Chilling in Iceland - recent visit

Iceland is a cool place, in all senses of the word.  It has a stark and, at times, unbelievable landscape.   I am still processing what I saw and felt about it. I love seeing bare rock and there was a great deal of black, volcanic rock visible.  Some of the cloud was like thick, dense, white stripes of shaving foam floating low across the volcanoes.

I've never seen so many eider ducks and arctic terns and there were quite a few puffins too at Heimaey.

Cliffs at Heimaey - work in progress

My one souvenir was a woolley hat.

 

Solo show at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists - 11 February to 31 March 2019

My etchings are at the framers and I'm excited and nearly ready for my solo show at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Gallery, St Paul's Square, Birmingham, B3 1SA.

http://www.rbsa.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/linda-nevill-arbsa/

All my prints in this exhibition are etchings but the subject matter is quite varied.  This is because I've been working with two poets, not to illustrate poetry but to create art that is inspired by it.

Here is an excerpt from Jane Seabourne's beautiful poem about trees...

Advice for Walking in Woods

‘Place the flat of your hand

on the first tree you meet

when you go through a wood.

Lay your life-line over

the bark. Let it cross-hatch.

Hold till you feel a bond.’…

I love trees too and I love the idea of laying your life-line over the bark and cross hatching and bonding with the tree.  I created this etching 'Through the trees'

Last year, I heard Emma Purshouse perform her poem about flamingos in captivity and was struck by the humour and the poignancy of the words

Flamingos in Dudley Zoo

…‘The pond by the gates, the faces,

The chair-lift soaring overhead,

us sky-watching, pale with envy.’…

To research for this poem I went to the zoo one cold, windy Autumn day. I went straight to  the flamingo pool near the main gate and it was empty! It started raining as I started to search for the temporary location of the flamingos.  I huddled as close to the building as I could to start drawing.  Of course they were moving, so I was drawing a head here, a leg there… Then the keeper arrived with two tubs of food and they plunged their heads into the tubs leaving only one view to draw!   Satisfied by their food, they preened their feathers, tucked their heads in and fell asleep.  Luckily, I had drawn enough heads, beaks, legs and bodies in my sketchbook and managed to use these to create my drawing.  This was the basis for my etching shown here printed in black ink and then re-printed with coloured inks. 

Meet the Artist: Linda Nevill ARBSA Saturday 16 March at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists' Gallery, St Paul's Square

I am exhibiting some etchings at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists from 
11 Feb- 30 March  and have a Meet the Artist day Saturday 16 March 11-4pm

http://www.rbsa.org.uk/whats-on/events/meet-the-artist-linda-nevill-arbsa/

Linda has collaborated with Emma Purshouse and Jane Seabourne over many years creating art inspired by poetry and poetry inspired by art. Meet Linda during her ground floor exhibition on Saturday 16th March. There will also be a live poetry performance from 2pm-2.30pm. 

In this collection of etchings Linda has explored a wide range of ideas including different aspects of landscape, still life, flamingos in captivity and football as a man’s game. She works also with contrasts to create social comment.  For example, the brightly lit clothes shop windows with their haughty, disdainful models and the homeless woman seated outside.  Or the blue, temporary tented homes set up in front of a block of flats where people live in heated accommodation with televisions and fridges and appliances.

etchings - trees and shadows

 sketch of trees and shadows - late afternoon long shadows and winter trees

I then used diluted coffee and painted an image (based on this sketch) onto a piece of aluminium plate.   I rolled Baldwin's 'Big Ground' over the top and baked it all in the oven.   Then I put the plate in warm water and rubbed away the ground which was onto of the coffee. See below...

The image revealed on the plate!

Then I placed the plate in a mordant to etch the image into the metal.   See here some plates in the copper sulphate saline solution...

Then I inked up and printed the plates using my etching press.