pavement graffiti

Those who have been following this blog since its early days in 2008, or who have trawled through the archives, will know that my focus sometimes shifts away from the printed image on the page, or the joys of being in the landscape, to be drawn instead to the urban pavement.  In particular, those pavements that are semiotically active.  I received a message today from someone describing herself as a pavement fancier, with similar interests.  Now how could that not pique your interest – a pavement fancier.  On visiting the Pavement Graffiti blog, I quickly realised what a rich seam of social study the pavement can be in the hands of  a dedicated researcher.  Go check it out and I promise, you’ll find there is more to the pavement than you ever expected.  The image above comes from Pavement Graffiti’s travels in Vancouver (click on the image to go to the original post).

ex libris

This week saw another long thought-of project finally enacted ; making myself a bookplate, also known as an ex libris.  Bookplates are small printed labels used to claim ownership of ones books.  They have a long history and have been made by commercial publishing houses and prominent artists alike.  I started this small engraving this week during a class I was teaching at Megalo Print Studio.  It wasn’t initially planned as an ex libris, but for somewhat unknown reasons, I left a dark corner.  After proofing, I didn’t like the dark corner and was about to extend the horizontal lines and realised this could be the perfect opportunity to turn it into a bookplate.  I was still a little concerned that black corner was  a little clunky.  After printing a whole bunch of them on Megalo’s lovely Albion Press, I did then extend the lines, and print a bunch of those as well.

While creating and printing the bookplates was fun, the real satisfaction was pasting them into my books today – at least those that I have with me at the moment, which are mostly teaching resources and a few books I’ve been reading recently.  One such book to receive its new bookplate today was Jenny Uglow’s  biography of Thomas Bewick – himself a prolific creator of bookplates.  It’s nice to feel I am continuing a tradition that is a little on the wane.

the creative face of New Zealand

 

I haven’t shared many images from my recent travels in New Zealand – and there are plenty that fit into the eclectic parameters of Art out and About.  Like these delightfully modernist faces painted onto the cross sections where branches have been pruned off trees.  Like so much of this type of creative output, they were in something of a random spot.  Just a bit of a track beside the road where I decided to stop and take a few photos of the coastline, and I was rewarded with these faces.  I don’t remember a name for where it was, but it was just south of Dunedin.  I found many such traces of creative activity out and about in New Zealand, and often having taken on a greater significance when subsequent travellers (for it seemed like it was mostly travellers out on the roads in the South Island) would take their cue from an existing creative work of some kind and repeat it so the motif was displayed on mass.  Perhaps this will all make more sense as I share some more in future posts.  For now I hope you enjoy these faces of perhaps ambiguous expression.

 

pic of the day

 

Self Portrait at Warri Reserve, Shoalhaven River near Braidwood NSW.   I’m camped here on the lovely Shoalhaven ready for a dash into Canberra in the morning.  I do love autumn in this part of Australia, and especially on a day like today when a big cold front pushes through and the air turns cold and clear.  It is after sunset now, the big white gums are splendid against the violet sky, the wind has eased but still quite breezy and turning cold.  The sky is clear here, but low clouds loiter on the mountains to the south.

learn wood engraving

I’ve set off on the road again, for the moment mainly concentrating on some teaching.  Above is a photo of me demonstrating inking of a wood engraving block during a recent workshop I conducted in Glen Innes, in the Northern NSW tablelands.  We all had a great weekend, and the participants made some lovely images.  You can see some of those images, and some more photos, here.  There are two more opportunities to learn wood engraving over coming weeks.  I will be back in Canberra this week for a woodcut class, and then again in April to teach wood engraving with my old friends at Megalo Print Studio.  More details here.  Then on May 12/13 I will be spending two days with the Newcastle Printmakers Workshop to again share the delights of wood engraving.  Again, more details here.  I believe there are still places available for both workshops.

work on show

If you happen to be in Melbourne, Australia over the next couple of weeks…

California Vista, wood engraving, Peter McLean, 2011

…then you can see two of my wood engravings on show at Brunswick Street Gallery (BSG) as part of their annual Work on Paper prize.  I’ve entered two of the works I made while I was in California last year.  I see on my friend Annika Romeyn’s blog, that she too has been selected for the exhibition of finalists.  I wonder how many other people I know will have work there? – wouldn’t be surprising since I know a lot of excellent printmakers.  A pity it’s just a bit too far away for me at the moment.  Opens Friday 16th March, 6pm.  BSG is at 322 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy.

seeking the source

'Seeking the Source', wood engraving, Peter McLean, 2012

 

This is my most recent wood engraving, the latest waypoint for this image, which began on a walk in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.  Since then the image has passed through drawings and large paintings, and now been miniaturised again.  In the translation into print it has been mirrored as well.  A new element has entered the picture now, with the distinctive outer shape bringing new associations and emphasising the internal flow of the image as well.  It is the first block I have made from a small piece of Paper Birch that I collected a few years back. I’m always on the lookout for suitable pieces of wood – of suitable hardness, relatively free of cracks (or ‘interesting’ looking cracks), and importantly, small enough to carry away without causing too much of a spectacle.  This piece came from a pile of prunings I noticed while leaving the dentist as I remember.  I thought Birch would be too soft, but some of the commercially made engraving blocks are Birch, so thought I might as well try it.  So after letting the wood cure for a few years, I made a block.  It is certainly a little on the soft side, but with care is quite suitable.  My quest for using wood that I find as my main material often leads me to use blocks that cold be considered inferior – but I think  it just pushes me to fine tune my craft even more.

 

What source is being sought?  Well that’s something I’d rather leave as a bit of a mystery for the time being.

found art – crochet

Found this delightfully low key installation on Noosa’s Hastings Street recently.  The ye olde charm of the crotchet doilies contrasted nicely with the bling and commercialism of Hastings Street, while the off-white palette was very much in keeping with the dominant fashions of the local ladies.  Multi coloured Guerrilla Knitting just wouldn’t do for Hastings Street.  If you haven’t heard of guerilla knitting, than please do check out the link – you’ll be astounded!  It’s an ever growing movement sweeping the world, and if you keep your eye’s open there is plenty of it about.

This is a more typical Guerrilla Knit installation – this one found outside the Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand.

For yet another variation of fibre enhancements of public space, this fence had dozens of these small wool wrappings inserted.  The variations suggested many different makers, but I don’t know if it was the outcome of some organised event, or an accumulation of later passersby deciding to add in response after one persons initial incursion on the dreary site.

Nattaginni

Nattaginni Cottage, wood engraving, 10x12cm, Peter McLean, 2011

What a wonderful word is Nattaginni!  Just one little part of the remaining legacy of 40 000 years of culture in Australia.  Unfortunately, these days the word is a largely stranded remnant of the culture the produced it, but I’m glad the word at least lives on.  It lives on in the form of an alpaca farm of all things – Nattaginni Alpacas.  I was commissioned to make an image of this charming building.  Not the main house, but a second building on the farm, known as Nattaginni Cottage.  It wasn’t just a commission though, I had my own reasons for spending the time on this image.  The ‘client’ is a great mate, and I had enjoyed staying at Nattaginni on numerous occasions while he lived there in the cottage with his family.  I worked from photographs he sent me for the cottage and it’s garden.  I was keen to place the cottage in it’s broader environment, since it was so nice to spend time on the back verandah, watching the cows roam the green hills, flanked by Bunya peppered rainforest remnants as the tropical heat makes big white cumulus rise above the horizon.  (Bunya – now there’s another good word.)  Just as well I’d made some small sketches on one of those occasions, so I had that to refer to in order to create the background.  I printed ‘Nattaginni Cottage’ at Megalo Print Studio on Kozo extra light paper from a commercial maple block.

chalkboard

Yesterday I finally did something I’ve been saying I was going to do for at least a couple of years.  Not that it was difficult or needed a huge investment in materials, it just takes me a while to get to things sometimes.  So, I’ve made myself a nice big chalkboard!  As simple as buying some paint and applying two coats to the back of an old door.  Fabulous.  So today I got to play with it.  Unsure what to draw first, I flicked through some old sketchbooks, and chose a small pen drawing that had never progressed into anything else.  It was labelled ‘Nursery Hill from Little Pig Swamp’ and was in my sketchbook from 2009 when I spent a fair bit of time in Namadgi National Park.  You’ll be able to find Nursery Hill on the official maps, but Little Pig Swamp is unique to my personal mind map.  When you are in the bush on your own for a while, these things can happen.  It was interesting to work up the tiny black on white sketch, into a larger white on black image, with the visual memory of the place somewhat faded now, so pretty much relying only on the sketch.  Anyway, here’s the chalk drawing.

chalkboard drawing, Peter McLean, 2012