I’ve made lots of pictures for my daughter over the years, but not many for my son. My wife asked me to make something special for him.
Then we went for a letterpress jolly with work.
His favourite joke at the time was:
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Mr Bum Poo!
which, for the record should be the hilarious ditty:
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Big bump
Big bump who?
HAHHahahAHAHAHAHA! you said big bum poo!!!!
So I made it. At the work do. Yup.
Coming soon to a Gallery near you! Will’s Bristol Life Drawing class have got a spot at the Grant Bradley Gallery in June where you will be able to see a selection of work from the class. I will be exhibiting a few of my dry point etchings, but excitingly I will also have original (very) limited edition prints and inkings for sale.
Pop down, show your support and take a piece home with you! :D xx
Three entries into the New Visions exhibiton at the Grant Bradley Gallery. Check. Didn’t manage to get the prints framed before the Xmas full stop, so my own personal stash has gone in to the exhibition and my walls are looking pretty bare… but artwork in. Job done.
Had some good news today – 3 of my etchings have been accepted into the New Visions exhibition at the Grant Bradley Gallery opening on Sat Jan 7th 2012 through to the end of the month. This is the first time original DMCropley artwork has gone on sale to the public – hoping for the best! :D
Now that Life Class is over until January next year its time to dig back through the archives and post up classic images from years past. Enjoy…
Its been a busy old time what with amazing hot sunny weather over the weekend and starting a shiny new job today so I’ve been a bit slack with the updates from last weeks Life Drawing session… better late than never :D
I just need to get some mount-board at the weekend and I’m all sorted to get the first batch of prints gallery wrapped and ready for shipping. slowly, slowly, catchy monkey…
Click thumbs for larger images
Picked up a couple of test prints today. Not so sure about the tartan plate. Will have a think about another way of approaching the tone. The other plate is the first etching I made live at life class. I wasn’t going to print from it, but it may be just the image I’m looking for to fill a personal commission.
Click thumbs for full size images, Have a great weekend!
Four prints to collect today. Once again testing the two current types of ink I have at the moment. Charbonnel gives a much more subtle flavour, and the Caligo a less refined but more punchy, cartoony look. Testing will continue! Life drawing starts again tomorrow so a whole new raft of plate making will follow, which reminds me – I must prepare the 20 plates I bought :/
For full size images, click thumbs below
Its a bit frustrating fighting with tone inking up plates so I decided to have a play with using marks to make tone rather than doing it all at the print stage. I didn’t really intend to end up with this tartan type pattern, but that’s what popped out. I’ve no idea what it’ll actually look like printed, I’ve tried to quickly mock it up but the proof of the pudding will be in the pulling…
Click Thumbs for full size images
I’ve been working a lot recently on a series of inkings, but I’ve still been trying to put in a day a week down at the print shop. I’ve been experimenting with different inks under the advisement of a few experienced printers that are more than willing to share their knowledge. Turns out though that the technique I’d developed using a certain type of water based ink doesn’t translate across to the more traditional ‘industry standard’ Charbonelle oil based ink. Its fun to have a play though, certainly takes the pressure off… only one useable image out of nine isn’t so good in a production sense though!
I’ve also tried a different smaller size of paper, inspired by the 6×8 charity art competition I’m entering.
Finally got round to choosing prints that make the grade from the few editions I’ve pulled to date. 13 of the prints you see here will be available to buy in the very near future. 4 of the remainder have made it to the framery to get fitted with their Sunday best ready for my walls and galleries. I’ve also been producing a number of new original inkings testing out a smaller format, more on that to follow…
Click thumbs for larger images
Dave Cropley 