The Canal Company Warehouse

So many reminders of the Industrial Revolution and it's impact on my local environment exist in Shipley, not least the old canal-side buildings. The appropriately named Canal Company Warehouse is one of my favourites. Now in a very neglected state, it remains an interesting and striking structure.

I love the patches of corrugated iron and the rusting skeletal structure revealed where the covering has been lost. In my lino print I concentrated on the patterns and shapes, the twisted form of the fence creates a fluid contrast against the starker lines of the building.

Actually, I really like the chain link fencing. Initially I wasn't sure whether to include it or not but once cut and printed I was swayed. It seems to create a depth to the print, leading the eye in and out.

Working in lino is quite physical. It's good gouging out the marks you want to make but needs to be thought out and is quite a prolonged process of cutting, printing, drying, cutting, printing, drying.... 

a contemplative approach!

Sometimes I want to work in a quicker, more spontaneous manner with a freer use of colour and marks.

In these paintings of the warehouse I also wanted to bring the fluidity of the water into the picture.

Originally the warehouse would have been used for storing goods being transported by barges. Nowadays, that function has disappeared but on a still day the reflection on the water's surface is almost a mirror image blurring the boundary between water and brick, bringing together once again the building and the canal.

 

#twitterartexhibit

#TwitterArtExhibit postcard is now finished and on its way to Norway for the twitter art exhibition. As they arrive, all the artwork postcards will be uploaded onto @twitrartexhibit and will then become an art exhibition in Moss, Norway. They're all one-off originals and will be for sale with the proceeds going to Homestart Moss. There are already lots on twitter; mine and others will join them shortly! 

More info at www.twitterartexhibit.org Not much time left if you want to join in!

Update: it has arrived!

The surprise is in the post...

It is so exciting when friends find bits of stuff that they know I will love and they encourage my weird collecting habits by picking them up for me. A few weeks ago I had one such unexpected gift in the post. I recognised the handwriting as that of my old college friend, Fiona, who I rarely see now as she lives way down south. Her note said that she'd been cleaning the house, found the enclosed and decided to send it to me. 

Inside the folded paper, with its warning to open carefully, was this butterfly and extra wing. One antenna had broken off but other than that it survived the journey intact. What a privilege to see all the detail, colours and textures of this delicate little creature close up.

And as if that wasn't enough, this week I got another parcel from Fi, somewhat bulkier than the previous one but very light. Inside was a note saying how exciting it had been to find this on a walk along the beach recently. Wrapped within lots of paper packaging was this beautiful bird skull. I just love the delicate sculptural quality of it.

Rosario

I started printmaking two years ago and this is one of my early prints and still one of my favourites. Yesterday at the Shipley Alternative Market a number of people commented on it and I realise today that it's not even on my blog... until now.

In 2009 I was in Rosario, Northern Argentina where I climbed many, many steps of a monument to the flag (!) to take in the view over the river. It was good but in the opposite direction the sunlight was catching the blinds in windows of an otherwise unprepossessing apartment block. I loved the pattern of the balconies,windows and the blinds stacked up at different levels, glinting in the sunlight.

As I was working on this print I kept thinking that it reminded me of books stacked on shelves and many people have asked whether that's what it is. To me it doesn't matter what you see in it. I just loved the image and wanted to work with it. I tried it in three different colour schemes and it has a different feeling in each.

This is a limited edition of 12 prints, in varying colours, each numbered and signed and there are a few still available at £40 (unframed). Get in touch if you'd like one!

Bespoke framing can be arranged with my in-house framer if required and we have a range of mouldings and mount boards to chose from.

The Chemical Works

A fragment of old wallpaper

and a staircase in an abandoned works were the starting point of my latest print, the second in a series of staircase prints that I'm working on in collaboration with photographer Simon Sugden.

Countless feet must have trodden these steps. Now there is just a stillness about the place.

Pirate in a box! He could be yours!

Sometimes I find things. Bizarre things, discarded things, unwanted things.

They become part of my stash of interesting stuff until different bits come together as something new such as... tadaaa!....Pirate in a Box!

Pirate: found with broken leg in car park in Batley. Leg now mended. Lived beside large Buddha head in our garden until someone stole it, leaving just the lonely pirate, a bemused West Ham gnome and a big gap.

Turtle: found on Ilkley Moor

Miniature fish-embossed frying pans and other small fish items: from a small bag of Kitsch found on ebay.

Mango box: from my mango box hoard.

Paper fish stuck on box: enlargements from my postage stamp hoard.

Free-standing, moveable metal fish: hand-cut and etched by me many years ago. Found loitering about the house.

No mangoes, pirates or turtles were harmed in the making of this artwork. For the pedantic amongst you, the mangoes were eaten, but a long time before I ever started thinking about putting this pirate in their box.

...AND NOW FOR THE AUCTION!!!!

This Pirate in a Box could be yours! My mad sister Jo and her equally mad husband Rob are having a 'Bring Your Own Art' Party on 24 Aug 2014.

I will be auctioning this off at the party and 20% of the proceeds will go to Macmillan Cancer Support. My friend Steve has already expressed a very strong interest in owning this much desired item. It may be his by the end of the day or it may be yours... 

If you're not going to be at the party and want to put in a bid before the day, just let me know! It will go to the highest bid at the end of the art party day at 4pm on 24 Aug 2014.

E-mail me at jennyzigzag@gmail.com with your bid!

Approx size of box 25cm x 20cm x 7 cm

All that's left

I've recently started doing some collaborative work with photographer Simon Sugden who has a similar passion to me for abandoned and derelict places.

Taking his photographs as starting points, I'm working on a series of prints based on staircases in empty buildings. There's a feeling of somewhere leading up, leading down, not knowing what will be found. Stairs lead us somewhere, but we're not sure where. People have walked these stairs before us. Will anyone walk them again? Who was here? What happened?

This is the first photo that I started with. It's from some abandoned offices in an old building the centre of Bradford.


Initially I played around with repeating and flipping the stairs, multiplying and staggering them to create a confusion of up and down, in and out.

I wanted to combine the stairs image with text relating to the past life of the building but I've not been able to find out what the offices were used for.

Instead, I decided to use documents relating to the past of my own home and the people of its past. They too have come and gone, leaving behind their mark, but mostly unnoticed and unremembered.

I kept the script fairly lightly coloured so it didn't fight for attention with the spiralling of the stairs.

Much of the text is hidden so you notice the words but can't quite work out what it says. Like the people of the past to whom it refers. We get glimpses of their lives, but there's so much we can only guess about them. Just like the life of the old offices.

This is now available to buy in my Etsy shop along with some of my other screen prints & lino prints at www.etsy.com/uk/shop/jennyzigzag

And you can see Simon Sugden's fabulous photography at www.flickr.com/photos/suggys_photography