22 engraved blocks are now completed for my small book of cameras...
11 December 2012
4 December 2012
Whippets - engraved prints
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| Waggy dog Engraved limited edition print by Neil Bousfield Image size (mm) 80w x 100h |
1 December 2012
Engraved book: A small book of cameras - update
Progress is going reasonably well - with 14 blocks now engraved... pictures to follow
21 November 2012
Published work - reviews
The Cycle 2nd edition - published as
Walking Shadows: A Novel Without Words
REVIEWS:
"Poignant and provocative... this is a masterwork of the wordless novel that leaves us speechless. Every reader will enjoy hours of contemplative deliberation over Bousfield's remarkable printmaking skill and vivid creative passion." - George Walker, author of Graphic Witness.
"Neil Bousfield displays astonishing skill as a wood engraver with fine lines and amazing detail in a riveting story of dramatic intrigue and mystery. Like the brilliant woodcut novels by Lynd Ward and Frans Masereel, you will return to Bousfield's stunning novel without words again and again, and discover further gems of surprise and wonder. This visual treasure is storytelling and printmaking at its best!" -
David A. Berona, author of Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels.
"It seems appropriate that Bousfield is revisiting a novel type that was born with Lynd Ward’s groundbreaking Gods’ Man, published the very week of the Great Crash of 1929. In 2010’s economy, Bousfield seems to be competing not only with Ward but with Ward’s Great Depression circumstances—a tall task for a first book, but Bousfield holds his own. In addition to its simple narrative (fairly common to the genre), Walking Shadows boasts exceptional standalone prints; Bousfield, an engraver, is able to produce finer lines and more fully rendered work than a woodcutter might. (The difference involves how the wood blocks the artist employs were cut—with or across the grain.) There are many memorable images in Walking Shadows, including those of the mother mopping floors alone at Pack It & Wrap It. In one she’s moving a pail with her foot, in a gesture of futility and exhaustion; in another she seems to be washing away the shadows. There are also excellent exterior depictions throughout—including the father’s death scene and a single overhead shot of the housing complex where the family lives—and they are among the most striking images in the novel. Altogether, these pages are worth reading, then putting aside and revisiting, if only to admire Bousfield’s engraved prints for the fine one-off pieces of art that they are." -
Reviewed By Kevin Nolan (To read the full review visit: The Rumpus)
To purchase a copy visit Amazon.co.uk , Amazon.com , or you can order a copy from any good bookshop: ISBN-13:978-1-933149-29-5
REVIEWS:
"Poignant and provocative... this is a masterwork of the wordless novel that leaves us speechless. Every reader will enjoy hours of contemplative deliberation over Bousfield's remarkable printmaking skill and vivid creative passion." - George Walker, author of Graphic Witness.
"Neil Bousfield displays astonishing skill as a wood engraver with fine lines and amazing detail in a riveting story of dramatic intrigue and mystery. Like the brilliant woodcut novels by Lynd Ward and Frans Masereel, you will return to Bousfield's stunning novel without words again and again, and discover further gems of surprise and wonder. This visual treasure is storytelling and printmaking at its best!" -
David A. Berona, author of Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels.
"It seems appropriate that Bousfield is revisiting a novel type that was born with Lynd Ward’s groundbreaking Gods’ Man, published the very week of the Great Crash of 1929. In 2010’s economy, Bousfield seems to be competing not only with Ward but with Ward’s Great Depression circumstances—a tall task for a first book, but Bousfield holds his own. In addition to its simple narrative (fairly common to the genre), Walking Shadows boasts exceptional standalone prints; Bousfield, an engraver, is able to produce finer lines and more fully rendered work than a woodcutter might. (The difference involves how the wood blocks the artist employs were cut—with or across the grain.) There are many memorable images in Walking Shadows, including those of the mother mopping floors alone at Pack It & Wrap It. In one she’s moving a pail with her foot, in a gesture of futility and exhaustion; in another she seems to be washing away the shadows. There are also excellent exterior depictions throughout—including the father’s death scene and a single overhead shot of the housing complex where the family lives—and they are among the most striking images in the novel. Altogether, these pages are worth reading, then putting aside and revisiting, if only to admire Bousfield’s engraved prints for the fine one-off pieces of art that they are." -
Reviewed By Kevin Nolan (To read the full review visit: The Rumpus)
To purchase a copy visit Amazon.co.uk , Amazon.com , or you can order a copy from any good bookshop: ISBN-13:978-1-933149-29-5
19 November 2012
New venues for touring exhibitions
75th
Annual Exhibition - The Society Of Wood Engravers
24 November 2012 – 20 January 2013
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, BA2 4AT
Private View 23rd November 2012 6.00pm – 8.00pm
For full details of the tour visit The Society of Wood Engravers website www.woodengravers.co.uk
For full details of the tour visit The Society of Wood Engravers website www.woodengravers.co.uk
8th British International Mini Print
Exhibition, Printmakers Council
24 November 2012 - 20 January 2013
Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries
For full details of the tour visit The Printmakers Council website www.printmakerscouncil.com
17 November 2012
Me whippets
Much of my time is spent walking my dogs .. when I'm not working, producing my woodcuts and engravings or printing you'll find me out and about. Consequently, many of my prints contain images of our dogs as they always seem to get in to the drawing in one way or another!
Here's a recent engraving Me Whippets I printed recently:
Here's a recent engraving Me Whippets I printed recently:
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| Me Whippets Engraved limited edition print by Neil Bousfield Image size(mm): 75w x 95h |
16 November 2012
Four wood blocks
I was pleased to receive in the post 4 small blank maple blocks to try out, sent by my friend, Canadian wood engraver, book artist, author, illustrator and educator George Walker
. To have the opportunity to use wood instead of my usual plastic,
vinyl or lino was a real treat and it was some time before I dared use these beautiful blocks! However, curiosity got the better of me and
I completed 4 drawn designs, cut and printed the blocks. Here
they are:
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| Clair & Peach Image size (mm): 53 w x 77 h |
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| Peachy Boy Image size (mm): 70 w x 61 h |
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| Along the sea wall Image size (mm): 77 w x 53 h |
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| Fishing Image size (mm): 53 w x 77 h |
15 November 2012
A small book of cameras
14 November 2012
Feet of Clay - Page Illustration
I was pleased to be commissioned by Joe McCann in 2011 to provide an illustration for the title page of a beautifully bound, limited edition publication of Feet of Clay by poet Paul Muldoon..
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| (Images: Black Cat Bindery) |
Limited edition of FEET OF CLAY by Paul Muldoon
Designed and printed by John Grice, Evergreen Press, Gloucestershire, in 16pt Lutetia on Magnani paper, bound by Black Cat Bindery, Somerset
Published by Four Candles Press, Oxford
Engraving by Neil Bousfield
Designed and printed by John Grice, Evergreen Press, Gloucestershire, in 16pt Lutetia on Magnani paper, bound by Black Cat Bindery, Somerset
Published by Four Candles Press, Oxford
Engraving by Neil Bousfield
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| (Images: Black Cat Bindery) |
Description by Black Cat Bindery:
"Bound by Black Cat Bindery, Somerset in yellow ochre Morocco goatskin
spine with black sides. Black leather label cut at an angle and gold
title running down the spine. The leather spine has also been cut at an
angle to echo Neil Bousfields engraving."
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| Engraving by Neil Bousfield Image size (mm) 95w x 115h |
Further details from:
Joe McCann
Four Candles Press
76 Oliver Road
Oxford
OX4 2JJ
Tel: (07971) 040507
email: joe@maggs.com
6 November 2012
Touring exhibitions move to next venue
The Society Of Wood Engravers - 75th
Annual Exhibition
24 November 2012 – 20 January 2013
Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, BA2 4AT
Private View 23rd November 2012 6.00pm – 8.00pm
For full details of the tour visit The Society of Wood Engravers website www.woodengravers.co.uk
For full details of the tour visit The Society of Wood Engravers website www.woodengravers.co.uk
8th British International Mini Print
Exhibition, Printmakers Council
20 October - 18 November 2012
Ropewalk Gallery, Barton on Humber
For full details of the tour visit The Printmakers Council website www.printmakerscouncil.com
2 November 2012
Book project in progress
Alfred Brown: A Life in
Pictures
"Alfred Brown: A Life in Pictures" (the working title) is being engraved on plastic blocks about 9 ½ x 6”. It follows its protagonist from the age of 7 in the late 1940s to his death around the present day. It is all story-boarded out but not drawn up in pages yet. There will be between 1 and 4 images (usually 2) on each block, allowing variety of pace. Neil expects to engrave around 400 blocks with 750 images on them. He does not know how long it will take. He has to try to make a living meanwhile. Amazingly, he finds time to make other prints as well. Alfred Brown explores the wider ideas of values and what we consider to be a useful and productive life. It is an attempt to understand what we are all doing, running around. There are no answers provided, just description. Neil himself, having ‘run around’ the whole gamut of modern technologies, has realised that a passionate concern with narrative lies at the heart of what he wants to do and that the engraver’s marks are the best means of doing it." Excerpt written by Simon Brett for the exhibition: Bewick’s Legacy: Six Contemporary British Wood Engravers
Started in 2008, "Alfred Brown: A Life in Pictures" is a novel without words based on the fictional life of Alfred Brown. The story unfolds through hundreds of engraved images from childhood to adulthood, old age and death scene. Due to the large scale of this work, I aim to produce and publish this book in three volumes. A selection of the engravings I have completed so far ...
Example pages from the book "Alfred Brown: A Life in Pictures"
Engraved prints by Neil Bousfield
Image size(mm) 150w x 240h
"Alfred Brown: A Life in Pictures" (the working title) is being engraved on plastic blocks about 9 ½ x 6”. It follows its protagonist from the age of 7 in the late 1940s to his death around the present day. It is all story-boarded out but not drawn up in pages yet. There will be between 1 and 4 images (usually 2) on each block, allowing variety of pace. Neil expects to engrave around 400 blocks with 750 images on them. He does not know how long it will take. He has to try to make a living meanwhile. Amazingly, he finds time to make other prints as well. Alfred Brown explores the wider ideas of values and what we consider to be a useful and productive life. It is an attempt to understand what we are all doing, running around. There are no answers provided, just description. Neil himself, having ‘run around’ the whole gamut of modern technologies, has realised that a passionate concern with narrative lies at the heart of what he wants to do and that the engraver’s marks are the best means of doing it." Excerpt written by Simon Brett for the exhibition: Bewick’s Legacy: Six Contemporary British Wood Engravers
Started in 2008, "Alfred Brown: A Life in Pictures" is a novel without words based on the fictional life of Alfred Brown. The story unfolds through hundreds of engraved images from childhood to adulthood, old age and death scene. Due to the large scale of this work, I aim to produce and publish this book in three volumes. A selection of the engravings I have completed so far ...
Engraved prints by Neil Bousfield
Image size(mm) 150w x 240h
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