Bev Hartley Print Making Exhibition - Lino Cuts 10th Nov 2017

Bev Hartley Exhibition at the Friday Gallery - 10th

November 2017 Coventry Point      https://folksy.com/shops/BeverleyHartley 

 1 My first print shows one of my early works from my beginnings at Watford College where I studied and qualified with City & Guilds in Print Making, With this technique objects we added to the pressing when using the printing ink giving a three dimensional surface as the impression of surface was taken up onto the printing paper when compressed.

2 I had left the class and at the station noticed the bright moon misty behind clouds in the sky as I left the station at Clapham Junction, as I walked back home the moon seemed to follow me, and at the top of my road suddenly it became bright and stunning as the clouds lifted and I saw a star opposite, I said probably Venus, and this became the title of the print I made from my experience – “Probably Venus”

3 After leaving college I experimented with printing, working at home in my Watford bedsit, quite difficult because of all of the room needed for printing. One day I looked up at the window and saw this tree pattern that inspired this new print, a silver birch branch, using only two colours blue, over red, and some gold dusted over these I called it TU Da World. All of the pressing was by hand baron so getting the edges crisp was not as easy as it looks.

4 One of my first commissions by a group of friends who had collected together to own the pub, they gave me a completely free rein over what and how the print looked after a tour of the pub. Here I worked at home again using the hand baron, and this time used more colours, with lino cut this means for each colour an extra amount of the print must be carved from the blank areas, the outlines and colours have to be planed and a set number of copies made for each colour, as one the new colour area is carve out the previous colour cannot be printed, the print develops a teach stage of colour, so a lot of risk in involved. The White Swan received a lot of attention and was a sell out all of the prints were sold.

5 This is my transitional print, it is smaller than the others but for me it shows some of my highest levels of skill in the art of lino printing, it is an experiment in “reduction,” reducing to two colours and simple clear lines, the plan and design of the image emerging naturally from the printing technique. The image came from my drawing study of a Magnolia flower given to me from my sister.

Using a plum colour and shapes in a traditional Lino cut technique, I found out the flower was called a Star Magnolia, I it made in the springtime, and feel the sense of promise from it.

6 At last in my own studio in Watford and with a printing press at last, I could begin to advance even further with my printing. Here you can see the differences in using a printing press, instead of the hand held Baron.

I made this print from my experience of an overheard snippet of conversation when walking back from the station one night after working at the new studio…a hand held out a flaming piece of paper from a dormer window and someone said “there it’s gone, over” the mystery of the occasion stuck with me.

7 This is a view from my window from my flat in Watford - “Ferns and Borage” in my garden and shade but next door the sunlight reflected on the windows and house was sunny and brightly lit. The contrast inspired me, taking a decision to use six colours, all done with the press. 

You cannot blend colours and have to manage the image much more. .deciding what detail to include and what to leave out, so it is very technical, preparing the design before starting to make the print, and designing it so that the print process can work beautifully.

8 This is my print from today in Coventry, it shows Coventry Point where my studio is, and I am working from, near the City Market.

Two plates and three colours, one being white, relying on two states of the Lino cut and two colours (each colour has to be planned against the other to define the image) that involved great deal of fun and lots of decisions about what colours to change and how to show outlines, blues , sky, buildings and reflections. So much design, positive and negative spaces to consider, for instance without the clouds, how would the top of the market roof be shown? “Coventry Retail Market” buildings and sky, the clear edges from the press, love this for the balance of spaces and colour making it work.

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 Bev Hartley with Hermione Yesota Nov 10th 2017 ©