If printmaking papers were fictional characters...

...what would they look like? 

 

 

  A non-printmaker friend thought that the name Fabriano Rosaspina Bianco sounded more like a fictional character than a type of printmaking paper and so there was only one sensible thing to do after this conversation.  I went on to create a small cast of characters based on the names of some well-known papers found in many printrooms.  This was a fun exercise in using Photoshop a little bit more and also in hurrying on the time until we can properly return to the print studios! 

The Fabriano Rosaspinas
These papers handle all kinds of inks beautifully. They make a great impression, but can split under too much pressure

 

 

Plike

The indestructible new kid. Plike is strong stuff and can handle screenprinting, lasercutting, folding, spilt liquids and (miraculously) does not tear too easily. Just what is this paper made of?

Zerkall

Handles detail beautifully...

 

 

 

Somerset Silk, Satin and Velvet

These papers are a mystery to me, mainly because I hardly use them...

 

 

Hahnemuhle

 She brings out the colour and the clarity in your aquatinted intaglio prints like no other paper can. Just what is her secret?

 

 

Eighteenth Century Work in London: A Guide

Until recently these characters were little more than doodles in an old sketchbook I had.  Upon their rediscovery, I decided to give them a bit of a makeover and let them see the light of day.

And here are the results!

From 5pm on Sunday 16th of June 2019 all of these items will be available to purchase as postcards, prints and concertina books.

Visit joannarobsonillustration.bigcartel.com to see the full collection.

The Ambassador's Ball

New artists' book ready to be editioned!  

Twenty copies of The Ambassador's Ball are being created and will be available to purchase through my online shop.  

Inspired by a real event, this lasercut concertina book illustrates how I imagine the Spring Festival on 24th April 1935 at the US embassy in Moscow might have unfolded.  

And why choose this particular event?  The level of chaos at this party would not have been out of place in a Marx Brothers film: in a bid to impress their Soviet hosts, the US embassy staff threw an outlandish party, a party that aimed to surpass any other embassy party in Moscow's history.  Guests arrived to discover that the neo-classical embassy of Spaso House had been transformed: decorations included birch trees in the chandelier room; an orchestra from Prague; flowers from Helsinki; a sword dancer from Tblisi; and numerous live animals including over one hundred finches, pheasants, roosters, goats and a baby bear.

Spaso House, Residence of the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow

The animals caused an uproar – the unhousebroken bear was introduced to champagne and ruined a Soviet general’s uniform, while hundreds of finches escaped their aviary and flew noisily about the high ceilinged rooms during the party and for some days after.

One of the guests at the party was the Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov.  The fantastic and surreal imagery of this party was not lost on him, ensuring that the legacy of the party was to live on beyond that night.  Bulgakov went on to use the party as inspiration for a famous scene in his novel The Master and Margarita.  Satan’s Ball (or the Spring Ball of the Full Moon) in Bulgakov’s novel features a number of barely disguised parallels with the Spring Festival of 1935.

Something about the chaos of this event against the backdrop of such an elegant neo-classical building caught my imagination last summer, and I set to work.

The finished book is a panorama of lasercut scenes against a white embossed background.  References to The Master and Margarita are dotted throughout the book, including one giant black cat and an embossed cascade of playing cards hidden in the building's ceiling.  

Below are some of my favourite photos of the book as well as a quote from one of the party's organisers...

I'm currently taking orders for copies of The Ambassador's Ball, so if you'd like to purchase one, please contact me through my online shop in the tab at the top.  Each copy of The Ambassador's Ball is £350 plus p&p.

Alternatively if you're based in or around Edinburgh, you can come and have a look at a copy for yourself at my table at the Fruitmarket's Artists' BookMarket on the weekend of the 17th and 18th of February.  (For more information please visit www.fruitmarket.co.uk/event/artists-bookmarket. )

Thanks for looking!

The Plague: etched in our history

Earlier this year I was commissioned by the National Library of Scotland to produce an etched print for their Winter 2015 exhibition, entitled 'Plague! A Cultural History of Contagious Diseases in Scotland'. It is an exhibition of historic cultural responses to epidemic diseases in Scotland, to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Great Plague.

The brief was to produce an illustration of Edinburgh's Old Town in the atmospheric, smokey style of etching that I'd done previously with 'The Resurrectionists'.  The illustration would then be made in to a large scale graphic for display in the opening section of the exhibition.

It was great to re-visit this style of printmaking again and also to return to illustrating Edinburgh's Old Town.  I was given artistic license with the buildings, as the main concern was that the cityscape looked cramped and atmospheric rather than historically accurate.

Preliminary sketches focused on the main characters and animals:

After the final image was approved came the task of transferring the image on to an A3 zinc plate and drawing on the image with an etching needle. The plate was then etched in an acid bath before prints were made -

print size - 42 by 29cm

A total of six prints have been made for the NLS for this commission, all of which are available to purchase online at http://joannarobsonillustration.bigcartel.com.  (For those of you in Edinburgh I will have a few with me at the Summerhall Christmas Market on Sunday 13th December.)  Each print is unique because the ink is applied differently to the plate each time.  Some of them look very smokey with the ink moving in swirls, while others look lighter and more subtle.

The exhibition opens at the National Library of Scotland on 11th December 2015 and runs until 29th May 2016. Visit http://www.nls.uk/exhibitions/plague for more information.