Hi again! In my last post, I promised to talk a bit about the new medium I have added to my repertoire for expressing Karooness. I have been thinking a lot about that sense of nostalgia that the Karoo seems to evoke in those who have been captivated by it. (The Karoo is such an extreme environment, and not everyone ‘gets it’, reactions seem to be as extreme as the place itself, you either love it or hate it, I don’t recall meeting anyone who is neutral!) But if you are one of its devotees, you will understand the feeling I mean… how as soon as you leave, you look back with a longing to return, and experience that sense of stepping back in time all over again. It is that mood which I have been striving for in my work, and when I stumbled across some cyanotypes on Instagram while recovering from Covid at the beginning of the year, I knew this was just what I needed. So the last months have been an intensive study/experimental period, during which my old methods and this new one have merged into a new way for me to continue Celebrating Karooness.

So what is cyanotype? In a nutshell, it is one of the earliest methods of reproducing photographic images, developed (get the pun?) by John Herschel in 1842. He discovered that a mixture of 2 chemicals, ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide, was light sensitive when exposed to UV light (sunlight). It produces archival prussian blue prints, when done on the correct paper, and can be toned and manipulated with various easily obtained chemicals (usually found in one’s kitchen) to subtle shades of brown (Black Tea) , aubergine (Green tea), charcoal (coffee) and golden yellow (Soda Ash). It is a remarkably simple process, which turns out to be very complicated and nuanced by so many factors, for example paper weight, texture, pH, water quality, strength of sunlight etc.

Unlike conventional photographic printing, done through an enlarger, this is essentially a form of contact printing, so the size of the image is determined by the size of your negative, or the objects you lay on the paper before exposing to direct sunlight (or UV lamps.) Its first use was mainly for photograms of plants, and these have become very popular again. It then went into general use for blue-prints, but failed to gain popularity initially, as a means of printing conventional photographs. A well known photographer at the time commented, “No one but a vandal would print a landscape in red, or in cyanotype.” (Peter Henry Emerson: Naturalistic Photography for Students of the Art, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1889) Naturally this piqued my interest and I immediately wanted to print landscapes in cyanotype!

The first challenge is sourcing the 2 key chemicals in South Africa (well specifically in a small Karoo dorpie in SA!) You can get kits online with a small bottle of each, in the correct ratio. They are imported from the USA, so take a while to get here and are not cheap, so getting them when you are not sure about whether you will like or continue with the process is a gamble. Now that I know I am going to pursue it happily, I have sourced bulk supplies of the chemicals, one from Joburg and the other from New York, so again it took a while, but now I am good to go.

Another challenge was sourcing big enough Acetate transparencies that could handle the heat of laser printing. The biggest I have found so far have been A3, so i have also worked on ways to join them for the bigger contact prints.

Once I had built up a body of work, some have been exhibited and sold as they stand, on paper, and others were attached to boards and taken further with ink drawing and encaustic, to become photo-encaustics.

Because each print is hand made, and the conditions are so variable, it is possible to re-use the same negative many times, and each outcome will be unique.

So that is a very brief glimpse into where this new (but very old) printing method is becoming an integral part of my ongoing love affair with expressing Karooness! Cheers till next time!

The post CYANOTYPE: USING AN OLD PRINTING METHOD IN NEW WAYS appeared first on Sue Hoppe.

Since my last post, there was the very rewarding (both in terms of sales and interacting with some really delightful people) solo exhibition at Old Nick in Plett. This led to a return there in November to conduct 2 encaustic workshops. I must thank Marina of Encaustry.co.za (a local online store that finally makes it easy for South African encaustic artists to source our particular art materials.) She very generously gave me access to extra hot plates, burners and birchwood supports for the workshops.

Thanks also to Stu and Janet Holding, owners of Old Nick Village, for being such fun hosts while we were in Plett for the workshops!

On our return to Prince Albert, it was full steam ahead to produce new work, and move my working studio out into the showroom space in the former Miller’s Barn. Our kids were coming to visit in December, and we needed to use my existing studio as a spare room.

My grandsons helped me to get it all set up and ready for the January 2022 Prince Albert Open Studios. But then a bit of a curve ball flew into us, as we all ended up with Covid! So I had to cancel my participation in Open Sudios. It took a while to bounce back, with the extreme fatigue and low O2 Sats lingering for several weeks. But during that time I was exploring new ideas, and also new media!

My roots in photography, back in the days of film, were very much about working in a darkroom to print my own black and white images. Then I went into ceramics and became a studio potter for several years. Somehow, during my convalescence, I developed an urge to revisit these two disciplines, but in a fresh way, and to integrate them into my current work practice. The resulting journey into Cyanotype printing, on both paper and ceramic forms, which I made and had fired locally, has been so inspiring! I’ll do a separate post shortly about the history of cyanotype, how it speaks to my work, and integrates with the encaustic, but for now, here are a few shots to show what I mean…

In June there was the winter edition of Prince Albert Open Studios, and I was so delighted to be back with a new body of work. Again I held an encaustic workshop, which ended up being so full I had to do two on consecutive days. It was a lot of fun with lovely participants and we worked in front of a toasty fire in our dining room due to the wintery snap (I LOVE winter, it is my BEST!!!) That said, I am also looking forward to the summer open studios, which will take place from 24th to 27th November. A highlight for me was being included in the Koast to Caroo exhibition, held by the Doos Gallery (yes, you read that correctly, but it might not mean what you think!) The idea is to hang a small portable box gallery in Prince Albert, featuring work from Knysna and Garden Route artists, and then take work back from Prince Albert Artists to show in Knysna.

While that was happening, I was also delighted to be included in the Prince Albert Gallery Pop-Up exhibition in Kirkcudbright, Scotland. Brent Philips-White, owner of Prince Albert Gallery, took across a selection of works by local Karoo artists, and my art photos and cyanotype prints were amongst them.

Coming up shortly I am holding another Mixed Media/Encaustic workshop in my studio next month. I want to do a cyanotype one too, at some stage, but am still figuring out the logistics of how many people I can squeeze into my small darkroom at the back of the studio!

If you are interested in doing one of these encaustic workshops or learning cyanotypes, please drop me an email so I can add you to my waiting list.

Anyway, that’s it for now, I’ll do the cyanotype post soon, promise!

The post SO… WHAT’S NEW THIS YEAR? appeared first on Sue Hoppe.

This sadly neglected blog is an indication of the crazy year which is already almost behind us! After the January Prince Albert Open Studios, there followed a time of renovations to our rental property, creating a cottage from a garage using all sorts of recycled materials.

Then there was the build-up to the Winter Edition of Open Studios, in mid June. This included two mixed media/encaustic workshops, which were well received. I had so many requests for more that I did another 2 in PE at the end of August.

Then the work began in ernest for my up-coming solo exhibition “Celebrating Karooness”, which takes place in Plett, at Old Nick Village, from 1-10 October. At the end of October, Max and I have been invited to speak about some of our self-published books at the Boekbedonnered Festival in Richmond, Northern Cape.

 

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My studio has undergone a radical makeover, there is actually light in there now, thanks to a sort-of Heath Robinson skylight arrangement we did after removing the monster extractor hood from the previously dark hole of a workspace! And I’ve switched back to photography over the last few months, so there is plenty of new Karoo-mood inspired stuff to see.

Last weekend, I hosted the long-postponed workshop that was to have been in June, and it was as inspiring for me as it was for the participant… I have ordered a bunch of new encaustic materials and my mind is seething with new ideas for switching it up a bit… so I’m sure. by January, there will be loads to see.

The post Prince Albert Open Studios: january 7-10 2021 appeared first on Sue Hoppe.

So, as if all the other renovation was not enough, we got a bee in the bonnet to take the giant extractor hood out of my studio. It began as a simple exercise, which would have saved us a lot of work… We advertised “you take it out and you can have it” . But if course, in full creative flow, it was never going to end there! Max has run with this one, When he saw the lovely light pouring in through the hole in the roof, left by the chimney of the extractor fan, he decided a simple cover up was not an option, he would make a skylight! And patch up the walls and ceiling, which never received the same tlc as the rest of this derelict place when we renovated it at the beginning of last year. So he has been slaving away, between other projects, for weeks now. And soon it is going to be a lovely, light-filled creative space to draw me back to my easel and canvas. But for now, not much art happening…. Watch this space!!!

The post Lockdown Labyrinth appeared first on Sue Hoppe.

I’ll be sharing a couple of videos describing my painting processes for oils and the mixed media works, so watch this space!

The header photo is the newest in my “Don’t Fence Me In” series. It can be archivally printed on canvas or enhanced matte art paper. If you are interested, inquire about available sizes and prices.

It was taken when we headed over the Swarberg Pass again last week, during a cold front, and although there was disappointingly little snow, the clouds and mist were wonderfully atmospheric. On our way home, it did begin snowing, and I ran around in my first actual falling snow (after 6 decades of wishing for this experience) like a demented 5 year old!

The post Build-Up to Prince Albert Open Studios: Online Edition appeared first on Sue Hoppe.

Before we made the move to the karoo, just over a year ago, I had been feeling increasingly claustrophobic living in a semi-detached house in the inner city of P.E. I hated waking to the sound of our neighbour clearing his throat each morning and having to be on high alert at all times due to the crime. I hated having to unlock 3 layers of gates and doors just to get into my own home, and not being able to walk around the neighbourhood without pepper spray in hand, due to all the muggings.

And it was becoming very evident in my art. Razor wire and palisades became images that appeared more often.

I began gathering images of the open road during our frequent journeys into the open spaces of our country. I had the idea of putting them together an exhibition called “Don’t Fence Me In.” It would have been a cry of anguish about the perception of living as prisoners in our own homes, and the need to escape.

But then our dream came true, and we escaped to the karoo. We live in a house with no burglar bars, and stroll down the road with our cameras, never giving a thought to being mugged, or having the house burgled while we are out. We even didn’t have much in the way of fences, until our friend Houdini the marauding porcupine made them a necessity again!

And so those images morphed from a cry for freedom, into a celebration. I painted several of them in the past year, expressing the joy of the open road and the sense of roaming free through these incredible landscapes.

Ironically, with weeks of lockdown stretching who-knows-how-long into our future, that same theme, “Don’t fence me in”, has again taken on some of its original angst, yet not in the same way. Now it is a little bit about the frustration of being made to stay home, bound by all sorts of rules, but it is also a positive thing, forcing the world to examine the crazy consumer-driven economy that has been destroying our very existence on this beautiful planet. We have learned, during lockdown, how much more appealing a simpler life can be. How easily we can do without all that STUFF we had somehow come to believe we actually needed. It is about a hope for the future, of again being free to travel the open roads, in a landscape less damaged by our constant quest for more and more.

So my latest work has come full circle, back to photography, and creating images that evoke a nostalgic feeling of the freedom of the open road, through magnificent landscapes.

The June Prince Albert Open Studios has been cancelled, but we (the collective of local artists who open our studios to the public twice a year) will be sharing our latest work online instead, so we hope you will take the time to join us, and watch some of our videos, as we share our spaces with you. Check out the action on Prince Albert Open Studios Facebook page.

The post HOW ART AND LIFE CAN MORPH TOGETHER appeared first on Sue Hoppe.

Well, you don’t need 2020 Vision to see what a strange year this is turning out to be! All the best laid plans were last seen heading off into the distance, wearing face masks.

As an artist, it has affected me in 2 ways. I just cannot seem to bring myself to sit and paint, and yet I am full of hope and creativity, in other directions.

Covid has been a wake-up call. We can commit to events, count on income from steady gallery sales, plan art workshops, and attract online sales, only to find someone across the world eats a sick bat (or was it a pangolin?) and it is all wiped out in the stroke of a legislative lock-down pen.

Art is, by nature, a solitary and introspective undertaking, so not much has changed in that regard. But making art is just a tiny part of what makes one an artist. There is then the question of getting that art out into the wider world, and all the admin and logistics that go along with that. Since it was considered by the powers-that-be to be a non-essential item, one’s art remains in lock-down too. With the impact this has had on income, thoughts have had to turn to other ways of surviving in a pandemic altered world. So, for now, my creativity is being channeled into food production. And trust me, it has had to be a lot more creative than just plonking some seeds in the ground.

I almost feel a tug back to the country roots I embraced 3 decades ago, when living on a smallholding, running a pottery studio from our garage, and growing vegetables so we could supplement a very meagre income. We had a cow, Daisy, who I milked twice a day, and I made all our butter from the thick clotted Jersey cream she produced. We had a family living on the smallholding, to help with all the fence-building, planting, animal care etc.
This is an older, less physically able version of me now, and we live in the Karoo, in the era of a brutal drought. We also have no access to helping hands, under lock-down, so all the hard, physical labour is being handled by these 2 old bods. We are falling into bed aching and exhausted, but immensely satisfied to be doing something that feels so useful and productive each day.

We live at the foot of a mountain and are surrounded by hungry wildlife. So, we have had to cart rocks to create raised beds with contour banks. We have collected donkey/horse manure from the nearby sanctuary, to feed the sandy soil, and have had to work out all sorts of ways to save water, so that every available drop can be used to germinate seeds, and keep seedlings alive. Now that the plants are just promising to get to the stage of proving food soon, we are having an ongoing battle of wits with a porcupine called Houdini. We cart rocks and twist wire daily, to strengthen our fence around the property, but each night Houdini chuckles to itself at our efforts and helps itself to another few mouthfuls of almost ready veggies.

As all this hard labour requires a fair amount of recovery time on the couch, and I am doing a lot of admin catch-up work on my laptop. I have shifted back to my first love, photography, for now. So, the art has adapted to the circumstances, and is still happening. I’ll talk about the theme of the new work in the next blog post.

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