The news everywhere is pretty grim. War. Inflation. Climate. Viruses. Corruption. All pretty depressing. So what does this have to do with art? Art, or at least original art, is considered a luxury item by most people. I don’t know about you, but I personally don’t know anyone who is so well off that they can just go out and buy whatever work of art they want, just because they like it. Right now, for many people, art is the last thing on their minds. They are much more concerned with keeping food in the house, gas in the car, and a roof over their heads. Basic needs are basic for a reason! But what about the sheer joy that art brings? Looking at a Sorolla beach scene, or at one of the many beautiful ladies painted by Sargent, can take your mind back to simpler times, and for a few moments, you can hear the crashing waves, or wonder how it must have felt to have to pose for hours in those corseted dresses. Art doesn’t change reality, but it allows you to escape it for a brief time. But all art isn’t about beauty and escape. Some is quite brutal, and even Sargent chose to paint some of it, such as his famous painting Gassed, serving to remind us of human atrocities, in the hope they would not be repeated. Sadly, it would appear those paintings aren’t seen by enough people… Think about your own favorite piece of art. Hopefully, you have it in your home and can look at it whenever you want. How much joy does it bring you? What sweet memories are attached to it? Even if it is just a reproduction, such as mine of Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World, I hope you take the time to stop and enjoy it whenever you can. Sometimes, because it has been hanging in the same place for so long, we walk by it every day but no longer see it. Maybe it’s time to move your art around? If you are lucky enough to have an original, you have the added joy of human connection; you have an object that another human, perhaps many years ago, spent hours, possibly weeks, creating. Just for you to be enjoying it today! Do take time to enjoy both the art and the connection! And if you are having trouble finding your favorite piece of art, could it be because the art you have hanging on your walls has little connection to the person you now are? Maybe it's time to correct that! Isn’t now, when things couldn’t seem to be any worse for so many, the perfect time to take the time to really enjoy art? You can’t change the news. And I don’t think that you should ignore it either, like unfortunately many people have chosen to do. It’s important to be aware of what is happening so that we can make better choices when we can, such as when we get the opportunity to vote. In the meantime, take pleasure in the little things around you, and hopefully that includes some art! And you don’t even have to leave your house! Here is a link to 12 of the best museums in the world that offer virtual tours. No cancelled flights, no lost luggage!! https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours Enjoy your visit(s)!!
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Last April, I wrote in my blog that I had just discovered linocut printing, and that I was quite taken by it. I explained then in very rough terms what it was, and today, with weeks of experience under my belt, and having talked to many people -- including artists-- who had no idea what linocut printing was, I decided to give you a more thorough explanation. Linocut printing is a form of “relief” printing. This means that the relief, or “bumps”, on the printing block serve to leave an impression of an image on paper. Other forms of printing, like etching, do the opposite, that is that the ink is deposited in the grooves rather than on the raised surfaces. A design is drawn or transferred onto the surface of a block of linoleum (that’s where the name comes from) or other newer surfaces such as vinyl or rubber. Then using special cutters, the artist carefully carves out the spaces between and around the lines of the design. Whatever is left will make up the printed image. A lot of planning goes into preparing a linocut design, as there is no way to repair the block if a part is cut out by mistake. The image will print in reverse, which must be considered at the design stage, especially if lettering is involved! If the artists wants several colors or even tones in the final print, they will probably have to separate the design into several blocks that will be printed onto the same piece of paper, so these designs must match up perfectly. For example, my “Bouleaux d’été” print required two blocks, one for the background, and one for the black lines on the trees. There is another technique to get multi-color prints which is called “reduction printing”, but I haven’t tried it yet. It requires the image to be cut out in stages, printing several copies in one color at each stage. More of the block is cut away at each stage (hence the reduction), making any error a potential irrecoverable disaster. I am not quite ready for that! Once the design is cut out, the artist will do a test print to see if the block needs adjustments. For example, there may be some stray lines in blank areas that need to be cut away, or some lines may need to refined. But nothing can be put back, only removed! To get a print, special block printing ink is rolled onto a glass or other very flat surface with a roller or brayer. The goal is to cover the brayer with a thin, even layer of ink so it can be used to transfer this ink to the block. Once the block is properly inked, a sheet of paper is pressed onto it to transfer the image from the block to the paper. To ensure proper transfer and a clean crisp print, a baren or other flattish tool (including the bowl of a large spoon!) is used to rub the back of the paper. If the artist wants more prints, they re-ink the block to make each individual impression. I don't have one, but a press can also be used at this point instead of hand tools. It is actually a simple process, but a lot can go wrong! Too much ink, too little ink, not pressing enough or evenly on the paper, pressing too hard and tearing or crumpling the paper, etc. Making prints from multiple blocks is even more prone to problems! I am very much enjoying my discovery of this art form, and I hope you enjoyed this mini-lesson. There is still a lot yet for me to discover and I hope you follow me along for the ride! Suggestions for print are always welcome! I would have liked to leave you with a link to a short video that showed all the above steps, but couldn’t find any that were less than 15 minutes. But if you are interested, just search for “linocut printing” on youtube and you will find many videos, surprisingly mostly by British artists! Take your pick! I don’t know if I ever mentioned this, but we live in the country. The only “facility” we can comfortably walk to is the group mailbox. Everything else is at least a 10 minute car drive away, more like 20 minutes for most services. It has a lot of upsides, like plenty of fresh air and trees and privacy. But they come at a cost, and one of those costs is poor Internet service. For those of you not living in Canada, the whole telecom industry is regulated by the CRTC, or Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. They hand out licences and make sure there is no monopoly in the industry. That is the rhetoric anyway. Bell Canada has had pretty much a monopoly on home telephone service ever since it was invented. Of course when cable and cell phones arrived, Bell lost some of their customers, but they were still the only game in "town" in rural areas, where installing a new physical network was beyond the financial capacity of anyone but Bell. Governments both at the Federal and Provincial level have been promising better Internet service for rural areas for many election cycles, and Bell has been finally getting around to installing fiber optic cables in our area. I am sure it is very costly. We have been customers with Bell for over 40 years. Landline, satellite TV and Internet (DSL). They used to offer rebates for bundling of services, but when they realized they really had no competition (and we had no other choices), these rebates started to disappear. As they proceeded to install the new fiber optic cables, neighbors around us started switching to “Fibe”, and we kept expecting to get a flyer or something to encourage us to switch, but nothing! A few weeks ago, our old DSL Internet connection started getting very slow and spotty, so much that I eventually called Bell to complain about it. The person I talked to tried to get me to switch for “only” more money per month, but I refused and insisted I just wanted what I was already paying for. He informed me that our modem was outdated and was the cause of the slowness, and he would send a new one to us right away, no charge, and that all I would have to do would be to plug it in and wait ten minutes and everything would magically work. Right. One wonders why this had not been done already, as we are renting this outdated modem from them after all… I also asked for him to send me some brochures explaining the new services so we could study them at leisure (rather than listening to him rattle off the many complex options and prices) but was told they had no such brochures, and that I would find all that on line. Maybe it’s my suspicious nature, but I think they want nothing in print so they can change prices and plans at will! Anyway, we finally get the new modem, but I wait to install it until after we get back from the Lyst’ART festival, as I know how things can go and don’t want to be without the Internet just before such an important event. I read the very sketchy instructions that came with the modem and figure, with my background in IT, this shouldn’t be that hard…. The first issue is in the instructions, which refer to a non-existent document in my “package”. Must be a typo. Right. Then the instructions that say to plug the wires from the old modem into the same spots on the new modem. Except they are all labeled differently…. After a few tries, the new modem is fired up, and after a few minutes, no Internet. Disconnect everything and reconnect the old modem, Internet “fine” (same as before, not fast, but there). Reconnect new modem, still no Internet. Call Bell, talk to a young lady who, after trying a few things, informs me that our copper line is unable to support this new modem, and we need to have fiber installed, because Bell is pulling all of its copper wires in our area and it’s only a matter of time until our service no longer is offered, Including our landline! I inform her that I am less than happy to hear this, as we have many power outages and the landline is the only thing that will work. She doesn’t now when this “improvement” will happen, only that it inevitably will. When asked how we were supposed to be informed of this, she says that emails are being sent out. I remind her that not everyone has email or smartphones, and she remain unimpressed. I also inform her that the young man who sent us the new modem should have known that it would not work with our current line. She then informs me that there is a note in our file to change us to fiber, which I certainly never asked for. Not clear what is going on, but it smells very fishy. I tell her that I am not pleased, and that this is not the way to treat long time loyal customers, that I will be returning the modem, and that we will be looking for another provider. I can almost hear her say “good luck with that!” So yeah, “country living”. Not always great! Some might think that it’s time that we caught up with the times, but I would argue that not everything new is necessary, and that in any case, customers, especially older ones, should be treated with more respect. P.S. I consider myself computer literate. I feel for a lot of the other older adults who aren’t and who have to put up with this stuff! This coming weekend, I finally get to participate in my first major art festival. Called Lyst’ART, it is held in the little town of Lyster, Quebec, about an hour south of Quebec City. This two-day festival has been going on since at least 2006 (except for the two last years being canceled because of Covid) and features about 50 artists and artisans. I first applied and was accepted for the 2020 show, which of course was canceled within days of getting accepted. However, this gave me automatic acceptance to the 2021 show, which almost happened, but was eventually also canceled, a mere 10 days before it was scheduled to start! Here we are in 2022, and I think this is finally going to happen! Having only photos of past shows to guide me, I have been putting together everything I think I will need. In addition to over a dozen full-size framed and half as many unframed paintings, I will be bringing greeting cards and of course numerous ACEOs. I also will be bringing a few freshly minted lino prints, as well as all the paraphernalia to display all of the above! The booths are smallish, so I am probably bringing more than I will be able to display, but I figure I can’t show what I didn’t bring! Lyster is almost 3 hours from home, so we won't be popping back home if we forget something! We will be taking the RV and sleeping on site. So in addition to the art and display stuff, there is the usual camping stuff to get ready too. A lot of checklists currently in operation! One of the good things about this show is that it is all inside, and you set up once for the entire weekend. The 2021 edition, the one that almost happened, was supposed to have been held outdoors under popup tents, requiring setting up and taking down every day, and of course being at the mercy of the elements! Better than not showing at all, I suppose, but certainly not ideal! Unlike the impression I got in 2021, this time the organisation seems to have a handle on things. I have asked a few questions via Messenger and received answers quickly. I still think they could be communicating with the artists more often, especially in the two weeks before the event, but that could just be me overthinking everything and my obsession with getting things right. I am pretty much ready, and at this point can only hope the show goes well and that as a minimum I can add a few people to my subscribers. And covering my costs and adding a few collectors would be nice! 😉 Wish me luck! And of course I would love to see you there if you can make it! |
AuthorMy name is Claire Bureau. Archives
March 2023
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