of 3 tops, cross my heart :)

Vertigo

Let go

"allsorts" from the open studio

2010-11-27T14:41:00.008+01:00

Open Studio Weekend

2010-11-19T22:11:00.000+01:00

Affordable Art Fair, Battersea Park

2010-10-20T22:02:00.003+02:00

The Fair has started today with the Charity Private View. I am at the fair all day tomorrow including the late private view. The location is Skylark Gallery Stand G4.

Frames delivered

2010-10-07T12:25:00.002+02:00

Frames for the forthcoming Affordable Art fair have been delivered. Including extra chunky box frames for the big artwork and extra elegantly thin but deep box frames for the smaller work. My framer (Andy Nicol) yet again has done himself proud.

2010-10-06T18:12:00.003+02:00

This is a magical moment of lifting up the first impression from a plate

"The Dune"

2010-10-05T12:16:00.000+02:00

here are a few of the first impressions of the new print "The Dune", a small version of "Stratum". The image is about 50 x 20 cms, printed on the fantastic heavy Du Chene hand made paper.

“If you only knew from what rubbish Poetry grows, knowing no shame." Anna Akhmatova, poet

2010-10-03T18:26:00.008+02:00

Printmaking Kitchen

2010-10-02T12:43:00.001+02:00

This is how i "cook" my plates. Slowly, in an acid bath outside my kitchen door.

Places I worked lately

2010-09-23T10:59:00.004+02:00

'Blogging" holiday is over - more pictures of work in progress to come. I am working simultaneously on more then a dozen of new plates and have been for the past month moving my sketch books, proofs, plates, tools around my "many" studios which in reality are just places i find myself in and take over with clouds of paper, radio and coffee smell.

the etching

2010-08-13T18:50:00.000+02:00

the blurb

2010-08-12T23:50:00.003+02:00

one of those texts that accompany artwork in exhibition catalogues:

The Grand Inquisitor is a parable told by Ivan to Alyosha in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov. The legend of the Grand Inquisitor is a story within a story and one of the most powerful passages in modern literature not only because of its ideas about human nature and freedom but also its fundamental ambiguity.

In the tale, Christ comes back to earth in Spain at the time of the Inquisition. He performs a number of miracles, the people recognise and adore him, but he is arrested by the leaders of the Inquisition and sentenced to be burnt to death the next day. The Grand Inquisitor visits him in his cell to tell him that the Church no longer needs him. The Inquisitor frames his denunciation of Jesus around the three questions Satan asked Jesus during the temptation of Christ in the desert; namely the temptation to turn stones into bread, the temptation to cast Himself from the Temple and be saved by the angels, and the temptation to rule over all the kingdoms of the world. The Inquisitor states that Jesus rejected these three temptations in favor of freedom, but thinks that Jesus has misjudged human nature. He does not believe that the vast majority of humanity can handle the freedom which Jesus has given them. Thus, he implies that Jesus, in giving humans freedom to choose, has excluded the majority of humanity from redemption and doomed it to suffer.

The story ends when Christ, who has been silent throughout, kisses the Inquisitor on his lips instead of answering him. On this, the Inquisitor releases Christ but tells him never to return. Christ, still silent, leaves.

It is a powerful and gripping story in which big questions are asked and yet no answers given. The story inspired me to capture the tense dialogue between "wrong" and "right" (if ever there are such things) in a tangible beautiful object resembling a Russian Orthodox Icon. I wanted to stress both the cultural roots of Dostoevsky's parable and my own quest for national and personal identity.

Russian icons incorporate elaborate tin, bronze or silver exterior facades that are usually highly embellished and often multi-dimensional. These are called "oklads" and are there to protect a precious image behind them. The interplay between the etching, the zinc "oklad" plate (which was the original printing plate used to create the etching prior to the plate being "disfigured" to give the appearance of a second character) and also an occasional reflection of a viewer on the polished surface of the plate create multiple connections and illusions that lure the imagination in and prompt the mind to ask questions.

the plate

2010-08-11T11:36:00.002+02:00

Images of "The Grand Inquisitor"

2010-08-10T13:48:00.004+02:00

change of scenery

2010-07-30T20:47:00.003+02:00

The studio moved to Sweden until September.

Four Corners are leaving the studio

2010-07-14T09:59:00.001+02:00

busy busy summer

2010-07-06T10:55:00.009+02:00

June has been another super busy month!

I have started new work, run a printmaking workshop in a primary school, went to see a few dance shows, was invited to a special "Dance Umbrella" art action at The Antony Gormley studio and of course "Four Corners Game" has sold out at the Royal Academy in just two weeks, absolutely amazing!

So instead of enjoying the sunshine outside i am in the cool old studio working.

2010-06-24T10:46:00.001+02:00

(just a photo from an open studio day in May)

bits of zinc

2010-06-18T22:13:00.000+02:00

Now.

2010-06-17T17:31:00.006+02:00

Now. It has been precisely a month since the last note. And a busy month that was: the London Printmakers first show at the Oxo gallery, Bristol Affordable Art fair, my first ever open studio event, I went to Stockholm, spent a week in the North, came back, learned how to make paper and paper clay with wonderful Carol Farrow, went to the Royal Academy for the Varnishing Day (sure, I forgot a thing or two), and now finally locking myself back in the studio to work.

there are numerous projects on the go. New unfinished plates, sketches for new plates, freshly primed boards for new paintings, "Ornithology" that is a hairline away from completion and crying out for a box or bookbinding. There is also a project piece for the exhibition at the Pushkin House in August, where artists are invited to draw inspiration from a piece of Russian literature and music. this one is important for me, as an "identity searching" device and an opportunity to do things outside the comfort zone. so I chose "the Grand Inquisitor", no small change there and bought steel sheets on ebay, very excited to start.

a got a new sketch book and trying the first ideas for the next big personal thing after "Ornithology". For many years I knew i would start sometime on my "book of hours". Well, now is the time. So I am starting with 15 psalms of ascents. It borderlines with "Ornithology" with the themes of pilgrimage and as such is a natural entry point into something I knew I needed to do and now feel I can.

It feels a bit nerve wracking and paralysingly exciting. Just a deep breath and in i go.

Guerrilla on-line shop is coming soon

2010-05-17T12:00:00.004+02:00

I have artwork coming back to my studio from several exhibitions across the country today and some of those framed and unframed pieces will be available to buy from my website for a limited period from Tuesday 18th of May.

Where on earth is Carmen Sandiego?

2010-05-06T09:32:00.005+02:00

Spring is a busy time in London. I am outside the studio as often as i am in. On Friday you can find me in Skylark 1 on the Gabriels Wharf, on Saturday i am in the gallery@OXO, Oxo Tower and next week i am hanging a stand in Bristol at the Affordable Art Fair, later the same week is my open studio event. So there is plenty of opportunities to see friends, customers and chat to the heart content.

Taking proofs

2010-04-30T21:37:00.004+02:00

before prints are framed and shown to the public there are days, weeks and sometimes months of trying colours, making changes to plates, choosing the right paper, taking proofs, then more and more proofs. printmaking is a pursuit of perfection.

all welcome!

2010-04-30T09:04:00.001+02:00

OXO GALLERY SHOW

2010-04-28T22:30:00.003+02:00

London Printmakers' show started tonight with a formal Private View on Thursday evening.

Here are some of the work available at the show including the VERY last copy 23/25 of "The Wrong Shadows"

new etchings

2010-04-27T17:43:00.003+02:00

introducing "Knots"

at the London Printmakers show, OXO gallery, SE1, 28 APril - 16 May

ashes to ashes

2010-04-17T14:41:00.004+02:00

It looks like we are going to enjoy Sweden for a little while longer (courtesy of the act of god). If art is an ultimate manifest of control then life is totally the opposite.

2010-04-16T23:13:00.001+02:00

brooding ideas, smoking plates

2010-04-15T12:20:00.001+02:00

day and night

2010-04-14T22:40:00.000+02:00

life here revolves around the big table

spring N2

2010-04-13T11:46:00.005+02:00

a week since the last note and it's spring here. since we started coming to Sweden for Easter, experiencing two springs a year is an ordinary occurrence and a magical event!

Rocky IV

2010-04-12T11:50:00.001+02:00

before i start on a new plate there is always a compulsion to put up a new shelf or two...

the second best thing is clearing the snow.

presents

2010-04-06T22:12:00.004+02:00

a new coffee cup for me (looks like a take away cup but it is porcelain with a silicone lid!) and small paintings for somebody else...

* tiny "ornitholologies" are one-offs and will be on show at the OXO SHOW and Bristol AAF

from my window today

2010-04-04T12:05:00.002+02:00

2010-03-24T17:02:00.000+01:00

OFF THE WALL

private view

tomorrow

spring is coming

2010-03-20T13:40:00.003+01:00

The spring is coming and with it a busy exhibiting season (refer to the events page) so the sleeves are well rolled up and i spend most of the time in the studio. there are new plates in production and i rework some of the old ones too.

"Hollow Bodies" wallpaper

2010-03-10T12:58:00.006+01:00

"Hollow Bodies" hand printed wallpaper

2010

oil based ink / block printing

paste the wall

lengths of 3m

available in 3 colourways: black, grey, red

price tba, samples on request

+ birdsidetable by Alex Helum

lunch

2010-03-08T11:30:00.002+01:00

we have a pretty special area fronting the Thames for all those times when one does not want to breathe spirits anymore.

Newcastle. Biscuit Factory. Spring Show. Preview. Part 3

2010-03-05T22:20:00.010+01:00

"Ornithology" variations. mixed media on boards, 30 x 30 cms framed

sweatshop

2010-03-05T16:30:00.007+01:00

OFF THE WALL

exhibition of artist printed wallpaper

with East London Printmakers

@ DREAMSPACE GALLERY

20 March - 11 April

info here

Newcastle. Biscuit Factory. Spring Show. Preview. Part 1

2010-03-05T10:49:00.004+01:00

1. "Kepler's Law". woodcut/engraving/monoprint. 110 x 80 cms

2. "Legions III". mixed media on board. 100 x 100 cms

3. "Persistence of vision". etching/monoprint. 50 x 35 cms

Newcastle. Biscuit Factory. Spring Show. Preview. Part 1

2010-03-04T11:21:00.005+01:00

1) "Stratum", etching/monoprint, 110 x 45 cms.

2) "Wrong Shadows", mixed media on canvas on board, 100 x 100 cms.

3) "Saturn Return", mixed media on board, 100 x 100 cms.

something old, something new...

2010-02-16T10:33:00.003+01:00

www.londonprintmakers.com

OXO Gallery, SE1 London

27 April - 17 May 2010

barricaded in the studio

2010-02-11T23:24:00.002+01:00

bits of something different....

2010-01-29T15:00:00.002+01:00

this is not paper, this is porcelain

introducing "carousel"

2010-01-28T18:24:00.002+01:00

playing with the counterproofs

2010-01-24T18:13:00.000+01:00

find the differences

2010-01-21T23:15:00.002+01:00

(a case study of the differences you would see within a hand pulled edition)

"Ornithology" update

2010-01-17T19:20:00.001+01:00

36 of 36

in the heart of the studio

2010-01-15T11:39:00.003+01:00

hotplate (for all those inking needs) and heaters (see under the tables?) to warm up inks and rollers

London Art Fair

2010-01-13T21:44:00.004+01:00

"Stratum"

edition 12

50 x 30 cms

handmade paper 600gms

£350

exclusively available at the Print Now project (curated by Bearspace gallery) at the London Art Fair and through the Bearspace gallery thereafter.

The Last "Ornithology" plates

2010-01-08T21:18:00.000+01:00

2010-01-07T12:23:00.000+01:00

2010-01-06T17:16:00.002+01:00

2010-01-06T10:18:00.000+01:00

paintings

2010-01-05T22:47:00.006+01:00

working on paintings for the featured artist show at the Biscuit Factory, Newcastle in spring. now that the printmaking studio is sub-zero it has been great to take a break from printing and get on with the long awaited job of painting the boards. i gave up the idea of painting on canvases in favour of the boards in order to achieve very flat painting surface without traces of fabric fibre or grain and used the same tools i use for my prints: rollers, needles, knives, scrapers. these paintings, if looking closer, are made out of fine lines etched into drying paint, and there are layers and layers of them.

PRINT NOW at the London Art Fair

2009-12-11T18:15:00.002+01:00

Just been confirmed that one of my new etchings will be shown at the London Art Fair in January at the PRINT NOW PROJECT curated by the Bearspace gallery, SE8

and to the drawing board

2009-12-09T23:19:00.001+01:00

"Ornithology" update

2009-11-23T19:39:00.000+01:00

28 of of 36

2009-11-17T16:15:00.000+01:00

back in the studio

2009-11-16T14:10:00.002+01:00

preparing new plates after a brief "re-grouping" post very successful but exhausting Affordable Art fair

getting ready for the affordable art fair, London

2009-10-10T08:15:00.002+02:00

frames have been delivered, printing is done, time to put the show together

and it is getting messier

2009-09-16T09:01:00.001+02:00

studio days

2009-09-13T12:07:00.001+02:00

busy editioning and working on new plates

BLURB book update

2009-09-09T22:34:00.003+02:00

coming soon...

my Greenwich Printmakers day

2009-09-08T19:10:00.005+02:00

my penultimate show at the Greenwich Printmakers Gallery was hung this morning, then spent the afternoon chatting to colleagues and customers and mapping the open bite on the new plates.