Category: art postcards

POSTCARD ART: Ninth Posting

Art, art postcards, experimental, in the studio, painting, printmaking February 27, 2023

Continuing my POSTCARD series of blogs with another post profiling the design and production of the art postcards that I have been designing and printing for more than a decade. (See links to some of the previous POSTCARD posts below). On this occasion I am continuing my retrospective look back at some cards I have made in the past, this time going right back to the beginning of the design and production of them in 2006 and 2007. Some of my other POSTCARD posts feature batches from subsequent years. An example of these is contained in the final photos of grouped cards in this post, in gallery exhibition mode. My postcard design project was initially inspired by a trip to Japan to study of some traditional Modernist printmaking approaches that had taken place there. My cards were produced by hand in limited edition batches with no two cards being exactly alike. The composite elements of each print, both background and overlaid elements meant that each card is unique, similar to the others but not one of an identical batch, more of an approximate match.

…and the third one, also 2007, from the same series of *Abstract Art Postcards.* (Photo and artwork-©2007 Dr. Michael Hill).

Abstract Nos. 1-11, an exhibition of my Postcard Art at the University Technology, Sydney in 2007. (Photo and artwork-©2007 Dr. Michael Hill).

On the opening night of the exhibition with Cosmo Arai and her Mexican colleague from the Japan Foundation in Sydney that I had been involved with on Japanese culture projects both in Australia and Japan. (Photo and artwork-©2007 Dr. Michael Hill).

A closer shot of the gallery window display that was illuminated on a 24 hour/7 days a week basis. Note that despite the postcards being displayed in groupings, the cards in each group are not identical. They are basically similar but not part of an identical set, as mentioned above. This is due to my variations in the printmaking stage where some elements were printed separately and not always in the exact same position on each card. These cards were not printed from a single set block but cumulatively from several separate blocks and single elements. The result is that they all look similar and part of a set but in terms of the positioning of the graphic elements and the intensity of colour and texture no two are identical…it may seem to some to be a bit of a stretch to call them mono prints but that is essentially what they are. (Photo and artwork-©2007 Dr. Michael Hill).

Nine of my art postcards from the earliest batches of my printmaking on sale a few years later at the *Gauge Gallery* in Glebe. (Photo and artwork-©2012 Dr. Michael Hill).

Subsequent batches, produced up to a decade later, show an increased diversity in design and number of batches of cards. Once I started making art postcards it became part of my graphic art and design expression…and I am still making them in 2023! I am also prepared to play swapsies, so if you would like one of mine I shall swap it for one of yours i.e. a limited edition art postcard that you have made by hand. To arrange a swap you can message me at: doctorcomics@gmail.com (Photo and artwork-©2018 Dr. Michael Hill).

Front and rear view of the invitation to my Postcard Art show back in the day. (Photo and artwork-©2007 Dr. Michael Hill)

IN THE STUDIO-Session 3

Art, art postcards, Comics, experimental, in the studio, printmaking August 15, 2022

This graphic production stage series of posts that were made over several years, shows some selected, assorted shots of the “making” stage, whether for animation, comics, postcards, prints or paintings, in a small studio setting, with music playing in the background. I always work to music. Some photos even show the music equipment and/or the selected CD playing for that session.

Working on my comic *BLOTTING PAPER* here…you can see the title block around the middle of the photo, towards the top….it’s a printmaking moment…the letters of the title appear in reverse in this photo but when printed will be the right way round. I tend to use printmaking a lot in the generation of images. That drop-cloth underneath all of the objects has a history of being printed on…nothing specific, just spillages and stains. (Photo and artwork-©2013 Dr. Michael Hill)

Although we are in the studio here I can take this case outside and around with me if I happen to be working on location somewhere, like in a park. You can see that it is quite battered but it still closes shut, firmly…and chock-a-block full of printmaking bits and pieces. (Photo-©2013 Dr. Michael Hill)

I also have a tin of colour pencils…I love those water-based aquarelle types…you can see the brush and the water jar at the bottom right so when I use the dry pencils first I can later add a wet brush to make the drawing appear like it was painted or inked. There are also a couple of rulers, one wooden, the other steel…useful for measurement or obtaining a straight edge to an image…plus pencil shavings and a CD cover. (Photo and artwork-©2015 Dr. Michael Hill)

Or I can start with wet drawing with a wet brush dipped in ink…still in the studio. There’s a linocut block face down on the drop-cloth next to some brushes and an open jar of ink. (Photo and artwork-©2018 Dr. Michael Hill)

I also have a set of rollers for inking blocks of wood or lino for printmaking…plus another good look at all the ink stains on the drop-cloth as a result of many, many printmaking sessions. (Photo-©2017 Dr. Michael Hill)

Following printing of the main image comes the stamping of my name block, completing the postcards with a touch of that classic red Chinese ink. (Photo and artwork-©2019 Dr. Michael Hill)

There is a different name stamp on this one…I have a few versions…all designed by me…M for Michael…that’s me, and that’s how I write my letter “m” in scripted upper case. (Photo and artwork-©2021 Dr. Michael Hill)

A bit of a hectic printmaking session here with 5 different designs of postcards being stamped…and there’s another version of my shaped “m” on these cards…half writing, half symbol…developed with a Japanese colleague…a group of hills, roughly in the shape of the letter “m” for Michael, but also for “hill” from the Latin mons, mantis…mountain or hills…and there’s a zucchini in there…was it a snack or did I use it as a stamp? (Photo and artwork-©2020 Dr. Michael Hill)

Finishing off with a plate of vegetables on the printmaking table in the studio…this lot is not for eating but excellent material for inking and printing, particularly the flat bits, dipped in ink and pressed down on the selected print surface…can be messy but a good source of abstract textural patterns. Don’t eat after inking! (Photo-©2022 Dr. Michael Hill)

MY COMICS ART RESEARCH

art postcards, comic art, Comics, graphic novels, printmaking May 21, 2018

NOTE: THIS PREVIOUS POST IS CURRENTLY UNDER REVISION AND REDEVELOPMENT IN THE WRITING, DESIGN AND EDITING STAGES.

This notice will be removed on completion of editing.

PROFILE: In addition to my artistic work in theatre, film, video and comics art I have nearly 30 years tertiary experience in academia of teaching, research, publication, course design and direction at art schools and universities within the art and design disciplines at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

On completion of my Ph. D. at Macquarie University I donated my collection of comics art research materials including my collection of more than 500 comics to the National Library of Australia, as the Michael Hill Collection of Australian Comics, .

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

– Ph.D by virtue of thesis, based on research into Australian alternative comics art.

PUBLICATION: List of published articles on comics art. (to be added)

PRESENTATIONS: Lectures, Tutorials and Panel Participation-multiple, local and international. (to be added)