Skip to main content

Art School

After leaving my graphic design job, I was lucky enough to get my portfolio accepted into the Visual Arts undergraduate course in Pittville Art School. Pittville is an awesomely cool campus at the University of Gloucestershire in Cheltenham, UK.

It was a childhood dream to go, not only to art school and paint, but to go to this actual college. I have memories of driving past the college as an elementary school student, thinking how lucky the students were to be able to paint ALL day! The miseries of math were far behind them and that alone sounded appealing.

I loved practically every minute of my time at Pittville, it was like everything had finally clicked into place for me. Well almost everything, I was a mess in the print room but somehow managed to scramble at the end of each semester to pull it all together. Ceramics seemed too easy at times, I should have found more ways to challenge myself, but painting and printmaking gave me the stimulation I was looking for and it was good to coast for part of the time. I made it a habit to work on paintings in the morning and ceramics after liquid lunches at the college bar LOL.

I could write pages of my experiences at Pittville and the things I came away with, but it is so big that I would not know where to start and would not know where to end. I will just say that I have never experienced anything that felt so right for me, nor having had a feeling of complete belonging, as when I studied as an undergraduate there. I am just so incredibly blessed to have had the opportunity to have studied at Pittville.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Blockprinting

One of my favorite forms of printmaking is relief carved blocks. I generally use soft blocks such as linoleum, for the simple reason that it is easier on my hands. The last time I carved wood I ended up with 3 herniated discs, so I might make wood a special occasion choice! Carving wood can be an almost spiritual awakening of sorts, as the consious mind is on full focus of the task of the hands and the subconsious is resting on the creative nature of the image being formed. Once the block or blocks are carved, inking and printing requires a rhythm of motion that brings a level of peace. Here is a Japanese master printer at work printing, just watching him at work in his studio has me taking deep mediative breaths!      

Victorian Influences

My head is buzzing with the Printmaker's Conspiracy's upcoming exhibition title. The exhibition is to be called "Secret's Revealed". I am thinking about Victorian Burlesque figures, peep shows, showgirls, keyholes and movable parts on the print to see through the keyhole. I also have another related thread of thought about fortune tellers, maybe the machine "Zoltar" type or an old gypsy with a crystal ball. I like the idea of printing then folding one of those playground fortune tellers (coolie catchers???). I will start some sketches to see what happens. I am halfway through a drawing that I though might translate well in a solarplate etching.

Encaustic Monoprint Technique

Today I visited a printmaking friend's studio. Amy is experimenting with encaustic monoprints. I have never heard of this before so I was excited to have a demo. Here is the basic process: 1. Heat up the homemade heat box. 2. Rub the beeswax pigment sticks on the metal surface of the heat plate to melt them. Create a design on the plate with one or more colors. Step 3. Lay a piece of rice or rag paper face down on the painted design and cover with newsprint. Burnish. Step 4. Carefully pull the paper away from the heat plate. Steps 5-6. Clean the heat plate with paper towels. Add more color to the heat plate and repeat the process to add patterns or more color to the print. The smell of the wax is yummy and the pigments are really thick and rich to work with. I had a little play to get a feel for what the print is like (image below). Now I want to build a heat box and play!!