By Viv Cairns
Since I started our fine art print and artist services studio a couple of years ago, we have seen a big increase in work, and especially during 2012. Quite a few artists have been ordering good volumes of prints, and we get regular enquiries from new artists.
Many artists and photographers are struggling in these recessionary times, and so it is very encouraging to see that there are art buyers out there, and that artists have the confidence to order prints and to get out and sell them!
We are proud to be providing services to increasing numbers of great Norfolk artists and photographers, professional and amateur. Please have a look at our website at www.NorfolkArtPlace.com, and use the contact page to get in touch if we can help you with reproducing, printing and presenting your work, to obsessive quality standards. We're always happy to chat!
Keeping you up to date with what's happening with Norfolk Art Place
Friday, 28 September 2012
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Open Studios 2012
By Bruce Cairns
I'm taking part in Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios again this year. We've been printing, stretching canvases, mounting, framing, hanging, printing cards, and mucking out some of the larger printing paraphernalia from the studio.
My studio was open last weekend, and again this weekend - Saturday 2nd, Sunday 3rd and Monday 4th June, from 11 am to 5 pm each day.. The details are on this link: http://www.norfolkopenstudios.org.uk/The-Artists/Bruce-Cairns.ice?IArticle=7409
While you're in the area, I also recommend visits to some other excellent local artists. Pat Tinsley is also in Lammas (http://www.norfolkopenstudios.org.uk/The-Artists/Pat-Tinsley.ice?IArticle=7539); and Ronald Durban is in Buxton (http://www.norfolkopenstudios.org.uk/The-Artists/Ronald-Durban.ice?IArticle=7562) - both are well worth a visit. If you can get into Aylsham while you're in this area, also don't miss Kate Barclay's superb photography at The Black Sheep Shop (http://www.norfolkopenstudios.org.uk/The-Artists/Kate-Barclay.ice?IArticle=7486). You will also be close to the Aldborough Creative - http://www.wix.com/clai76/aldboroughcreative2011
Even if you're not especially interested in my photography but you are interested in large format inkjet/giclee printing, please come along and see me during Open Studios to have a chat. Our monster printer is in the studio, as well as a lot of work that I have produced on it, including very large canvases as well as fine art prints. I'm happy to talk endlessly about printing, whether you're a photographer or a painter. You can find out more about my approach to printing here.
One of the images I've printed especially for Open Studios is a 24x20 inch limited edition print of the image below. This type of image looks wonderful when properly printed on the superb Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308 GSM cotton rag fine art paper.
For those of you who are artists also participating in Open Studios - good luck, and have fun! (It's hard work, isn't it?)
Into the studio now to do some hanging and organising. I hope to see you, if you can make it over the weekend!
I'm taking part in Norfolk and Norwich Open Studios again this year. We've been printing, stretching canvases, mounting, framing, hanging, printing cards, and mucking out some of the larger printing paraphernalia from the studio.
My studio was open last weekend, and again this weekend - Saturday 2nd, Sunday 3rd and Monday 4th June, from 11 am to 5 pm each day.. The details are on this link: http://www.norfolkopenstudios.org.uk/The-Artists/Bruce-Cairns.ice?IArticle=7409
While you're in the area, I also recommend visits to some other excellent local artists. Pat Tinsley is also in Lammas (http://www.norfolkopenstudios.org.uk/The-Artists/Pat-Tinsley.ice?IArticle=7539); and Ronald Durban is in Buxton (http://www.norfolkopenstudios.org.uk/The-Artists/Ronald-Durban.ice?IArticle=7562) - both are well worth a visit. If you can get into Aylsham while you're in this area, also don't miss Kate Barclay's superb photography at The Black Sheep Shop (http://www.norfolkopenstudios.org.uk/The-Artists/Kate-Barclay.ice?IArticle=7486). You will also be close to the Aldborough Creative - http://www.wix.com/clai76/aldboroughcreative2011
Even if you're not especially interested in my photography but you are interested in large format inkjet/giclee printing, please come along and see me during Open Studios to have a chat. Our monster printer is in the studio, as well as a lot of work that I have produced on it, including very large canvases as well as fine art prints. I'm happy to talk endlessly about printing, whether you're a photographer or a painter. You can find out more about my approach to printing here.
One of the images I've printed especially for Open Studios is a 24x20 inch limited edition print of the image below. This type of image looks wonderful when properly printed on the superb Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308 GSM cotton rag fine art paper.
For those of you who are artists also participating in Open Studios - good luck, and have fun! (It's hard work, isn't it?)
Into the studio now to do some hanging and organising. I hope to see you, if you can make it over the weekend!
Monday, 7 May 2012
Bluebells in May
May is here! Here are a few images of bluebells, made in Norfolk by Bruce Cairns in early May this year.
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Atrium Exhibition - Update from Private View
Following on from yesterday's post, last night we attended the private view opening of the Artipasto exhibition.
The Atrium makes a superb art gallery. It's flooded with natural light, and the organisers have worked very hard to set up the exhibition over the previous couple of days. The main atrium area now has gallery hangings all around the main walls, and the large hall to the right is set up with large stands and plinths. This exhibition is the Atrium's first, and there is no doubt that it will establish the space as a very creditable gallery.
The exhibition itself is superb. There is a large and varied selection of work from artists all over North Norfolk and Broadland - something to suit everyone's taste. As well as two dimensional work in every medium, there are many intriguing 3D works. The Atrium was packed with artists and guests for the opening viewing last night.
Our canvases are shown in the (poor!) iPhone photos below.
Artipasto Exhibition: The Atrium, North Walsham - open all over this Bank Holiday weekend from 10 am to 4 pm, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. See http://www.nwatrium.org for more details and for directions.
The Atrium makes a superb art gallery. It's flooded with natural light, and the organisers have worked very hard to set up the exhibition over the previous couple of days. The main atrium area now has gallery hangings all around the main walls, and the large hall to the right is set up with large stands and plinths. This exhibition is the Atrium's first, and there is no doubt that it will establish the space as a very creditable gallery.
The exhibition itself is superb. There is a large and varied selection of work from artists all over North Norfolk and Broadland - something to suit everyone's taste. As well as two dimensional work in every medium, there are many intriguing 3D works. The Atrium was packed with artists and guests for the opening viewing last night.
Our canvases are shown in the (poor!) iPhone photos below.
Artipasto Exhibition: The Atrium, North Walsham - open all over this Bank Holiday weekend from 10 am to 4 pm, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. See http://www.nwatrium.org for more details and for directions.
Friday, 4 May 2012
Big canvases in art exhibition at North Walsham this weekend
Three of Bruce's photographs are in the exhibition at The Atrium in North Walsham this weekend. They're large giclee canvases framed in 6cm natural ash. Two of them are 36 inch canvases, and the panoramic one is 46 inches. We printed, stretched and framed them.
There's a video of the large panoramic canvas being printed on Bruce's Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/IJcc1v
Please go along and have a look if you're in the area. Details of the exhibition are on the Atrium website: http://www.nwatrium.org. The exhibition is by artists from the North Norfolk and Broadland areas of the county, and is a taster for the forthcoming Norfolk And Norwich Open Studios. If you haven't seen the amazing new Atrium yet, this is your chance!
Bruce's images in the exhibtion are below.
There's a video of the large panoramic canvas being printed on Bruce's Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/IJcc1v
Please go along and have a look if you're in the area. Details of the exhibition are on the Atrium website: http://www.nwatrium.org. The exhibition is by artists from the North Norfolk and Broadland areas of the county, and is a taster for the forthcoming Norfolk And Norwich Open Studios. If you haven't seen the amazing new Atrium yet, this is your chance!
Bruce's images in the exhibtion are below.
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Cartier-Bresson and puddle jumping
By Bruce Cairns
There is a fascinating article at this link - as you will see, thanks to Google Street View, we can see the Gare St. Lazare from the side from which Cartier-Bresson made one of his most iconic images in 1932.
It is an extraordinary photograph. Apart from the shadow of the jumping man (I have heard it said many times that the most crucial part of the whole image, by which it stands or falls, is the gap between the right foot and its shadow, and I agree), there are so many other details. The hands on the church clock echo the shape of the man. The hoops on the ground are echoed by the curve of the water at both ends of the ladder. The poster shows a dancer in a similar "flying" stance to the man with an echoing shadow, but this time echoed horizontally, but then also reflected vertically in the puddle - you can go on and on finding new details.
Cartier-Bresson is the photographer credited with defining the idea of the "decisive moment". He said "the decisive moment, it is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression." Surely this image epitomises that statement - but how did he achieve such compositional perfection in the photograph without setting it up? Predictably, many people have accused him of exactly that, and there are stories of him not only setting it up, but having the man jump over and over again until he got it right. I've tried (not too strenuously, it has to be said) to track down the sources of these rumours, without success. Personally I don't believe it.
I like Cartier-Bresson's dry statement that he "happened to be peeking through a gap in the fence with my camera at the moment the man jumped." I have little doubt that this is the truth, and that it was Cartier-Bresson's extraordinary timing and skill with his Leica rangefinder camera that enabled him to open the shutter at the decisive moment. There is another important detail that supports this. He always presented his images full frame, including the black border of the 35mm film rebate to show that it was the entire frame without cropping (arguably a curious conceit, but that is another topic). In this case, he had to crop. As he said, "The space between the planks was not entirely wide enough for my lens, which is the reason why the picture is cut off on the left." You can find the uncropped version on the web - such as here, where there is a good article about the photo - and it is clear that it was cropped. That wouldn't have happened if HC-B had set it up like a film set!
I can't leave this topic without linking to a wonderful hommage to this image (with thanks to David Ward for the introduction to the Lego version) - here. There was also another hommage, shot by David Ward himself, which involved a flying Eddie Ephraums on a Scottish beach, but that unfortunately seems to have vanished from the web.
There is a fascinating article at this link - as you will see, thanks to Google Street View, we can see the Gare St. Lazare from the side from which Cartier-Bresson made one of his most iconic images in 1932.
It is an extraordinary photograph. Apart from the shadow of the jumping man (I have heard it said many times that the most crucial part of the whole image, by which it stands or falls, is the gap between the right foot and its shadow, and I agree), there are so many other details. The hands on the church clock echo the shape of the man. The hoops on the ground are echoed by the curve of the water at both ends of the ladder. The poster shows a dancer in a similar "flying" stance to the man with an echoing shadow, but this time echoed horizontally, but then also reflected vertically in the puddle - you can go on and on finding new details.
Cartier-Bresson is the photographer credited with defining the idea of the "decisive moment". He said "the decisive moment, it is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression." Surely this image epitomises that statement - but how did he achieve such compositional perfection in the photograph without setting it up? Predictably, many people have accused him of exactly that, and there are stories of him not only setting it up, but having the man jump over and over again until he got it right. I've tried (not too strenuously, it has to be said) to track down the sources of these rumours, without success. Personally I don't believe it.
I like Cartier-Bresson's dry statement that he "happened to be peeking through a gap in the fence with my camera at the moment the man jumped." I have little doubt that this is the truth, and that it was Cartier-Bresson's extraordinary timing and skill with his Leica rangefinder camera that enabled him to open the shutter at the decisive moment. There is another important detail that supports this. He always presented his images full frame, including the black border of the 35mm film rebate to show that it was the entire frame without cropping (arguably a curious conceit, but that is another topic). In this case, he had to crop. As he said, "The space between the planks was not entirely wide enough for my lens, which is the reason why the picture is cut off on the left." You can find the uncropped version on the web - such as here, where there is a good article about the photo - and it is clear that it was cropped. That wouldn't have happened if HC-B had set it up like a film set!
I can't leave this topic without linking to a wonderful hommage to this image (with thanks to David Ward for the introduction to the Lego version) - here. There was also another hommage, shot by David Ward himself, which involved a flying Eddie Ephraums on a Scottish beach, but that unfortunately seems to have vanished from the web.
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Norfolk Open Studios - coming up
Norfolk Open Studios 2012 is taking place between 26 May and 10 June.
Our studio will be open, and more details will follow later. In the meantime, if you're participating in NOS, don't forget to get in touch with us sooner rather than later for your artwork photography, giclée prints and cards. We'd be very pleased to speak to you, and, if you wish, for you to visit us at the studio for a chat.
Our studio will be open, and more details will follow later. In the meantime, if you're participating in NOS, don't forget to get in touch with us sooner rather than later for your artwork photography, giclée prints and cards. We'd be very pleased to speak to you, and, if you wish, for you to visit us at the studio for a chat.
Friday, 6 January 2012
Hipstamatic - instant art or just bad photos?
Article by Bruce Cairns
I have been using the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone for the last few months. In case you're not familiar with it, it produces the appearance of an old toy/cheap camera, and can simulate actual old lenses, films and flashes.
Using it makes photography very unpredictable, and a lot of fun! You never quite know what you're going to get, and you need to concentrate even more than usual on the forms and tones of what you're shooting, wondering whether it will work in Hipstamatic. You often get distorted colours, out of focus areas, and also unusual edge effects depending upon which "film" and "lens" combination you're using. To make it even more unpredictable, if you shake the phone it will change the lens and film at random!
Here's a link to some Hipstamatics that I've done over the last few months. See what you think - instant art or just bad photos? These are straight "out of the camera", with no Photoshop work.
The link is here.
I have been using the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone for the last few months. In case you're not familiar with it, it produces the appearance of an old toy/cheap camera, and can simulate actual old lenses, films and flashes.
Using it makes photography very unpredictable, and a lot of fun! You never quite know what you're going to get, and you need to concentrate even more than usual on the forms and tones of what you're shooting, wondering whether it will work in Hipstamatic. You often get distorted colours, out of focus areas, and also unusual edge effects depending upon which "film" and "lens" combination you're using. To make it even more unpredictable, if you shake the phone it will change the lens and film at random!
Here's a link to some Hipstamatics that I've done over the last few months. See what you think - instant art or just bad photos? These are straight "out of the camera", with no Photoshop work.
The link is here.
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