Post CPE Urban Development Project

Our project sets out to facilitate the currently unused area in the vicinity of Tarnów’s train station. There have been many ingenious ideas about that place, however a park seems to be the most applicable. Not only would it be an amenity for the local inhabitants, but it could serve as a landmark for the tourists visiting Tarnów.

The project of the park is simple: there would be four circular structures in the middle, interconnected by alleys and surrounded by greenery matching the one that can be observed in adjacent Planty. These buidlings would serve multiple purposes: the biggest one located in the middle would serve both as a representative building and a restaurant area. It would be built partially underground so as to aesthetically fit in with the rest of the park. Other ‘circles’ would also facilitate different amenities: from a pub area to an open pool that could be easily turned into an ice rink in winter. What is more the triangular part bordering with Bandrowskiego street would be made into a dog and cat walking zone. We also hope to be able to connect the alleys in this park to the Planty to offer a better strolling experience.

This is the finished design.

Digital photography and mixed media art

It has taken a while (actually a few years) to finish up the first draft of my guide book on using digital photography to create art and mixed media art. The link is below the image.

 

 

 

Digital photography and mixed media artDownload

Experiments in Acrylic Gelatine Plate Printing

A while ago I posted that I was interested in new forms of drawing and printing. I began by spending UK Lockdown learning how to use #Inkscape for graphic design and experienced some successful results with the program. I also learnt about gelatine plate printing via Instagram and YouTube. I went ahead and made a plate and then working from home came to dominate my days and the printing experiment went on the back burner. WFH is temporarily on pause so I have a some free days to do some gelatine plate printing and here is what I have been doing.

This article describes the process I used and the results gained. I think this is a fascinating way of printing and one which offers lots of possibilities especially to mixed media artists.

This is the gelatine plate I made using beef gelatine, glycerol, hot water and a splash of vodka. It is a little dark in colour which could be the result of the beef gelatine. The bottom is also a little lumpy but the top is a smooth printing surface.

Gelatine Plate

The first print I made was inspired by the local sunsets and a some photos I had taken of St Mary’s Lighthouse Whitley Bay. I was after a sea and sky composition. The process I used was to dab colours on the plate and the roll them over with a brayer. I took the print off using a piece of copy paper.

Sea and Sky

Then I scanned the image onto my computer and inserted a photograph using Photoshop CS4.

This is the lighthouse superimposed on the gelatine plate print background.

I have a couple of versions of this – as above and with the lighthouse larger and lower down the page.

With the lighthouse lower down and larger

I was lucky enough to find some abandoned magazines while walking around Newcastle a couple of days later and the pages have proved useful for so further experiments in gelatine plate printing.

One of the magazine had some articles on the digital revolution in the NE of England which I thought would make a nice background for some technical prints. So far I have printed the background. I thought about the colours I associate with cameras, photography and old printers. These are displayed below.

The paints dabbed on the plate

I dabbed the paints on the plate and then rolled them over with my brayer. The image below shows the result on the plate.

This is the print on a page from a magazine. I think the dabbing technique works rather well.

I have some photographs of old printers from the 1970s which I want to use on this backbround.

I took some lighter prints from the plate which I am planning to use on an industrial theme:

This one speaks of bridges to me

Darker print

I am thinking of using the print immediately above as background for some images from the cultural arts districts of Tallinn which I took last year.

Gelatine plate printing is cheap and easy to do. It offers a lot of new possibilities to people who want to experiment with home printing and making mixed media art. I will continue my experiments and hope to encourage others to do so as well.

Experiments with Printing 1– Gelatine Plate Monotype

Moving up to the North East of England has been a great experience not least because it is a hive of artistic activity up here. Thanks to the work of artists such as Driftworks Tidal Art and Carol Nunan I have discovered a whole new world of mixed media art.

If you have been over at my sister blog Weaver of Words, you will know that printing and publishing has been a long time interest of mine. In the main though, I have concentrated on creating printable images on my PC and then printing then onto a variety of substrates using either Epson or Canon printers. I thought that I had gone as far as I could in my explorations of digital printing and was interested in other forms of printing and print transfer. I have spent some time during Lockdown in the UK using home-made Gesso and transfer glue to transfer images onto wood and onto walls. What I have been looking for, though, is an easy transfer technique for enhancing my travel journals. As a poor drawer I need a technique which does not rely too heavily on good drawing or artistic technique.

The techniques I have been exploring have been screen printing, gelatine plate monotype printing and hectographs (about which, more in another post). The advantage of gelatine plate printing is that it is cheap, easy to do and does not take up a lot of space, It could, at a push, be a portable printing technique. It is easy to create a gelatine plate and they are lightweight and easily transportable. I am not entirely sure how I would get one through airport security but that is a problem for another day.

What is so exciting about gelatine plate printing? Firstly, it is mono printing. This means that the gelatine plate produces one impression on each round on the plate. So, you ink it up, make an impression which takes all or most of the ink off the plate, then you ink the plate up again and take the next impression. You can keep on doing this for as many impressions as you like. Because of the technique every impression and print is going to be unique. The results are also unpredictable. It is a planographic process, which means that it uses a flat surface – the firm gelatine plate.

It is the new big thing in home crafts because it really is simple to do and fairly cheap. The home printer does not need to have expensive machinery, not even a pasta machine, nor expensive paints. All you need is a gelatine plate, a brayer, some paint and paper to print on.

It can be done practically anywhere because you need so few tools. It means the printer does not need to invest in a garden shed or a print studio. It can be done, literally, on a kitchen table or even a work surface.

You can buy commercial plates but part of the crafting fun is, I think, making your own equipment if you can. Below is the recipe I used for making my own plate. It turned out a bit brownish because of the beef gelatine.

Directions for making a gelatine plate

To make your own you need:

• A dish or tray such as a roasting tin or biscuit tin
• A kettle
• A measuring jug
• A large bowl
• Weighing scales
• A spatula
• 72 g powdered gelatine (I used beef but you can get other kinds)
• 200 ml liquid glycerine (I used vegetable)
• 265 ml tap water
• A dash of vodka or clear gin (as an extra preservative)

(Recipe adapted from https://slamseysjournal.co.uk/printmaking/monoprinting/how-to-make-a-gelatine-plate-for-printing/)

 

Pour 100 ml of cold water into a bowl with half of the glycerine and mix up until combined. Then, add the gelatine and hot water. Mix until all the gelatine has dissolved. If the gelatine does not completely dissolve you can give it a quick blast in a microwave or create a Bain Marie on the stove with a pan of boiling water and the bowl sitting on top of it. The gelatine needs to dissolve completely, or it will leave lumps in the finished product and you will not have a smooth surface.  Leave to cool and firm. If it is lumpy, you can chop it up and melt it in a pan or in a microwave and then do another pour. Some people recommend using strips of newspaper to skim across the top to remove the scum.

The finished result will look something like this:

The finished product should be stored away from heat and it will last a few months. You can then splice it up, reheat it and remould it to use again.

That is the surface on which you put the ink / paint. There are lots of videos on YouTube and various websites showing how to apply the ink (splodges spread out with a brayer).

How do you do it?

Basically you put paint or ink onto the gelatine plate, spread it around and then place a sheet of paper over the top, press the paper down or use a roller / rolling pin, glass bottle to burnish the plate making sure that all the paper receives the colour and then lift up carefully.

Before pressing down the paper you can use different surfaces and stencils to add patterns to paint / ink surface to create different designs. All kinds of things work such as stencils, bubble wrap, string, buttons, wire, feathers, scrunched up silver foil, combs and so on.

You can receive the paint / ink onto craft paper, copy paper, mixed media art paper, hand-made paper, tissue paper, drawing paper, kitchen roll, newsprint (unused or printed on), book leaves, fabric, doilies, greeting card stock, tissue paper etc.

You can mix up techniques such as printing onto copier paper or card using the gelatine plate, letting the paint dry and then running it through a printer and printing a digital print on top (or the other way round).

Mediums

I have bought myself a stack of acrylic paint tubes which seem to be going cheap at the moment. I have seen videos in which the artists have used make up powder (eye shadow), watercolour paints, specialist printing inks and so on. I guess you have a go and see what you like and there’s nothing to say you can’t mix and match.

There is a wonderful post here on how to print with this technique

https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2016/08/17/gelatin-printing-with-schmincke-aqua-linoprint-colours/

 

 

The Joy of Inkscape

 

During the Covid-19 lockdown in the UK I started to learn how to use the graphics program Inkscape. At first it was a sharp learning curve as I had no idea what the tools were or how to use them.

I looked up some tutorials and watched some YouTube videos and gradually I came to realise how the program worked and what could be done with it. I am no artist, as you can see from my first attempt, but the image is recognisable. I found some images on Pinterest which I liked and then tried to copy them in Inkscape, adding my own touches here and there.

After a few weeks, I gained a deeper understanding of the tools, improved my understanding of perspective and began to explore filters. This meant I could experiment more.

By the time I was able to reconstruct the street from an online image and the Greek rooftop I was ready to strike out on my own. Thanks to the lockdown I was a little limited in my experiences so I used my balcony as and inspiration.

Now I am at the stage where I can begin to create my own art and continue to explore the possibilities of Inkscape. I may not have a new career beckoning but I have some of my own artwork to hang on the walls and, a bonus, a new chapter for my book on digital art. I hope you agree that it has been a journey worth taking and time well spent.

Walking Cities

Over the last few years I have spent a lot of my non-working time wandering around and through picturesque villages, working villages, small towns, large towns, small cities and capital cities around Europe. Getting to the place I want to be wandering  has involved taking planes, or long-distance coaches, regional trains or  long-distance intercity trains depending on my starting point and destination. I have wandered around St Petersburg in Russia, Kiev in Ukraine, Tallinn in Estonia, France, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Poland. 

Each time I set off on my wandering with a small day pack filled with a camera (sometimes film,  sometimes digital and sometimes both), paper maps, notebook, pens, Kindle, passport, hand wipes, a plastic cutlery set and a water bottle. If I have been to a tourist information office I might have some local leaflets and a city guide. I wear good walking boots, comfortable socks, jeans, t-shirts and whatever outwear the weather requires. Sometimes, just sometimes, I take my Nordic Walking sticks but only if I know I am going to be in deep snow. In my head I have lots of ideas of where to go and what to do. In my heart I have a spirit of adventure. 

The current series of city walks began when I left my job in London at the beginning of November 2017 to travel to St Petersburg via Tallinn, Estonia. I had a few days with a friend exploring the newly emerging arty and retro cultural scenes in off beat parts of the city and then set off on the long coach journey across Estonia to St Petersburg. The first snows had started and it was a grand  time to be exploring the most westernised of Russian cities. I had to teach Monday to Friday for the three weeks I was there but on weekends I headed down to the local metro station and set off exploring. I visited metro stations, wandering around housing estates, snuck behind grand buildings and meandered around the city. Just me, my Pentax and Patti Smith’s book M Train.

Taken with an old Nikon Coolpix digital camera

Then I took a train back to Tallinn and at the start of winter proper revisited old haunts from earlier visits. I took comfort in places I knew and delighted in the ways they had changed. 

Tallinn Estonia

After a week, I landed a job in Krakow, Poland. So began the Poland and Ukraine adventures

 

Krakow, winter 2017

On rare occasions I have a companion for some of the trips but generally I go alone. This seems to bemuse and confuse many Polish people who find wandering around alone a strange thing to do as. they are pack animals. I much prefer to have the sort of companion who will come to a destination and be prepared to go off and do things on their own before meeting up to share discoveries. 

When I set out I just set out. I get off a train and start walking or step out of a hotel and look around to see what catches my eye. I might have a glance at the map to get my bearings but generally I just walk. I can walk in a straight line. I can walk in circles. It doesn’t matter as there is always something interesting to see.

If I end up in a tourist hot spot it is purely by accident. I do not intentionally intend to find myself in such places though they may be a starting point. A highly success wander took place in the Krakow district of Kazimierz, known to tourists who are attracted to the faux hipsterishness of the place. I was there to accompany a student to an exam. I took off for 90 minutes on a day when there were hardly any tour groups about and did a little exploring. I came across some fascinating street art.

Krakow Street Art 2019

In a country like Poland, which I am currently exploring, the main starting point of my travels is always the Rynek. The old market squares were the centre of trading in olden times and is where the brightest, wealthiest buildings tend to be found. A Polish market square is a fascinating  place – I particularly recommend Poznan, Łodz, Katowice, Warsaw, Wrocław, Lublin and the Cięzkowice. The German cities tended to have merchant’s houses in their squares adding a splash of colour and elegance.

Wroclaw

In Poznan I was struck by the amazing art works to be found on private and public buildings close to the main market square. Wandering around them gave me an insight into how the modern culture is beginning to take shape there as it moves  out from the galleries, libraries, cultural centres and into the places where young people hang out. In Cięzkowice and Sanok I experienced an older Poland but even there experimentalism is showing its face.

Even in my base of Tarnów (a small city between Kraków and Rzeszów), a new artistic and cultural Poland is emerging. It is obvious in the arrival of the first hipster bar but there is also interesting works to be found in arts galleries and on the walls. This search for a new, vibrant Poland, is the theme of my next set of wanderings.

Sparking Joy

I have spent a fair amount of my weekend either reading about or watching videos on the KonMari method of keeping clutter down and possessions happy. Why? Because Netflix has a series from the propagator.

Looking at old photos of my previous flat, where I did a lot of crafting, I can see that it was very cluttered. I used everything but a studio apartment is not the place for such activities. Unless you are really organised, that is.

I KonMaried the flat when I moved out. The problem was that everything sparked joy. I just couldn’t take it with me to a shared rental. Then, a few years later, I began crafting again. And cooking. I built up a collection of stuff.

Then I got a job abroad. I could only take a suitcase and my camera bag. I gave away everything. Did it spark joy? No. I just had less stuff but nothing for crafting. I got bored. I traveled but couldn’t make nice travel journals or soaps.

I had over KonMaried out of necessity. Then I acquired a second hand printer. Joy came back into my life as I could print out my photos. I started making a travel journal.

I have realized that I need some stuff in my life. It sparks joy when it helps me to create. My message -keep the joy making stuff and you will find joy.

Old Film Hack

I have been messing around with a 1989 Pentax SFXn film camera for some time now. I generally use out of date Ilford film and develop in Caffenol but the results have not been too great lately. I guess the film has got degraded by moving countries and climates.

So, I discovered today that I need to change the exposure of the film from 125 to something like 50 or 25. The problem has been the DX film which has a code written on the cartridge which is read by my camera. I tried stopping down but the camera would not take a snap. So, I had to go back to 125. When I developed the film today the results were poor to say the least.

Therefore, I got on the internet to look for solutions. I had never thought of locating the code and then removing it. Thanks to Dan K in Japan Camera Hunter I learned how to locate and remove the coding. All it took was a few quick scrapes of my penknife and the code was gone. For good measure I also coated that part of the film cartridge with that white eraser stuff school kids use.

The result – the camera no longer reads the code and I can go up or down with the exposure as it suits me.

A slow train to Kraków

A slow train from Tarnów to Kraków in the company of Patti Smith.

Devotion is Patti’s short book about being a creative writer. It’s a rambling book which takes the reader from New York to Paris and through the many rooms of Patti’s mind. It’s the perfect book for a journey on a train which stops at every hamlet and village as every page visits the hamlets in Patti’s mind.

The Painted Village of Zalipie

The bus to the painted village of Zalipie goes from the main road which skirts across and around the small town of Tarnów. It is a small minibus which holds maybe 24 people and you pay the driver. It currently costs 6.50 zł one way. The bus destination is Dąbrowska and the stop is just outside at the junction to Zalipie. From there it is a walk – straight up towards the church or leftwards into the small hamlet.

I had been warned at the tourist information office inTarnów that the village museum was closed for renovation and that some of the painted objects were to be found in the house of Felicia Curyło, who was one of the main propagators of the art of house painting in village.

My companion and I headed straight up to the church we could see in the distance. The village is a working one and we were delighted to see apple trees, walnut trees, sweet chestnuts, cabbages and pumpkins all growing in gardens and plots around the village. There were farmers working in the fields gathering their crops as it was the last few days of the glorious summer we had been having.

Across the street from the church was a crucifix garlanded with brightly coloured ribbons.

We carried on walking, stopping to take photographs of the wonderfully hand painted houses we found scattered around the village. Pretty much everything in the village is painted including kennels, bee hives, rubbish bins, plant pots, garden tools, tree barks, walls, doors, windows and all manner of kitchen equipment.

With the museum closed, the place to see how extensive the decorating is requires visiting the house of Felicia Curyło. This is a tiny house with three rooms downstairs all exhibiting examples of the folklore craft. The ceiling is so low that anyone over six feet is going to be touching it with their head. Inside everything is decorated with the local flower design.

We bought some souvenirs and signed the visitors book. A small group had to wait outside until we left as there was not room for more than three people at a time.

The village is spread out over several kilometres and we were anxious to get the bus back to Tarnów so we missed several of the houses and the school. On the way back we came across this farm which has more muted colours than the rest of the village.

As it was a working day there was nothing actually open in the village apart from the house we visited  but we did come across a few shops and a pub which may be open at weekends. We had gone prepared with snacks and drinks but had to find a wall to sit on as there were no benches. The roads are narrow and we were pushed off into a field by a tour bus and a camper van!

We are very much looking to return when the museum is open.