Category: NEWS

September has been filled with photoetching! It’s still ongoing to be honest as I have only managed to create two successful plates during this time….thankfully I’m in love with one of them so that helps! I think one of the main things I’m learning is that everything takes longer than you think it will..so you better get patient or go home…

Despite these frustrations I remain firmly optimistic, that a series of perfect plates are just around the corner and next month I will have a selection of new artworks 😀 I’m very determined!

So these are the solar plates that worked out, the Durham SU image took a lot of test printing and playing around before I found a way to ink it to get the atmosphere I was after. Photoetching remains ongoing with many more possibilities!

Alongside tuition from Iain at Ironpress about different inking techniques I have been experimenting and trying ideas again and again to improve upon them. I managed a more successful Bikini Atoll monoprint, however it still needs more development and I am now looking at combining collagraph to see if that achieves a better result.

Finally I went on a one day Wood Engraving workshop at Ironpress , it was a lovely day, I liked what I made and it was a good day for printing! Image taken from a photo of a pile of tyres I took hanging around my favourite industrial estate, I loved the tiny prints (only 5x5cm) and we had time to add some chine colle to great effect:

Coming up next month should be my first go at etching and also getting to grips with some screen printing. I resolve to remain patient whilst troubleshooting any issues that will certainly arise! In other news I have a few new destinations in mind for some new photography for my next round of prints – firstly Ratcliffe on Soar power station … before they demolish it like the rest of them. I used to love driving past the ‘big chimneys’ as a kid and now am suddenly desperate to include them in my artworks!!

So August has been all about exhibitions and getting stuck into trying to improve my inking skills! I’ve spent many a frustrated hour at Ironpress trying to learn how to create clouds and drama/atmosphere…which then kinda morphed together into mushroom clouds and visions of Bikini Atoll during those underwater nuclear tests they did there. I will share these prints with you, although I don’t really like any of them in full, just parts here and there! I do however firmly believe that the next print will be ‘the one’ and I will have cracked it!

So there you have it! It’s a learning curve! I’ve learned about things like atmospheric perspective, dabbing on, wiping off in various ways, using greyscale instead of just black, printing the mono and drypoint in two separate stages and how to translate that badly into a print haha, although seriously, I think some of the pieces are coming together…. just need a bit more time to figure out how to use the white spirit more effectively…do everything more effectively!

In other news this month was the opening of Luneside’s 40th Anniversary Exhibition, which I was very happy to be a part of, and also I was out hanging September and October’s Whaletail Exhibition. I wasn’t expecting to be exhibiting in two places in Lancaster at once but here we are 🙂 I like to be busy!

August had also been a very admin heavy month, getting my head properly round the DYCP grant and booking and putting things into place for the coming months, looking forwards to another wood engraving workshop at Ironpress in September. Provisionally booked up for Lancaster Art Fair 2024 as well!

I have too many ideas for work than there are hours in the day, I’m in the midst of prepping work to make a selection of photoetching plates , all very exciting and I can’t wait to see how it goes… check in and find out..

Lots of developments to write about this Summer! Firstly I am excited to announce that Arts Council England have accepted my application for a DYCP grant, this will mean lots of exciting new opportunities and work to look forwards to….and mostly more time for me to work on learning printmaking and working towards the dream of being a full time artist.

I will be keeping a log of my DYCP progress throughout the year right here, so if you would like to follow my journey please watch this space!

First order of business was this years Lancaster Art Fair which ran at the Storey from 21-27th of July and was a resounding success. A total of 15 artists took part and we had many visitors of all ages from across the area. The interactive aspects of the fair were very well received and our community art wall became a great celebration of colour and creativity, it was lovely to see so many people taking time to create and contribute and just enjoy themselves! The fair felt really inclusive and carried through on one of the founding aims I had for it which was that Art should be for everyone, the atmosphere was very relaxed and there was much positive feedback from the artists taking part and visitors alike.

The Art Fair has its own dedicated Instagram @lancasterartfair , please give it a follow if you are interested in taking part in LAF2024 as I will be using the account to make a call for artists when the time comes.

July also contained a trip to Sheffield, where I have never visited before but was very interested to look around its industrial heritage and great architecture. I got some great shots and lots of new ideas for new work, a couple I couldn’t wait to get started on…take a look below:

I kind of fell in love with Sheffield and can’t wait to go back (not least to explore some of the music history associated with it, some great bands came out of Sheffield). When I do go back I will be armed with a selection of artworks so local galleries beware!

Other developments in July included a move to Luneside Artists Studios, which is Lancaster’s longest running artist studio opening in 1983. This is very good news for my networking plans and also I’m hoping to learn a lot from some knowledgeable people who have been working artists for longer than I’ve been alive! I’m very grateful to them for accepting me and seeing value in my work, same with Arts Council England, feeling very validated this month!

I’m excited to announce I am organising Lancaster’s First Annual Art Fair at the Storey Gallery 21-25th July 2023. If you would like to follow the journey please add our Instagram @lancasterartfair

I’m not great at updating the blog so if you want to take a look at what I’m currently up to please head over to my Instagram @corbett.ink