Block for an upcoming artist book

Pictured top: freshly carved lino block for the title page of Decorated Women, an artist book in the making. 

Directly below is a process view of the work, snapped during the early stages of carving. Whited-out areas indicate alterations made during the course of its development. For example, the original title of the work, Illustrated Women, has been changed to the more multi-layered Decorated Women. Despite my sharp tools, the text was a particular challenge to carve due to the soft and crumbly nature of the lino. 

Depending on whether I’m able to make the deadline, the artist book will be part of Ways of Being, my solo exhibition at Stephen McLaughlan Gallery, Melbourne, running from December 4-21.

Foreign Flora - a work in progress

  

Presenting Foreign Flora, 15 x 11.5 cm, a newly carved lino block intended for Illustrated Women, an artist book that’s slowly, but surely, in the making. 

The subject’s floral tattoo is a motif from Australia, circa 1888, an embroidered table cover designed in Britain by the remarkable May Morris (1862 - 1938). In fact, none of the flowers depicted in her textile are native to Australia. The table cover, reproduced (not to scale) in the first developmental  view below, was commissioned by a Scottish-born couple residing in Adelaide, South Australia, which I assume is how it acquired its title. Australia is now held in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia.

Following are four sequential progress views of Foreign Flora.

May Flowers

Pictured top: the competed lino block for May Flowers, another work that will eventually take its place in the forthcoming artist book, Illustrated Women. The block measures 15 x 11.5 cm.

Below are a couple of progress views. Lately I’ve been further prepping my drawn up blocks with a coating of transparent drawing ink in order to see the areas I’ve cut away with greater clarity. It works a treat. As you can see, no pink areas remain in the final image.  

My protagonist’s tattoo is loosely based on a detail from Maids of Honour, a needlework design by May Morris. 

Click on images for considerably enlarged views. 

 

Yuletide Greetings

As demonstrated by the climbing molluscs in the lino block pictured below, this year has certainly had its ups and downs. That’s life, I guess - and even more so than usual over the past couple of years. 

The block, which measures 15 x 11.5 cm, is a work in progress for a forthcoming linocut, Snail Trails. The linocut will be part of an artist book, Illustrated Women, which I’ll be working on during 2022. (See also Blog Post Saturday, December 11, 2021). Click on images for a clearer view.

Enjoy the holidays, everyone, and here’s hoping for a safer, healthier, happier year ahead. 

FRANKENSTEIN'S WOMEN - frontispiece in progress

As promised, here is the recently completed block for the frontispiece to our imminent artist book, Frankenstein’s Women, followed by a series of earlier views that chart its progress.

The lino is considerably newer than the block on which the cover art was carved (see previous post). That had had time to harden a little and was far less inclined to crumble during carving. By comparison, this lino was far too soft and the areas that involved fine cutting, particularly the two lines of text at the base of the image, were inclined to chip away.

A handful of Frankenstein’s Women will be selectively hand-coloured in red - for example, the decorative comb and droplet on the necklace featured in the cover art and the earrings and upper text in this work.

The ten linocuts that make up the suite will be paired with texts by my ‘collaborator’ Mary Shelley, all of them chosen from her gothic novel, Frankenstein, first published on 1 January 1818 and every bit as relevant today.

The Monster's Bride

Progress view 1: The Bride linoleum block in late 2018

Featured in this post are selected progress views of The Bride, the eighth of eight 'non-portrait' linocuts created for Frankenstein's Women, an artist book based on the peripheral female characters in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. I developed the series during 2018, the 200th anniversary of its publication, predominantly during a residency at Melbourne Athenaeum Library. (See previous post).

In recent weeks, the project was put to one side as I turned my focus to a new body of paintings. The temporary pause gave me time to rethink part of the drawing and introduce a crucial element, namely, a ribbon choker. In the finished work, this will be red, a colour associated with the French Revolution. Red was also the colour of chokers worn by women who had narrowly escaped the guillotine, as well as a mark of sympathy for its victims. Mary Shelley and her husband Percy closely studied every aspect of the revolution and there are several references to it in Frankenstein. 

In Shelley's novel, at the behest of his 'monster,' Frankenstein creates a bride, but, at the very point of bestowing life, destroys her. Like the downtrodden French revolutionaries, Shelley's monster demonstrates the dehumanising effects of ill-treatment and neglect.

For further reading, visit my Art Blog HERE.

Progress view 2

Progress view 3, with cutting completed and repositioned choker

Work on the title page has begun and the design for the colophon is also in development.

Frankenstein's Women will be exhibited in a solo show at HipCat Printery Gallery, opening on 12 October, 2019.

FRANKENSTEIN'S WOMEN, an artist book in the making

Pictured below: selected progress views of the fifth of eight linocuts for the forthcoming artist book Frankenstein’s Women, in this bicentennial year of its primary point of reference, Mary Shelley’s groundbreaking novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.

For progress views of the sixth linocut in the series, visit my Art Blog HERE.