About Lyric / undertow
There are a number of ways to set up for a new image. The most straightforward is to use a primed white canvas, and paint straight onto it, but it can also be of real interest to used a deeply coloured canvas, and or a black canvas.
Both of these ideas force you to reconsider how an image is going to be built up, and how the addition of each new colour and tone will affect the dynamic of the whole.
Clearly when adding to a white canvas, everything you do will be darkening the whole, but if you add to a mid tone canvas, then you can apply shades and hues that can either lighten or darken the study, as you see fit, from the very first mark.
So it was that with the new Lyric SV works (systematic variations) that ended up at Current 2017 in a bright blue and white edition, alongside a bright orange variant.
I started the project by exploring the idea of using a base colour study, onto which the image would be built. It’s an idea that also allows you to create an initial colour scheme for the whole piece, which you can then either run with or edit, and may determine part or all of the final direction for the new piece.
This particular underpainting therefore became the basis for edition #7. It’s a totally flat colour study, which I hope has some charm, and creates a real contrast with the final editions, which are of course far more tonally modulated by the end of the process.
Lyric, in the studio & in situ
Print Club blog, December 21st, 2017
“…I've just completed making, packing and sending my Experimental Print Club editions #6 and #7 with MyHermes. I hope they'll arrive with you sometime over the holidays, and that the work will add a little colour to the season…
…Edition #7 is an exploratory under study that I made whilst working on Lyric SV, for my recent Catto Gallery show. I've refashioned it here with some quite earthy winter tones, and entitled it Lyric / undertow, as it is very much an under drawing for the final works…”
Text from the Print Club blog, December 21st, 2017
About the Print Club
If you’d like to receive three or four exclusive new editions in the post each year, alongside personal news and views from the studio, and invitations to shows and fairs, please do consider becoming a member of my Experimental Print Club. You can join or leave the club at any time, with absolutely no obligation to stay any longer than you want to.
New works are sent out somewhat sporadically throughout the year, often in line with the changing seasons. Each piece is unique, exclusive, and only available on the day it’s editioned, the size of the edition being determined by the number of members on the day.
I hope the club presents a more personal and intriguing way to connect with the studio, by creating a platform for collecting engaging new works for your home. The club is hosted online here, and I send out fairly regular blog posts and emails about the work too. I’d like to think that it’s an interesting proposition!
Membership is currently priced at £36 per month inc. UK delivery, or £42 for an international address.
Associated works
