prints and woodcuts

I find that print always informs my work so from time to time i take time off painting and get out my various print making tools and materials.
Last year I was a bit ill- as part of my recovery process I brought some tools for making woodcuts and material -a process that I thoughly enjoyed-though it was -and still is like- learning a new language.I have always enjoyed the japanese woodcuts-but I knew my work wasn't going to be like that I also enjoy the small english woodcuts-even those in the guardian that sometimes they use to top their "country column"-I knew my work wasn't going to be like that either but I think both have informed my work a little-here is the bestwoodcut to date of a wharfedale road together with a collograph I did of scottish hills

Gabrielle Munter

During the last six months I discovered a new heroine-Gabrielle Munter.I am sure Gabrielle's story is well known in Germany but not so well known elsewhere. briefly this is it.
Gabrielle was a lady of fairly independant means in the early 1900's(she was born in 1877)She studied art and in 1902 enrolled in an art class run in Munich by Kandinsky-Kandinsky was married but never the less was attracted to Gabrielle It was a year later that he overcame his moral scruples and started an affair with Gabrielle together they travelled through Europe and Gabrielle eventually brought a house in Murnau Bavaria for them in 1907.Kandinsky and Gabrielle were very involved in the art movements that became called Expressionism. Gabrielles paintings are more accessible than Kandinsky's.
it was in 1914 that Kandinsky left Gabrielle to go back to Russia-she met him once more in sweden in 1916 an acrimonious meeting where he was demanding the painting she held of his-I guess Gabrielle was devasted she probably felt she had given the best years of her life to this guy who had just ditched her! In 1917 kandinsky married a 17 year girl-he was in his 40's.
Gabrielle -no mean artist stopped painting for a while.It wasn't untill1927 that she formed a new relationship with the art critic Johannes Eichner.She watched the rise of the Reich and when they exhibited the notorious "entartete (degenerate)art" exhibition in 1937 she realised finally the way the wind was blowing and collected from her old friends in the Expressionist movement as much expressionistic art as she could and hid it in her house in Murnau.(800 pieces in total).
The Nazi's must have suspected that she had these works for on 3 occaissions they ransacked the house unsuccessfully. I think had they found the work she would have been shipped to the camps. Anyway Gabrielle was very poor-painting pictures for food.
After the war the Americans came looking for expressionistic art-on two occaisions-they didn't find anything either.
In1950 when the dust of war was blowing over she was approached by the director of the Stadtische Gallerie im Lebenbach Hause in Munich to see if she could help with an exhibition on expressionism-she gradually released and gave to the gallery her collection that she had carefully saved.It was the biggest art bequest of the 20th. century.Almost singled handedly she bravely had preserved the expressionistic movement.
What can you say -what a star -what a brave lady-she died in 1962-but we should celebrate her and her style!

Back to the dales -a sketch of a few houses, a pack horse bridge and a stream all you need really!-

Otley has perhaps more then its fair share of small pubs -this one-The Black Bull- in the market square is where it is reputed that some of Cromwells army stayed the night before the final battle of the English Civil war at Marston Moor-Whatever your views about Cromwell you have to respect his troops fitness-it is about 25 miles to Marston Moor from here-not sure if too many people today would like to walk 25 miles and then the same day fight a decisive battle!!
Anyway here's a sketch of the pub in the market square today

Otley itself is a great town to live in.It is very much "what you see is what you get." The local lads all seem to play rugby in Otley.I was at the local chip shop recently with my partner-three young lads walked in -"who are you playing for next season was their question to each other" when one of them said -the town-i.e the local football club -the other two turned on him and with one voice said-"You wuss!"
Bay Horse court yard is one of the many attractive ginnels in town.this image like the next one came out of thec winter snows.

Above Otley where I live are moors-they extend for miles-crossing roads perhaps as far as Edinburgh-some 200 hundred miles away -but certainly as far as the borders.The woods in Timble back on to the moors- its a pleasant place for a short walk -and has the added advantage that the Dog loves romping in the woods.The picture is of one of the wood glades in the rain-just to dispell any myths that the sun always shines in Yorkshire!

The next was a part of a village in Swaledale that I had seen as I came down from the hills-nestling cosily in the dale

After the last abstracts I felt that I needed to get back to Yorkshire! the next six painting and sketches are part of that.The Dales are always beautiful and hard to paint as their colours are often muted.It is hard to do them justice!Here is the first try-Dent dale viaduct

An abstraction from plumton rocks near harrogate.Quite a magical place-it has been used as a location in many films and tv serials!It has a lake with large fish in it rocks and ravines, woods that always have blue bells in spring-A great place for a picnic!

These are three abstracts thac I did "along the way."i don't find abstraction easy always but theses came to me fairly quickly and were based on the minute rocks in a particular strata of rock that I found in the Yorkshire dales.The image in blues and browns took a olot of work balancing the colours in the middle section-I persevered and it worked!