Original Art: The Gherkin
Some old original art that I forgot to share with you.
I might have mentioned that I'm busy teaching myself lino-printing and I have really got into it. I love the simplicity of and how old-style and traditional it is. You use your hands and tools. You get cuts and nicks and end up with ink under your fingernails. And the smell of ink. And the way that one linocut can be used again and again to make multiple prints, but each one will be different, as a result of the ink and the paper used, but also as a result of chance. I love how dependent on materials and chance it is.
The only down side of lino-prints is that in our contemporary world of the shiny and the digital, it looks a bit rough and too simple. People are so used to well polished digitally enhanced art and prints that, especially when shown on the web, lino-prints look, well, a bit primitive. But if you see and hold the real thing in your hand, feel the weight and texture, smell the ink, only then do you see how much more real and tangible it actually is than a digital print.
A while back a did a small series of prints of famous modernist residences as a wedding present for a friend, you might remember me talking about it at the time. I never got the chance to scan them before giving them away, so I never shared them with you. If I print them again, I will.
But now I have started a new, more exciting project. I want to do a series of contemporary London landmarks. I'm calling it Tall London and it will consist of the various tall and amusingly nicknamed buildings that have altered London's skyline in the last decade or so. I have a series of five planned so far.
And I'm kicking it all off with the Gherkin! One of my favourites.
Some close-ups.
30 St Mary Axe, widely known as "The Gherkin" is situated o the former site of The Baltic Exchange in the City of London. At 180 metres tall, it is the second tallest building in the City of London and the sixth tallest in London. It was designed by Norman Foster and Arup engineers, and was erected by Skanska in 2001-2003. The building has become an iconic symbol of London and is one of the city's most widely recognised examples of modern architecture.
This print can be found for sale in my etsy shop.
I even tried printing my linocut onto recycled manilla card to make some notebooks!
The notebooks can also be found for sale in my etsy shop.
I might have mentioned that I'm busy teaching myself lino-printing and I have really got into it. I love the simplicity of and how old-style and traditional it is. You use your hands and tools. You get cuts and nicks and end up with ink under your fingernails. And the smell of ink. And the way that one linocut can be used again and again to make multiple prints, but each one will be different, as a result of the ink and the paper used, but also as a result of chance. I love how dependent on materials and chance it is.
The only down side of lino-prints is that in our contemporary world of the shiny and the digital, it looks a bit rough and too simple. People are so used to well polished digitally enhanced art and prints that, especially when shown on the web, lino-prints look, well, a bit primitive. But if you see and hold the real thing in your hand, feel the weight and texture, smell the ink, only then do you see how much more real and tangible it actually is than a digital print.
A while back a did a small series of prints of famous modernist residences as a wedding present for a friend, you might remember me talking about it at the time. I never got the chance to scan them before giving them away, so I never shared them with you. If I print them again, I will.
But now I have started a new, more exciting project. I want to do a series of contemporary London landmarks. I'm calling it Tall London and it will consist of the various tall and amusingly nicknamed buildings that have altered London's skyline in the last decade or so. I have a series of five planned so far.
And I'm kicking it all off with the Gherkin! One of my favourites.
Some close-ups.
30 St Mary Axe, widely known as "The Gherkin" is situated o the former site of The Baltic Exchange in the City of London. At 180 metres tall, it is the second tallest building in the City of London and the sixth tallest in London. It was designed by Norman Foster and Arup engineers, and was erected by Skanska in 2001-2003. The building has become an iconic symbol of London and is one of the city's most widely recognised examples of modern architecture.
This print can be found for sale in my etsy shop.
I even tried printing my linocut onto recycled manilla card to make some notebooks!
The notebooks can also be found for sale in my etsy shop.