This is my most popular screenprint – the edition of 12 are now all sold. The pattern at the bottom is from a frieze inside the terminal. The top part of the control tower is the old 1930s version. The colors are Art Deco. The silkscreens were made from hand-cut Rubylith – no computers were involved in the making of this print. Concorde and the contrail across a deep blue sky are a sort of trademark of mine now.
A detail from this screenprint is used for the blog’s header. It’s a view from Seaford Head looking east towards Beachy Head. The Atonement connection is with the film of the same name – there’s a scene where they live in one of these cottages. The cottages have been used for locations in many films and TV programmes. I wanted this to be the postcard view, so I bought a postcard, took a photo from the same location and made the screenprint at BIP using the photo as a guide. I’ve also done various watercolours of the same scene. I wanted it to look like a Brian Cook book jacket for Batsford, or a 1930s railway poster, in simple flat Art Deco colours. The silkscreens were made from hand-cut Rubylith – no computers were involved in the making of this print. There is only one print left from an edition of eight.
This is my first posting that includes an image.
Fred's paintings at the Dragonfly House
It shows my display of watercolours and prints at The Dragonfly House, during the May Brighton Festival of Open Houses. I had a very good year, thanks to Angie putting me in a prime spot. Last year I was on the stairs and everyone walked past. It’s a selection of original watercolours (all sold bar one), screenprints and linocuts (all printed at BIP). Yes, I do love Art Deco, and yes they are meant to have a 1930s feel. The most popular print was of Shoreham Airport, mainly I think because people that bought have an attachment to the place. The edition is all sold out now, there will be no more – and no, I won’t be producing a giclée.
I am Brighton’s laziest artist, only averaging one print a year – this year’s is of Saltdean Lido. My watercolour of ‘The lost villas of London Road’, done for the exhibition at the Co-op, was bought by Mrs Brooke of Brooke Travel (a shop depicted in the painting) – what’s the chances of that happening?
Fred Pipes's Art Blog 