A Wee Hand Tint Job

When I started life as a printmaker I would probably thought that hand colouring or tinting an image was cheating. If it wasn’t printed, it wasn’t a real print. Now that I am much closer to my demise, I am a bit more relaxed about things like this. I’ve grown to accept a bit of variation or individual character within …

Me and ImpPotent III: Island Hopping

It’s been a long delay, but at last I have found the time to conclude the ImpPotent trilogy of blogposts. What better time than another lockdown… If you remember from the first two episodes, ImpPotent was a 1996 project from Highland Printmakers Workshop (now Studio), which celebrated the Hillman Imp, the iconic and notorious Scottish built car. Artists were commissioned …

Accordion Book Fold

The folded books, sometimes called concertina, accordions or leporellos, originally developed from scrolls. Scrolls were awkward to read as they needed to be continually unwound and rewound to access specific passages. By folding the length of cloth, papyrus or paper into a zigzag to form pages, reading became a much simpler task.  As a book form it has achieved high …

Me and ImPotent II: Knitting an Amazing Story

The idea behind ImpPotent was to create a one-off special edition of the Hillman Imp, with artists working on accessories and features for the car. In total there were sixteen commissioned pieces including an Ashtray Temple by David Mach and my own Instruction Manual. David’s ashtray reflected his work of the time in miniature by constructing a temple from Corgi …

Me and ImpPotent

As Alison has already started delving into our project archive, I thought I could take us back even further – to 1996, when we were known as Highland Printmakers Workshop & Gallery. I always felt that last bit was a clumsy add on, and ironically one of the most memorable works produced during this period didn’t require a gallery. Impotent. …

The Restoration Man.

We are delighted to have a guest blogger, Michael O’Donnell. We have fond memories of Mick’s time in the Studio seven years ago, and it is great to see he is finally putting his printmaking into action. What took him so long?… John Greig & Sons, Edinburgh 1810 (later becoming D & J Greig). In 2013 I was to spend …

Block Print Challenge

Block printing is one of the oldest and most immediate forms of printmaking with the earliest surviving examples of printing onto cloth originating in China around 4500 years ago. However it was in India where people really began to experiment with natural dyes and pattern taking block printing to greater heights. Specific patterns and colours became synonymous with distinctive areas …

Another Lockdown Linocut 3/3

There is a reminder of the art of letter writing in this final episode, as I cut and print the final two colours of the reduction cut print. Linocut is a slow way to write a letter, unlikely to challenge digital technology, and it has to be cut back to front. But it keeps me happy. John

Missing, Presumed Fed

I’m unashamedly highjacking this blog because I really feel that the digital world could do with another cat story. Also, it was a year ago today that Missing, Presumed Dead became Missing, Presumed Fed. Last February, after a year of saying “never again”, I left the office one day, drove to the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to …

Another Lockdown Linocut 2/3

With the new registration system working well, I have the courage to push on with another two colours. In this episode I at least manage to fill most of the paper, instead of the pathetically small amount of the first instalment. Just in case the paper waste polis have tuned in… John

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