Cyanotypes

I have been continuing my weekly trips to Creative Spark Print Studios this month to explore and experiment with printmaking! I’m really impressed with the results from my initial work of reverse engineering my digital photographs into negatives and exposing them through the cyanotype process with help for the brilliant Gra Murphy. I’ve started with materials like cotton fabrics but I’ve some other materials in mind for a new body of work I want to begin 2024. Watch this space!

Limited Edition Prints

I have artworks available from Hambly & Hambly, Enniskillen along with ArtisAnn, Belfast and Solart, Dublin. The perfect Christmas presents (smiley face) - the continued support from my galleries has been amazing and my collectors are even more amazing.

I’ll be adding some more pieces to my artworks already in Hambly & Hambly over the coming weeks so watch this space or email ciara@hamblyandhambly.com directly for more details.

Win One!

Remember I run an annual subscriber competition to win a print that all my subscribers are automatically entered into; the winner is picked on the 1st December each year.

The first year, wonderful subscriber Ellen McAteer won a print, then last year another brilliant subscriber, David Maine won, will it be you this year? I hope so.

It’s my thank you for your continued support.

It’s not too late to subscribe if you’re reading this on my website, just click here.

Droichead Arts Centre Initiative - Makers Making More

Droichead Arts Centre has been hosting workshops and Q&A’s to support artists, run by Juliette Crosbie. I’m delighted to see Droichead Arts Centre has committed to make all their events more accessible by providing irish sign language interpretation for their events.

I attended the arts application clinic with Lian Bell and Leah was brilliant as ISL interpreter (If you remember in last month’s newsletter we began the ball rolling with the AAEX and ISL workshops in Droichead Arts Centre).

Lian was refreshing and entertaining speaker, she imparted her knowledge as an arts worker who has successfully applied for opportunities in the recent past and has strategies for dealing with the inevitable rejections in an imperfect system too. For more information on Lian’s work you can follow her on Instagram @thelianbell or check out her website www.lianbell.com

You should also give the Makers Making More Instagram account a follow to keep up to date with future events.

Recommended Reads

I’ve expanded this from ‘read’ to ‘reads’ because I read three great books this month; Women in the Picture by Catherine McCormack, Broad Strokes by Bridget Quinn and for something a bit different, Twiggy Woman, ghostly folktales by Oein DeBhairduin.

I really love how Catherine’s book ties in, for me, to the The Heroine’s Journey by Maureen Murdock and John Berger’s writing on the subject of the male gaze,

“A woman has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life”, John Berger, Ways of Seeing.

Virginia Woolfe brilliantly quoted in Bridget Quinn’s book, Broad Strokes - 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History (in that order).

Bridget makes art history accessible through her down to earth writing style. It’s an eye opening book as you’ll read how women and other groups have been systematically overlooked for centuries and how we can change that.

For the season that’s in it, my final recommended read this month is Twiggy Woman by Oein DeBhairduin and beautifully illustrated by Helena Grimes. A collection of ghost stories rooted in the oral tradition of the Irish Traveller community it’s beautifully written by its award winning author. Published by Skein Press check out their website or social media to see where you can get your hands on a copy.