Royal Scottish Academy 2014 - online entry this YEAR !!

For their annual open, the RSA have set up an online facility for artists to submit their artworks.  I have already checked it out and have even paid the entry fee to submit 2 works. (£18.00 for non members).

Online applications must be completed before SUNDAY 19 OCTOBER 2014 @ 5PM

Two Stages

Stage 1 :

You have to register and fill in your details - part of which involves entering the url for your portfolio website.  Now that I have done that - all I need to do is upload the images of the artworks.  You can return at a later date to upload your images, if you want.  As per previously - artworks need to be a maximum of 80 cm on the longest side.  They recommend that digital uploads should be about 800 pixels wide and approximately 1MB in size.

Once you have done that and by 19th October at the latest - you have to wait until Monday 27th October to find out whether you have been "Pre-Selected".  They email to let you know.

Stage 2 :

The "Hand in Days" are then 14th and 15th November, for the actual physical artworks that have been  preselected

:  Once they have  gathered all these preselected artworks together

the  final selection will be made, by the RSA.

Artists who have made it through to FINAL SELECTION are then notified on the 19th November.

Click HERE to register for entry to the online facility

Courses at FDPW Spring 2014

The New year has come and gone and what are we all up to now ?  

Well we've been fairly busy here at Fife Dunfermline Printmakers Workshop - what with a course in etching, having already taken place here, on 18th January.

Taught by Jai llewellyn who seems to have been a big hit with the participants.!!


artwork by Jai Llewellyn ( no details given re media size etc)
but check his website (above)  for more info     

Many of the members have been in over January and have been  steadily working away...... using loads of different techniques such as monotype, lino cut, etching on copper and zinc, woodcut and dry point amongst others. 

I was doing some water colour based monotypes which is a lovely easy technique which you can incorporate into prints in so many ways.  The other good thing is that you can paint your 'plate' at home and then bring them into the workshop to transfer onto your paper through the etching press. Great to use as backgrounds and to 'colour-in' various intaglio prints.
I haven't tried it yet with relief prints but don't see a reason why it wouldn't work just as well. 

Photo shows a water based monotype from way back - which I put some cut out kangaroo shapes on,  these were colored with water based crayons.  Look's a lot better in the 'real' - as opposed to this photo.

We also had a monoprint making 'share day' amongst the members this past Saturday which was a good opportunity for members to share their knowledge and learn from each other - which is one of the really neat things about printmaking  - the constant exposure to other peoples creative working methods.  It helps with keeping the creative momentum going!.

S C R E E N P R I N T   C O U R S E

The next course coming up,  is a screen printing course which will be taught by Sheila Carnduff, who's a very experienced and knowledgeable printmaker/ artist.  
It runs over 2 days and during this time you'll  be introduced to the steps involved in screen printing  -  such as  'de-greasing' screens, taping the edges of the screens and adjusting the screen printing bed.   

There will be discussion concerning different types of screens and squeegee as well as which papers are suited to screen print making.  So it will enable you to learn the sequential steps involved as well as to begin to explore the finer points.

image above is a 'one-pull' print by Chris Keegan - quite effective  - made using photo positive

exposed onto the light box to get the image on the silk screen  http://www.chriskeegan.co.uk/cat

This course will suit those who are completely new to screen printing as well as those with some prior experience who want to refresh and resume their practice.

We hope to  provide you with new and stimulating ways to print and introduce you to a variety of techniques, some old and some new.

The course takes place over two Saturdays :  10.00 am  through to  4.00 pm.

Saturday 22nd February 

and 

Saturday 1st March 2014

The cost is  £80.00 for non members and  £70.00  for FDPW members.

The surest way to secure a place on the course is 
by posting a cheque / made payable to FDPW

Mail it to :

Fife+ Dunfermline Printmakers Workshop

The Basement,

Dell Farquharson Community Centre,

Netherton Broad St.

Dunfermline, Fife,

KY12 7DS 

The cost includes materials, use of presses/ equipment,  tools,  inks, cleaning fluids and some paper.

Places will be limited to 8 so reserve your place now!

If you have any questions or need further information contact

Aine Scannell  FDPW Secretary  by email at   aine@ainescannell.com  or phone   01383 727873


Here's just one more single pull screenprint I found,  that I think is quite effective:

Link to the artists website   https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/boldandnoble

acknowledged thanks to the following for use of their images:

Visit for more info on the screenprint process.

http://www.ideastap.com/ideasmag/the-knowledge/how-to-screenprint

http://36limestreet.wordpress.com/tag/silk-screen/

Have a nice day out on Saturday 2nd November !!

For only £15.00 at "Drawing Together"  hosted by PVAF (Perth Visual Arts Forum) 

participants can take part in hands-on-workshops

and attend demonstrations by artists such as Kate Downie, David Faithfull, Debbie Smyth, James Wyness and Kenny Bean.

There will also be some short talks presented by artists Pat Law, Su Grierson and Liz Kemp.

The event takes place at Birnam Institute and is on from  10.00 to 4.30 pm.

One of the ideas with this years PVAF forum is to provide professional artists,  the opportunity to try their hands at different approaches to drawing, that are outside of their usual methodology.   

For  a  downloadable booking form  http://www.pvaf.org.uk/

Check out  PVAF's page on Facebook

Note the image above is from the PVAF website and is a screen-grab from a project called REMIX which was organized by PVAF, If you would like to find out more about this project and others

check this page on the PVAF website

Connect with the Google Map HERE to see the interactive version

Fife Dunfermline Printmakers are Active at Holyrood

It's all happening at the Scottish Parliament at the moment with their latest exhibition of none other than Andy Warhol.  Fife Dunfermline Printmakers have put together and are running a supporting programme of print making mini workshops using screen print, which will be on offer to members of the public for free.   The program is generously supported by the good people at Carnegie Dunfermline Trust .

"So get out your squeegees and put on yer aprons and get down to Holyrood !! "

If you would like to learn more about screen printing and don't want to be  disappointed, then it seems a good idea to book a timed slot in advance of visiting the exhibition.  

Bookings can be obtained via:

• Online booking form
• email: warhol@scottish.parliament.uk
• telephone on 0131 348 5454 (the phone line will be open 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday). 

Group bookings of up to 15 are available.

The workshops will last approximately 30 minutes each are being offered on the following days and open to all ages.   Booking is recommended.   Please telephone 0131 348 5454.

• Sat 19 October
• Sun 20 October
• Sat 26 October
• Sun 27 October
• Sat 2 November
• Sun 3 November

The photo  (Chairman Mao)above is taken from an article in the Guardian Newspaper about this bullet ridden print by Warhol which Dennis Hopper created (ie the bullet holes) see this link for further info

The lower photo is from the Chicagoprintmakers.blogspot.com

FDPW at impact 8

above framed works by FDPW members on show in an exhibition within Impact 8

Fife Dunfermline Printmakers were well represented at this recent prestigious event.  Impact is a multi-disciplinary printmaking conference series, that originated at the Centre for Fine Print Research

(University of the West of England)  in 1999, which I attended in Bristol - I also participated in the conference portfolio print exchange.  It is organised in association with the Royal West of England Academy and the Southern Graphics Council, USA.

above framed works by FDPW members on show at the impact 8 exhibition

 left relief print by Peter Kirley, centre- Catherine King and right Thora Clyne

The conference was attended by over 400 delegates from more than 30 countries - with presentations of academic papers, workshops, print process demonstrations, exhibitions and lectures on a multitude of contemporary and historical print practice.

Among the delegates were three very active artist printmakers from Dunfermline, Fife.  Namely FDPW chair: Steve Ratomski,  artist lecturer; Catherine King  (member of FDPW) and printmaker /artists book maker- Aine Scannell  (secretary/member of FDPW).

Photo above shows the FDPW display stand, as part of  Open Folio - Impact 8

Our rich variety of prints in the set were well received at both venues and we have made some valuable contacts as a result.  Participating artists in the folio were, Bill Mc Kechnie, Steve Ratomski, Aine Scannell, Babs Peas, Jai Llewellyn, Clive Ramage, Clare Yarrington  Pete Kirley, Thora Clyne, Sheila Carnduff, Catherine King, Susan Smith and Colin Beaumont. 

Photo above shows the display stand for BookArtObject,  in the artists books exhibition area

Aine Scannell's work was represented in other projects on the impact 8 program, including Sara Bowen's talk and exhibition about  BookArtObject  (an international collaborative artists books edition exchange programme ).  Her work was chosen by Sara for display in a selection of books from the 100 stories project.

 above photo taken during the "mingle" evening at the Roseangle Gallery 

Dundee Contemporary Arts organized an exhibition for their print workshop users  in which Aine  exhibited a new piece.  It was an excellent show of prints and was held at the Roseangle Gallery in Dundee ( quite a nice exhibition space) .  To see photos from the event check out the event page for it, on Facebook.

Aine's latest print "Sibling"made for the Roseangle Exhibition

above the "Unravelling Signatures" display stand in the artists books exhibition area at Impact 8

In addition to being selected for inclusion in exhibitions coordinated by other delegates, Aine Scannell initiated and led a project called "Unravelling Signatures".  It had artists from Scotland, Australia, USA and Spain - the challenge was to design a print on demand book and then to transform it into an artist book / object.   If you would like to see more about this project, visit the Unravelling Signatures website

above some of the images from the born Digital project

Paul Thompson of Robert Gordon University ( PhD candidate) who visited FDPW as part of his research - presented an academic paper, a poster and a portfolio called"Born Digital".   This was  an international  digital print portfolio project, in which Aine  and 48 other artists participated.

For further information concerning the  project and to see images / list of participating artists visit the

Born Digital website.

Above images from Aine's Book (edition 15)  "Where Sleeping Birds Lie" 

Last but not least was her artists book "Where Sleeping Birds Lie"  which was selected for inclusion in an  exhibition called "Book Artist as Explorer"- this was curated by artist David Faithful.

To see more photos from the Impact 8 event - visit this link to images on Facebook