ABOUT
THE PRINTS
All prints up to 24" wide are printed by me using an Epson Stylus PRO 7600 using UltraChrome long life inks on smooth white acid free paper having a weight of around 300 gsm. (For open edition prints, a lighter paper is used.) They are original in the sense that they are the only physical embodiment of the image; they are not merely reproductions of a separate art work. The tree and wood photos are in most cases, assembled digitally from several exposures, the purpose being to ensure that each visible twig or leaf is sharp. The inkjet printer produces as sharp an image at the edges of a print as at the centre (unlike an enlarging lens). The trees are deliberately separated from distracting backgrounds, and where necessary the foreground is washed away to leave the trees unencumbered by irrelevancies. The silhouettes of bare trees have most impact when printed with black ink, but can be supplied using a sepia ink if preferred. Variations like this and variations in size are all encompassed within the stated number in the edition of each title. The sharpness of twigs and leaves adds an immediacy to the image not apparent in a standard photograph or painting and not apprent on the computer screen.
The square semiabstract coloured prints concentrate on details of trees or other subjects, selected for their strong and interesting pattern; colours and textures of the trunks and the background are chosen according to my feeling at the moment of final decision. They make a bold statement in the home, office or public building.
The panoramas, in most case, offer a softer more traditional image.
The open edition prints (unlimited in the number available) are mostly single exposure images with conventional cropping. They are offered at a lower price than the limited edition prints. The Derivations offer colourful variations on a starter image.
Only unframed prints are offered at present, posted in a cardboard roll. In most cases, prints have a sufficient border so do not need a matt. (I prefer to avoid a "white" matt because of the impossibility of matching the "white" of the print and matt, and of their probable different rates of yellowing.) It is recommended that an impervious (e.g. plastic) sheet should be inserted between the print and an MDF backing to prevent acid from the latter contacting the print.
The sizes of prints being offered here are suitable for domestic purposes; larger prints are desirable for offices, restaurants, foyers etc., e.g. the square semiabstracts could be 47" square with or without a border (printed by others). Please contact me for availability and prices.
Solo exhibitions: Vaughan College. Leicester. Sept./ Oct. 2005.
Glenfield Hospital, Leicester. Apr./ May 2006
The Richard Attenborough Centre, Leicester. 03/02/07 to 05/03/07
Leicester City Gallery Upstairs gall. July 15-19 2008
Group exhibitions:-
Waterstones. Nottingham. Jan./May. 2006
Nottingham Open exhibion 2006
Derby Open exhibition 2006
Prizewinner in Open Exhibition at The Leicester City Gallery Dec. 2006
Leicester City Gallery Open exhib.2007
Leicester City Gallery Open exhib.2008
Leicester City Gallery Open exhib.2009
Art House, Leicester. June 2010
Residency at Nature in Art 17to22nd Feb 2009
My prints have been purchased by Leicester University and many private buyers in the UK, France, USA and Hong Kong.
P.J.RAWSON (ME)
During my early youth in the 1940s, my father frequently projected lantern slides made by my grandfather (a keen amateur photographer), of cathedrals and churches, photographed by him in the early 1900s. These projections kindled in me an interest in photography and a desire to take my own photos. Starting with a ¼ plate camera on a wooden tripod and progressing through various cameras over many years, I acquired my first serious digital camera in 2003.
During this period, I acquired a knowledge and appreciation of sculpture from the simplest Cycladic figures, via the magnificent Greek bronzes e.g. the Charioteer in Delphi museum, to the monumental works of Epstein and Henry Moore. In painting, from the murals of Pompeii via the English watercolourists, e.g. Turner and the French impressionists, e.g. Monet to the American abstract expressionists, e.g. Jackson Pollack and Rothko. In photography, the photographers Cartier-Bresson, Bill Brandt and Ansell Adams, whose ultra sharp photos were an inspiration.
From an early age I had been thrilled by the sharp contrast between trees in winter at dusk and the clear blue sky behind them, and longed to produce prints which would produce a similar effect. I tried a variety of cameras up to a 5”x4” monorail, which in only a few cases proved successful. Also I became increasingly dissatisfied by the gelatinous surface of the papers normally used in wet photography and longed for a process which would allow printing onto a matt watercolour type paper. This led to an interest in Collotype (which depends on the relative absorption of water in differently exposed bichromated gelatine leading to the relative acceptance of a greasy ink as in lithography). From this I developed an interest in traditional print making techniques e.g. linocut, engraving and etching, lithography and silk screen, each with their own characteristics and limitations. I was attracted by the boldness of linocuts, the sharpness of line of engravings and also by the relatively modest prices of prints, even in limited editions by renowned artists. Moreover I found that in many cases, I preferred the bold, direct and more spontaneous print to an overworked and fussy oil painting.
During my working life as a mechanical design engineer, firstly in the Atomic energy field and lastly in steam turbines, both for electricity generation, I had little time to devote to developing the printing process I sought (particularly whilst renovating, then maintaining an old farm house and wanting not to neglect my wife and children too badly). Fortunately the availability of high resolution digital cameras, the development, and the continuing development, of digital manipulating software and the availability of high quality wide format inkjet printers, have enabled me to fulfil my ambitions. I can produce large prints of tree skeletons with sharp detail or bold bright colours in “abstracts” derived initially from parts of trees or more recently from drawn shapes, with inks having adequate vibrancy and very long life, on matt paper. It is my contention that the combination of digital manipulating software and inkjet printing renders all traditional printing processes (including wet photographic printing) obsolescent. I count myself lucky to have lived long enough for this technology to have become sufficiently mature.
All prints up to 24" wide are printed by me using an Epson Stylus PRO 7600 using UltraChrome long life inks on smooth white acid free paper having a weight of around 300 gsm. (For open edition prints, a lighter paper is used.) They are original in the sense that they are the only physical embodiment of the image; they are not merely reproductions of a separate art work. The tree and wood photos are in most cases, assembled digitally from several exposures, the purpose being to ensure that each visible twig or leaf is sharp. The inkjet printer produces as sharp an image at the edges of a print as at the centre (unlike an enlarging lens). The trees are deliberately separated from distracting backgrounds, and where necessary the foreground is washed away to leave the trees unencumbered by irrelevancies. The silhouettes of bare trees have most impact when printed with black ink, but can be supplied using a sepia ink if preferred. Variations like this and variations in size are all encompassed within the stated number in the edition of each title. The sharpness of twigs and leaves adds an immediacy to the image not apparent in a standard photograph or painting and not apprent on the computer screen.
The square semiabstract coloured prints concentrate on details of trees or other subjects, selected for their strong and interesting pattern; colours and textures of the trunks and the background are chosen according to my feeling at the moment of final decision. They make a bold statement in the home, office or public building.
The panoramas, in most case, offer a softer more traditional image.
The open edition prints (unlimited in the number available) are mostly single exposure images with conventional cropping. They are offered at a lower price than the limited edition prints. The Derivations offer colourful variations on a starter image.
Only unframed prints are offered at present, posted in a cardboard roll. In most cases, prints have a sufficient border so do not need a matt. (I prefer to avoid a "white" matt because of the impossibility of matching the "white" of the print and matt, and of their probable different rates of yellowing.) It is recommended that an impervious (e.g. plastic) sheet should be inserted between the print and an MDF backing to prevent acid from the latter contacting the print.
The sizes of prints being offered here are suitable for domestic purposes; larger prints are desirable for offices, restaurants, foyers etc., e.g. the square semiabstracts could be 47" square with or without a border (printed by others). Please contact me for availability and prices.
Solo exhibitions: Vaughan College. Leicester. Sept./ Oct. 2005.
Glenfield Hospital, Leicester. Apr./ May 2006
The Richard Attenborough Centre, Leicester. 03/02/07 to 05/03/07
Leicester City Gallery Upstairs gall. July 15-19 2008
Group exhibitions:-
Waterstones. Nottingham. Jan./May. 2006
Nottingham Open exhibion 2006
Derby Open exhibition 2006
Prizewinner in Open Exhibition at The Leicester City Gallery Dec. 2006
Leicester City Gallery Open exhib.2007
Leicester City Gallery Open exhib.2008
Leicester City Gallery Open exhib.2009
Art House, Leicester. June 2010
Residency at Nature in Art 17to22nd Feb 2009
My prints have been purchased by Leicester University and many private buyers in the UK, France, USA and Hong Kong.
P.J.RAWSON (ME)
During my early youth in the 1940s, my father frequently projected lantern slides made by my grandfather (a keen amateur photographer), of cathedrals and churches, photographed by him in the early 1900s. These projections kindled in me an interest in photography and a desire to take my own photos. Starting with a ¼ plate camera on a wooden tripod and progressing through various cameras over many years, I acquired my first serious digital camera in 2003.
During this period, I acquired a knowledge and appreciation of sculpture from the simplest Cycladic figures, via the magnificent Greek bronzes e.g. the Charioteer in Delphi museum, to the monumental works of Epstein and Henry Moore. In painting, from the murals of Pompeii via the English watercolourists, e.g. Turner and the French impressionists, e.g. Monet to the American abstract expressionists, e.g. Jackson Pollack and Rothko. In photography, the photographers Cartier-Bresson, Bill Brandt and Ansell Adams, whose ultra sharp photos were an inspiration.
From an early age I had been thrilled by the sharp contrast between trees in winter at dusk and the clear blue sky behind them, and longed to produce prints which would produce a similar effect. I tried a variety of cameras up to a 5”x4” monorail, which in only a few cases proved successful. Also I became increasingly dissatisfied by the gelatinous surface of the papers normally used in wet photography and longed for a process which would allow printing onto a matt watercolour type paper. This led to an interest in Collotype (which depends on the relative absorption of water in differently exposed bichromated gelatine leading to the relative acceptance of a greasy ink as in lithography). From this I developed an interest in traditional print making techniques e.g. linocut, engraving and etching, lithography and silk screen, each with their own characteristics and limitations. I was attracted by the boldness of linocuts, the sharpness of line of engravings and also by the relatively modest prices of prints, even in limited editions by renowned artists. Moreover I found that in many cases, I preferred the bold, direct and more spontaneous print to an overworked and fussy oil painting.
During my working life as a mechanical design engineer, firstly in the Atomic energy field and lastly in steam turbines, both for electricity generation, I had little time to devote to developing the printing process I sought (particularly whilst renovating, then maintaining an old farm house and wanting not to neglect my wife and children too badly). Fortunately the availability of high resolution digital cameras, the development, and the continuing development, of digital manipulating software and the availability of high quality wide format inkjet printers, have enabled me to fulfil my ambitions. I can produce large prints of tree skeletons with sharp detail or bold bright colours in “abstracts” derived initially from parts of trees or more recently from drawn shapes, with inks having adequate vibrancy and very long life, on matt paper. It is my contention that the combination of digital manipulating software and inkjet printing renders all traditional printing processes (including wet photographic printing) obsolescent. I count myself lucky to have lived long enough for this technology to have become sufficiently mature.