Despite the cancellation of the Letterpress Workers event in Milan due to ‘we all know what’ it was still decided to make a publication, as it was happening every year. This time it will be a box gathering letterpress printed works by the participants accompanied by a booklet. The theme ‘New Beginnings’ became a kind of reaction to the events surrounding us for the last couple of months. I embraced the idea of 'new beginnings', a fresh start. An opportunity to experiment with materials and genuinely have fun while printmaking. For me it all has started…from a CD. And not only because I've discovered a box of old (non-working) CD's and was looking for good use of it, but because music is playing a very important role in my life: music unites, music heals even when physical separation is trying to ruin the party.
On the sunny afternoon, the CD was mounted on a piece of plywood (bringing it on the French type height) and was ready for the first print run. This time I chose to work with light colours and play with transparency, not something I usually use in my work. But, hey, that's the whole point of the 'new beginnings'! I was thinking about a sort of countdown, as an illustration of a fresh start. For the second print run I've used the largest letter I had in my collection and printed in green. This time each following colour was based on the previous one, so I've added a bit of blue in the yellow to get light green and then more blue to get that particular blue colour I wanted to achieve. So nothing was wasted.
For two last print runs I've used a set of numbers, which I bought in the Netherlands years ago and which has a mark of 'E.Leroux. Lyon' on it. I don’t come across these marks that often. Lovely, bold shapes. The text, set in 24pt Forum bought from Germany last month added a finishing touch. Edition of 40 has been printed on Extrarough by Metapaper and a few extra pieces to be sold in my printshop Letterpress Corner. The prints are on their way to Milan as we speak. To be assembled in a box, together with artworks made by 40 fellow printmakers from Europe, America & Russia in their studios during the lockdown. I'm looking forward to receiving this special box. Let it all begin!
Let it al begin
size - 20x29cm
paper - Extrarough 175gr