-
-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
- Books & Reading Materials (5)
- Exhibitions & Artists (25)
- General Arts (11)
- General fun pursuits (20)
- Image of the week (159)
- Museums, Galleries & Concerts (22)
- Musings (16)
- My Creative Pieces (369)
- Design Play (55)
- Elian and his world of fantasy (6)
- My books & journals (51)
- My drawing (54)
- My painting (23)
- My paper (40)
- My prints (192)
- Printmaking 1 (155)
- Textiles 1: Exploring Ideas (126)
- Uncategorized (123)
- Workshops & Classes (40)
Category Archives: My Creative Pieces
Zinc etching, from design to print
How to develop a basic drawing into a complex zinc etching. Continue reading
Zinc plate etching
Project: Kunsthaus (Art house), Rogner Bad Blumau, Austria In 2018 I holidayed in Japan and, whilst there, visited a wonderful structure remodeled by the architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. I believe it was originally a sewage works, but it has been transformed … Continue reading
Posted in My Creative Pieces, My prints
Tagged Liquid hard ground, zinc plate etching
Leave a comment
Relief printing with Ezy Carve
Project: Flights of Fancy This print swap is one I joined for the first time last year when the theme was ‘Hello Yellow’. Click here to see my entry if you missed it. The aim is to print a set … Continue reading
Print Group Swap
Each year in December the members of our print group produce a pile of cut up prints to swap. These are usually prints that either didn’t quite work, are colour experiments or are surplus to requirements. We make our selections … Continue reading
Posted in My books & journals, My Creative Pieces, My prints
4 Comments
Project: After the Bushfires – Part 2
This project has developed to incorporate 3 distinct print methods to produce the imagery: solar plate etching, drypoint and linocut. Each was applied to Japanese Iwaki paper and, once dry, this paper was adhered to a sheet of 250gsm BFK … Continue reading
Posted in My Creative Pieces, My prints
Tagged Drypoint etching, Linocuts, solar plate printing
2 Comments
Project: After the Bushfires – Part 1
It was during a workshop with Brenda Tye in September 2017 that I first explored drypoint printing. We were given a piece of drypoint plastic and an etching needle and told to scratch our design into the plastic before inking … Continue reading
Project: Going, Going, Almost Gone
This zinc etching had numerous problems as it developed. I started with a couple of photographs taken at Lakes Entrance in Victoria last year. I cropped one to fit my print matrix. The boats were drawn along with a few … Continue reading
Project: Construction – Part 2
Following on from my previous solar plate prints I decided to create a relief linocut with the aim of masking and selectively inking specific areas to achieve colour and tonal variation. Using Photoshop I created a mock-up of what I … Continue reading
Posted in My Creative Pieces, My prints
Tagged lino print, Linocut, print-making, Printing, printmaking
4 Comments
Project: Construction – Part 1
Late last year I visited MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, in Tasmania. It was a fascinating experience and I was particularly enchanted with an installation entitled 20:50 by Richard Wilson. His website describes it as follows: The … Continue reading
Project: Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose
I’ve seen quite a bit in the media about fast fashion; sales volumes generated by the fashion & manufacturing sectors, poor quality products designed with a very short life-span to encourage more purchasing, huge quantities of clothing going into land … Continue reading
Exploring viscosity printing
A while ago I created a very successful deeply etched solar plate image which was exhibited in April. Last month two friends and I were keen to explore viscosity printing again and as I don’t have much in the way … Continue reading
Project: Bags of Choice
Drypoint trials I’d like to create a concertina book with a whole array of handbags on display. Drypoint isn’t something I’ve done a lot of but using an etching needle to scratch into thin perspex seems like a good way … Continue reading
Exhibition: Nunawading Library
As a member of Papermakers of Victoria I was invited to participate in their latest exhibition at Nunawading Library. Nunawading Library379 Whitehorse RoadNunawading Vic 3131 Exhibition Dates: 30 August – 26 September, 2023 Living so far away means I won’t … Continue reading
Etching into lino
Experimentation with paint stripper Note: Protective clothing, including gloves and face mask, should be worn when using toxic substances. Spurred on by a printmaking workshop I attended last week, where my results were approximate at best, I’ve spent the last … Continue reading
New handmade paper
Over recent weeks I’ve been in the papermaking studio creating some new sheets for myself. At the end of June my friend Dinah and myself pulped some unidentified plant fibre which quickly disintegrated and we had to add some other … Continue reading
Collagraphs: Shards project
I’m a fan of jigsaws. I like the idea of pieces slotting together to create a whole, of components that complete a picture. I’ve several ideas for printing individual pieces which can be swapped, rearranged and grouped, forming a variety … Continue reading
Marks in Nature: 6
Pages: Multi layer print and collage. Chine collé and drawing. Gelli plate peel print using dried plant material. Now to put the book together.
Posted in My books & journals, My Creative Pieces, My prints
Tagged chine colle, Linocuts, plant fibre paper, Stencils
Leave a comment
Marks in Nature: 5
Pages: Masked acrylic paint prints using clingfilm to create texture. Multi layer chine collé and paint. Gelli plate peel print using dried plant material. Masking and chine collé.
Posted in My books & journals, My Creative Pieces, My prints
Tagged chine colle, plant fibre paper, Stencils
Leave a comment
2023 07 Design Play
Messing around in my sketchbook. The aim was to combine both random and calculated shapes using a reduced colour palette. I like both orientations but possibly the landscape one slightly more.
Marks in Nature: 4
Pages: Chine collé and other collaged pieces of handmade paper were included here. The stencil was used as a mask to achieve this negative image transfer. Overlaid chine collé pieces. Plant dyed tissue was slightly crumpled and adhered to the … Continue reading
Posted in My books & journals, My Creative Pieces, My prints
Tagged chine colle, Linocuts, plant fibre paper, Stencils
2 Comments
Marks in Nature: 3
Pages: The carved lino was initially rolled with Stormy Grey oil-based ink. Prior to printing I decided I wasn’t going to like the colour against the (mainly) banana fibre paper so, to remove the ink and start again, I sprayed … Continue reading
Posted in My books & journals, My Creative Pieces, My prints
Tagged chine colle, Linocuts, plant fibre paper
2 Comments
Marks in Nature: 1
Having cropped my chosen image (see previous blog post) I cut a piece of lino in reverse. To provide more options I also designed and cut a stencil along similar lines. The stencil is shown on black paper so it’s … Continue reading
Posted in My Creative Pieces, My paper, My prints
Tagged Linocuts, Paper making, plant fibre paper, Stencils
4 Comments
Plant Fibre Paper
A couple of weeks ago I was at the paper arts studio with a friend to check and replenish our supply of paper pulp in preparation for a beginners workshop. There was no plant fibre pulp but we found a … Continue reading
Project: Stratification
Earlier this year I posted some experimental collagraph plates (here and here) in anticipation of creating a larger finished work. In 2021 I worked on a print called ‘Hidden Vessels’, shown left, which never made it to this site as … Continue reading
Hello Yellow postcard swap
In February I joined a printmaking postcard swap with the theme ‘Hello Yellow’ and posted the step-by-step process to create my entry. I mailed 11 of my edition, keeping one for myself, and was told that 46 people participated: from … Continue reading
Posted in My Creative Pieces, My prints
Leave a comment
Collagraph ‘Looking Up’ framed
I recently dropped several of my prints at the framers and they’re gradually coming back to me beautifully finished. What a difference a frame makes! Claire Brach, Looking Up, oil-based inks on 250gsm BFK Rives, 2022
More collagraph experimentation
In January I made a plate which didn’t print terribly well, very dark and lacking detail. In February I reprinted it in a different colour range and was much happier with the result. The aim was to see how a … Continue reading
Simplifying collagraphs
In September 2017 I attended a workshop where I created several collagraph and drypoint plates, supposedly designed to be printed together. The plates have been stored since then as I was never 100% happy with the results and didn’t really … Continue reading
Back to back concertina: Treads
Early in 2021 I drew a montage of tyre treads as a basis for an etching plate. It was etched into a zinc plate, printed in several ways and 2 pieces were made into a stitched booklet for a friend. … Continue reading
Collagraph ‘Journey’ – experimentation
During the 5 day residential collagraph course I attended in January I created several plates and today I’m showing one that was made as a trial for a larger piece of work. I started by cutting away 2 sections from … Continue reading
Project: Hello Yellow
I recently joined a postcard swap challenge. The aim is to print 12 postcards responding to the theme ‘Hello Yellow’ and post 11 of them to a central address. The coordinator then keeps one for the group archives and divides … Continue reading
Project: Reflections from the Pier
In November my husband and I had a few days away in a rented holiday cottage. A beautiful venue, only 8 onsite cottages, lovely helpful management couple and 40 acres for us to roam. The best thing was the view … Continue reading
Brain Clutter: New experimentation
It was late 2021 when I started this project and posted my first Brain Clutter series collagraph (see here) and I’ve been keen to return to the theme ever since. Last week, at a 5 day residential collagraph workshop I … Continue reading
Print commission: Piece 3
For the final piece for this commission I went back to one of my very old linocut pieces based on a drawing of a shoe I did in 2014. The previous two prints I created both relied on damp paper … Continue reading
Print commission: Piece 2
Last week I attended a 4 1/2 day collagraph workshop and created 3 new plates. I decided to try one of them on the handmade Hemp paper I’ve been sent to experiment printing with. The first piece I printed for … Continue reading
Print commission: Piece 1
I was recently engaged to explore printing on handmade Hemp paper by someone who intends to market this paper for sale. I was given a general idea of what was required based on some work I had done previously. Piece … Continue reading
Preparing chine collé
I’ve been painting acid-free tissue paper – to use when printing – in preparation for a 5 day collagraph course I’m about to attend. I used very watered-down acrylic paints, allowed the tissue to dry and then ironed the pieces … Continue reading
Paper experimentation
On recent visits to the papermaking studio I’ve been exploring laminating paper. In papermaking terms this means layering multiple pulled pieces together into a single finished sheet. I started with white: as much as possible recycled cotton rag printing paper … Continue reading
Posted in Design Play, My Creative Pieces, My paper
Tagged Paper making, plant fibre paper
Leave a comment
Print group concertina swap
Every December our print group cut up either failed or excess prints produced during the year and swap with each other to create small concertina books. Our group is full of very experienced printmakers, most of whom specialize in specific … Continue reading
Posted in Design Play, General fun pursuits, My Creative Pieces, My prints
Tagged Printing
5 Comments
Collagraph: Scribbles – Part 2
Several weeks ago I created a new collagraph plate which I decided to use as a swap project print. I blogged about the trials here. This week I’ve completed a series of 13 – 12 to swap and 1 for … Continue reading
A bit of time out
It’s been a stressful week so it seemed like a good time to take a few minutes away from other people to mess about in the studio with some loud music, a bit of paper and some pens. Going through … Continue reading
Posted in Design Play, My books & journals, My drawing, My painting
6 Comments
Quick monotypes
I had a quick dip into the world of monotypes recently after watching a few short videos. Essentially I spent a bit of time with ink, scrapers and credit cards to see what marks I could make. These two were … Continue reading
Revisiting a collagraph
Back in 2017 I attended a very good and frantically busy workshop exploring a range of printing methods. During the course we each constructed a collagraph plate, Shellacked, then inked and printed them. This was mine: On the left is … Continue reading
Collagraph: Scribbles
Exploring new techniques to create plates I got my mini drill out and, using a fine tip, applied it to the surface of a piece of mountboard. The aim was to produce a range of organic imprecise lines as opposed … Continue reading
Messing about with paint – Day 4
I noticed how similar my colour palettes were in my two previous pieces so decided to make some adjustments. I also took note of my comment that perhaps squiggles – a bit more organic than my blocks and lines – … Continue reading
Posted in Design Play, My painting
Leave a comment
Messing about with paint – Day 3
On day 3 of the challenge I stuck with acrylic paints, as I enjoyed them so much on the first day. After painting this piece I became stuck on what to do with it next. So I left it alone … Continue reading
Posted in Design Play, My painting
1 Comment
Tactual Textiles by Claire 