Diary - progress and comments

Thursday, 23 August & Friday, 24 August

My toad was waiting in the entrance to greet me last night, the cockroach family may have moved house, I had a little lizard come to visit, neither toad nor lizard bother me at all, they are so timid!

This morning another proof of the sleeping girl. Now it is on the litho bed waiting for them to print it in sepia this afternoon. Another amazingly exciting day for me. I will spend most of the afternoon checking the print then go on to cut the woodblock, and consider adding some colour to the sleeping girl, as it may be my last litho here.

It is hard to believe I have just next week after Friday and the two weekends... and I am wondering how I will get it all home. (Or how much it will cost to post!)

Last night I printed the backgrounds for the woodblock print, and now am going into see how they look this morning. I have blisters from inking up the block (obviously out of practice) but once I started last night I just didn't want to stop. My hands started hurting but I kept thinking, just one more then I will clean up... but I kept doing more. It was nearly 11pm when I left, but it felt great to get going and print myself. Because there is a workload from outside here, I work more in the evenings, when I feel I am not interrupting any work, also that when I do need to ask during the day, it is easier if I haven't used up all my goodwill! Even in the evening it is still busy. One of the students here is around till at least 10pm each night, working on her woodblock technique as she leaves for college at the end of the next week, so feels that she will not get everything done unless she puts the hours in. The technicians are often working on their own pieces, as I said before they are artists in their own right.

Our other new artist, Paul, is planning to do a large woodcut too, so he was around yesterday, planning in his piece and getting a feel for the workshop. Although he is Australian, he can speak Mandarin, as he lives in China, and is very excited about the chance to work with the quality of woodblock and equipment, as well as the technicians, they have here.

The stationery shop

Chinese chess

Nicole and I have been to the local stationery shop to purchase the bits and pieces that are not around the studio. I also acquired a game of Chinese Chess for when I return. I will have to see how you play it, but there are some rules that are similar to traditional chess, others slightly modified (there is a river that runs across the centre of the board, and there are elephants in this one).

 

New brushes!

Otherwise I bought more brushes, somehow they always tempt me. I also got a couple of unusual ones that are rather pizza slice shaped.

I wanted a permanent black pen but was unsure which it might be, so came out with an assortment… you can never have too many pens.

We now have four international artists here and one student from near Hong Kong. It is getting busier all the time.

Working, and walking...

Friday, 24 August 2012

I can't believe it's Friday and I have only two weekends and the week inbetween left.

I have spent most of the day cutting my woodblock and also visited the local post office. They don't get many English people asking for stamps, having not found the cost on the computer, the postmaster had to ring someone and ask. Then they gave me some airmail envolopes with their address, and the stamps glued by hand, on the back.

Letters ready to post

It's 9 pm on Friday night and although I am the only resident artist here, there are still 10 technicians, all but 2 still working, catching up on the printmaking editions that must be done. They print many colours to match the customer’s artwork, often 3 colours in lithography then a couple or 4 or 5 in silkscreen, it depends what it takes to make the piece an accurate representation that can be hand printed as an edition. They work as a team, with all of them helping out across the disciplines even though they are specialists in their own, with good humour, they are so hard working.

I have been busy cutting the woodblock, a long long task. Having not a lot of experience I wanted to create a background and the one I chose was quite challenging to put in, but after deciding that the proof I printed last time wasn’t right, it had to be done. It’s Saturday tomorrow so I will come in first thing and start printing it to see if I can get it to work. I already have the colour mixed so that is easy, and I also took photos of the setting on the press so that I can sort that myself if needs be, although there is always someone here to help.

I also went for a walk after lunch, down to the area away from the big golfing hotel here, the Mission Hills Golf Resort. What I found were, as often is here, several factories spaced out with apartment blocks around, shops that sell the basic things that the people need, a market with fresh fruit, vegetables and presumably before lunch, meat, fish and eggs, only the eggs and produce remaining.

Slightly broken-up pavements where the lorries had run over them, and rubble and wild grass between the roads and buildings. There are massive pillars with rods sticking out the top, all the way along the road I walked down. Presumably there will be a big new road overhead here, perhaps to the big new shopping centre they are building next to the big hotel with the big golf course, that will have all the big multi-national brands just as they have the world over (they are all named on the hoardings that hide the site, only the cranes peeping over).

Until then, these shops sell plastic piping of many sizes, flip flops, Chinese remedies, cigarettes and food etc. What you do not see are toys, non-essential luxury goods, disposable nappies and premium brands. Workers pass by and have uniforms in pale blue or occasionally red, with the embroidered name of the employer over the pocket. They are styled like old-fashioned pyjamas.

Few people have cars, it's buses and bikes here, unless you are the boss I suppose. There are a few cars, very new and prestigious looking quite often, but I mostly see them parked, not many passed me when I walked to the post office… In fact there were plenty of buses, probably always one in sight, people walking and on bikes, boys taking girls back to work sat sideways on the back rack, down this road with its concrete construction pillars, past pristine looking factories, and some rather more worn.

The department store, as I looked in, told a different story completely… it looked like it was full of table football tables…. I should have had my camera… I may have to go back!