All Things Considered

A Book for Cooks
Posted by Angie Lewin

Merrell very kindly sent me a copy of their recent publication A Book For Cooks.

Food writer and self-confessed bibliophile Leslie Geddes-Brown (who I had the pleasure of working with on Plants and Places) surveys 101 pioneering cookbooks, selected by her for their influence, their unusual recipes or simply for their beauty.

There's a brilliant selection of books cover a range of cuisines and dating from the seventeenth century to the present day - with each entry including a brief commentary on the book plus photographs of its cover and several inside pages.

Plenty of our own favourites feature - Colman Andrew's 'Catalan Cuisine', 'Plats Du Jour' by Patience Gray and Primrose Boyd (wonderfully illustrated by David Gentleman) and Ottolenghi's 'The Cookbook'.

But we've now got out eye on others - such as 'First Slice Your Cook Book' by Arabella Boxer.

The book features a cover and further illustrations by our friend Chloe Cheese - well known for her illustrative work and limited edition printmaking.

I'll also take this opportunity to mention the unsung hero of many of the books connected with St. Jude's, Nicola Bailey - the creative director at Merrell.

I've had the pleasure of working with Nicola on the design of Plants and Places, as did Chris Brown on his An Alphabet Of London and Mark Hearld did with his recently published Mark Hearld's Workbook.

In A Book For Cooks Nicola has done an amazing job at bringing together so many strong graphic book covers.

Posted by Angie Lewin on November 12th, 2012

Society of Wood Engravers
Posted by Angie Lewin

I was delighted that my Thistle Pot wood engraving was chosen to feature on the invitation to the latest 75th Annual Exhibition of the Society of Wood Engravers.

The Society was founded in 1920 by a group of artists that included Philip Hagreen, Robert Gibbings, Lucien Pissaro, Gwen Raverat and Eric Gill. They held an annual exhibition that attracted work from other notable artists such as David Jones, John and Paul Nash, Paul Gauguin and Clare Leighton. The group thrived until war broke out, disrupted the demand for their work and cut the supply of materials. In the years that followed, there was a return to the annual exhibition but the group and the cultural context had changed.

After a decade in which there were no exhibitions, the SWE was revived in the early 1980's and has built up an international reputation for excellence.

The 75th Annual Exhibition is touring and will next open on 24th November at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath. From 29th January 2013 it will then visit The Bankside Gallery in London.

 

Posted by Angie Lewin on October 19th, 2012

New watercolours
Posted by Angie Lewin

As part of my exhibition at The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh with Lizzie Farey, I'll be exhibiting a selection of original watercolour drawings alongside my limited edition prints.

The exhibition opens on Saturday 8th September 2012 and runs until 3rd October.

From top to bottom: Beach and Moor Still Life, Cup with Red Stem, Persephone Bowl with Thrift and Feathers, Mug with Yellow Rattle and Yarrow and Rye Pot with Teasels.

Find out more about the exhibition and view the online catalogue.

Posted by Angie Lewin on September 1st, 2012

The Yellow Cup
Posted by Angie Lewin

Later this week I'll be exhibiting a new screen print in Ledbury, Herefordshire as part of the St. Jude's At Tinsmiths exhibition.

The Yellow Cup includes an antique shop find featuring a strangely humorous engraved image of a donkey wreaking revenge on his cruel dandyish master which I combined with a number of elements to form this still life in my Highland studio.

Initially available from Tinsmiths, I'll have further copies of the edition available later in April. Sign up to my e-mail newsletter if you'd like details.

The exhibition also features work from Ed Kluz, Emily Sutton, Christopher Brown and Mark Hearld.

The opening event is on Friday 30th March 2012 between 7pm and 9pm but the exhibition then runs until 29th April 2012. Full details

Posted by Angie Lewin on March 27th, 2012

Treehotel
Posted by Angie Lewin

We'd love to visit this unique destination in Sweden.

A collection of architect designed rooms, each suspended 4-6m above the ground in the canopy of the surrounding forest - all with views of the Lule river.

Find out more from the Treehotel website.

Posted by Angie Lewin on March 22nd, 2012

Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Posted by Angie Lewin

It's taken us an embarrassingly long time to visit Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Our last attempt was thwarted by car trouble. But we made it today and were rewarded with bright blue skies.

We were visiting in-between shows - a major show of  Joan Miró's sculpture opens on 17th March 2012. But there was plenty to see within the grounds including works by Henry Moore, Anthony Caro, Barbara Hepworth, Anthony Gormley, James Turrell and David Nash.

If you've never visited, you must. Find out all about Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Posted by Angie Lewin on March 6th, 2012

An Alphabet of London
Posted by Angie Lewin

We've had the pleasure of working with printmaker Christopher Brown for a number of years now.

And we recently received a copy of Chris' new book, published by Merrell in early March.

In An Alphabet of London, Chris presents a series of linocuts illustrating every aspect of London past and present, including personalities, buildings, monuments, legends, historic events and other metropolitan icons. From Dickens, Dr Johnson, Tower Bridge and the Shard to the Diamond Jubilee, Wimbledon, pigeons and jellied eels, all London life is here. A born-and-bred Londoner, Chris also recounts his own memories of growing up in the capital, and also describes how he creates his distinctive limited edition prints.

View further images from the book or order a copy online.

Posted by Angie Lewin on February 18th, 2012

Naomi Mitchison
Posted by Angie Lewin

Simon and I took a trip to the newly renovated National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh last week.

One of our favourite images was this painting of Naomi Mitchison by Wyndham Lewis.

Naomi Mitchison was a novelist, poet and passionate campaigner for social justice and women's rights. Born in Edinburgh, Mitchison's first novel was published in 1923, when she was twenty-six and she went on to write over seventy books during her lifetime.

Find out about more about the National Portrait Gallery's renovation.

Posted by Angie Lewin on February 11th, 2012

Drawing At The Museum
Posted by Angie Lewin

Choosing just one bird to inspire a print for the recent Ghosts of Gone Birds exhibition from the long list of sadly extinct exotic species was difficult. I chose the Double-banded Argus whose sole relic is a single feather at the Natural History Museum in Tring. It's now thought that this bird may never have existed at all, the unique feather being a mutation of that of a living species of argus.

This, to me, made the feather seem more precious and poignant so on a cold, frosty morning I travelled up from London to the museum to make some preparatory sketches for my wood engraving Drawing at the Museum. As I drew at a desk by the window surrounded by rows of cabinets of preserved birds, I was struck by the contrast with the lively blackbirds hopping from branch to branch in the winter trees in the grounds outside.

Posted by Angie Lewin on February 3rd, 2012

The Curwen Studio
Posted by Angie Lewin

Although most of my prints are linocuts and wood engraving which I draw, cut and print on my own press in the studio, certain images might develop which are better suited to lithography and screen printing.

An example would be Festival Mug (below) which has areas of shading and tone that would be hard to achieve with relief printing methods.

This is one of the prints that I've had the pleasure of working on at The Curwen Studio in Cambridgeshire. Founded in 1958 the studio has now worked with artists including John Piper, Edward Bawden, Graham Sutherland, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Michael Rothenstein and Paula Rego.

Yesterday BBC Radio 4 broadcast a programme about Stanley Jones (master lithographer of the Curwen Studio) that captured the special quality of this highly-regarded print studio.

Artist Susan Aldworth - whilst working on her own prints - interviewed Stanley, revealing his longstanding devotion to lithography and also perfectly describing the inspiring, challenging relationship between artist and skilled printer. It's making me impatient to be back there!

You can listen to the programme over at the BBC Radio 4 website.

Posted by Angie Lewin on January 18th, 2012