Life after Arts Week. The Sweet Pea Project.

Tuesday, 4th November.

A month has passed since the excitement of the Open Studios, and its time to show the progress of the sweet pea linocut that I was working on in the wagon. Taking an early print shows me how much I still need to cut out......

An early print not fully cut out can look quite dramatic and its tempting to leave it like this. I've painted some watercolour just to give me an idea of how the planned colours might look. After more cutting out I make another print -

How different it looks!  I love the effect - almost like a woodcut. I now have to plan and cut a new piece of lino that will print the plain areas of colour. To plan this I take a print on tracing paper, then make a collage of the shapes of colour. If I lay the tracing paper on top I can see how it might look - the tricky bit will be lining everything up....

The second piece of lino is cut and prints made using the two colours - tomorrow I  hope to print the first detailed linocut over the coloured ones- registering is going to be tricky....... I will be posting the result on my next blog-
Meanwhile on my walks across our land I am stunned by the changing colours of the leaves and the shapes of tree branches beginning to re-emerge. Wild apples hang down in the hedgerow alongside scarlet hips and haws and flamingo pink spindle berries - so much colour!

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The Wagon Studio Opening for Arts week- all the news and finale.

Monday 6th October

I wake up this morning, wind howling and the rain pelting down!-but for the two weeks of open studios we have been blessed with glorious sunny weather - I've had a good amount of visitors, and sales - people have been really interested in what I do and the techniques I use.I would like to thank all of you who have come to see me and my work, and sharing our thoughts of the landscape around the farm - both Jon and I have made some good  friends and contacts. The wagon of course has had a lot of admirers. Here is a collage of photos made by my  friend Fran, showing the gallery space inside the wagon (top left and left), its humble beginnings (top right), the wagon studio on its pitch, (right) and my daughter Vicky and I getting ready for the private view in the barn, (middle).

At the  private view opening- myself and some good friends with the wagon lit up........ Happy days!

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I shall be continuing to work in the wagon studio, and will be posting my progress on the blogspot so please keep your eye out for new posts- I am exhibiting with my printmaking group at Strode Theatre in December so I will be posting the dates up for that .If you need to contact me my details are on the Somerset Arts Week website. Looking forward to the next open studios- got fed up with the housework already!

'Wagons Roll' - the final fixing!

Thursday 18th Sept
There has been very little postings on the blog page due to pressure of work in getting the wagon studio to
its finished state ! Here are some photos of the final stages -

Peking comes to Pilton! This shows the the beautiful detail on the roof corners and a glimpse of the copper guttering- next, the sedum roof goes on.......

Finally the interior gets painted. The colours are based on the landscape- soft grey cloud and blue sky, the colour of willow... I can't wait to get the prints and paintings hung!

Lastly, an invitation to you all to come and visit- there is plenty to see- and buy! - prints and paintings, cushions, and cards- and above all the landscape which has inspired me in so much of my work.

Sweet peas and Flowers in a Jug

Thursday, 31st July

Em, my daughter grows the most fabulous sweet peas - while I have a weedy collection of pale pinks and pastels, Em produces masses of exotic looking blooms ranging from sexy dark purpley reds through to light lavender flowers edged with dark violet. She brings me a bunch now and again, which I put in a vase in the kitchen....

I love the erratic way the sweet pea stems grow- their leaves are like butterfly wings - and their twirly tendrils. The lime green tobacco flower sets off the reds beautifully.

Last year I used her flowers as a design for a lino print, alongside the sweet peas are cosmos and small sunflowers. I printed it in one main colour over different colour blocks for the jug, petals and flower centres.

                                                             'Em's Flowers in a Jug'
                                                          

Then I printed the design in one colour on calico and thought that they would make a great cushion covers.

Here's the cushion cover in the planning stage- deciding which way round the stripes should go- I settled for the horizontal....

The prints and cushions will be on show and for sale in the wagon during Somerset Arts Week  

20th Sept.- 4thOct. The brochures are out published and are out and about soon- find me at venue 143!

Butterflies and Moths

Tuesday, 8th July. 

We haven't cut our hayfields yet so when you walk through them clouds of butterflies fly out of the grass - so far, apart from the meadow browns, I've spotted small orange skippers, ringlets and the beautiful marbled white. My father was a keen butterfly spotter and I think I caught some of his enthusiasm when I was small! Moths can be just as beautiful in a more subtle way though not as brightly coloured. I took the image of a moth for a collograph idea......

This collograph print was made by sticking textures - string, hessian, feathers etc on to card cut as a moth shape - ink is pressed in, wiped off and the card rolled through the etching press on to watercolour or smooth paper. 

I did the same for the great green grasshopper except that it is set on a hessian background-

And a stag beetle with a leaf......

These prints will be on show in the wagon during Somerset Open Studios '14.

Meanwhile work cotinues apace on the wagon! - glass going into the windows and the chestnut shingles applied to the outside...

Work inspired by a visit to Harris. The shingle horse.

20th June - I ve always been fascinated by wild places-(probably from childhood camping holidays

spent on the west coast of scotland), so a couple of years ago Jon and I went to Harris in the Outer Hebrides. A windswept barren landscape, almost lunar, white beaches, and the thrill of seeing an eagle... here are a couple of etchings from work  I have on sale at the Finsbay Gallery, Ardvey, Harris (www.finsbaygallery.co.uk), and will be on view in the wagon studio.

This is a zinc plate etching where I have pressed real feathers into a soft ground, (more obvious when you see the real print).

Soay sheep are also seen in the Hebrides more specifically on the small island of Soay and St Kilda. They are supposed to be descended from original Viking sheep. We have a small flock on our smallholding in Pilton, they are great characters but terrible to catch!

This is an etching done on plastic so no acid process involved, tone is suggested by hatching or printing with slightly dirty plate.

And lastly.....

The shingle horse! Couldnt resist taking a photo of the shingle making area, these are covering the top area of the wagon studio, the bottom half painted in deep blue.

Late Winter - Early Spring. The Wagon Takes Shape

7th June. The studio/living wagon grows apace! From wood skeleton through to the insulation, planning the outer skin (paint and shingles), flooring, and windows- here are some photos to show progress- with a short interruption for lambing!
                                                                                  

Late winter/ spring, skeleton frame


 

 Spring- insulation goes on. Radnor ewes and lambs.




                                        Corner posts, outer skin and chestnut shingles

Preparing for Somerset Art Weeks

Over the next few months I will be posting updates on the progress of the contemporary living wagon/studio where I will be exhibiting a selection of paintings and prints for Somerset Art Weeks in September 2014. Here are a couple of the pieces that will be on show...

'Old Hebridean Boat'

'Tomatoes'

'Gypsy Caravan'

For more information on Somerset Art Weeks and the Open Studios visit http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/caroline-morriss