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Message 1
From: ANDY ENGLISH
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 15:42:32 +0100 (BST)
Subject: [Baren 27744] Blake: my obsession
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I admit to having one lifelong obsession with the work
of Blake. This started as a very small child and
continues today with the occasional purchase of the
remarkable Trianon Press facimilies (Printed in
collotype and hand coloured by Pochoir, sometimes
involving 14 different stencils) and - rarely -
original engravings printed during his lifetime. I
agree that his most satisfying engravings have an
edge.

His "relief etching" printing of text is remarkable
and Blake's description of how he went about this is
one of my favourite fragments of written English, as
he describes printing "in the infernal method, using
corrosives, which in Hell are salutary and medicinal,
melting apparent surfaces away, and displaying the
infinite which was hid"

it almost makes mdf sound safe:)

My absolute favourite works by Blake are the small
wood engravings that he made to illustrate Thornton's
Virgil. They are simply gems and have facinated me for
years - and many others, Samuel Palmer for instance. I
did find one of these images for sale, proofed by a
friend of Blake, but it had gone by the time I had
telephoned the gallery and worked out what I would be
willing to sell to obtain the tiny work.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Artist Printmaker

www.andyenglish.co.uk)

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Message 2
From: Sharri LaPierre
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 09:37:20 -0700
Subject: [Baren 27745] Re: Blake and other Williamsii
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Robin,
I remember reading, somewhere in my under grad days, that Mrs. Blake
was the primary printer and applied most of the watercolor to Will's
books. He was busy designing and etching the plates and coming up with
his unique way of doing them (we had to try and duplicate that, too)
plus writing the poetry - . She would watercolor during the day and
bind the books at night. How true that is, I do not know, because, to
my knowledge it was not documented anyplace - at least I never read it,
only heard it from an etching teacher. You can get some very cheap
reproductions of Blake's books through Dover Publications. Nowhere is
there any mention of the fact that Ms. Blake was such an integral part
of this project - all recognition goes to Will himself. It says, in
the book I have, that "his" coloring style greatly improved in his
later editions - which I take to mean either that Mrs. Will grew more
proficient over the years, or she did the later editions! LOL (Ever
the feminist -)

Cheers,
Sharri

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Message 3
From: Robin Morris
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 11:12:06 -0700
Subject: [Baren 27746] Re: Blake: my obsession
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Andy, thanks, most interesting. if you can ever post any scans of said
works to a server and share them, many of us would love to see.
I know there is a massive Blake archive on the net- i downloaded a ton
of jpegs from it, put them in a folder and run it as a screensaver
sometimes...it stops traffic when i have a guest.
Trianon press? Imagine these are somewhat ...costly?
BTW, I have tried to email you in the past at the address u write from
and got a bounce. Do you have more than one email or maybe an
aggressive spam thingy?

I admire your work, sir.
I saw it and your nice site before i found david and baren.
you represent woodcuts well to the world.
and if one must be obsessed, make it with something deep, I say.
RM

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Message 4
From: FurryPressII # aol.com
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 14:26:16 EDT
Subject: [Baren 27747] exchange 25(b)
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There are all ready 9 of us in the holding pen for exchange 25. I would
love to do a second exchange 25 call it exchange 25(b) I am vollenteering to
be the exhange cordinator for this if others are interested?

John C.

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Message 5
From: Robin Morris
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 11:37:37 -0700
Subject: [Baren 27748] Re: Blake and other Williamsii
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Gee, we ought to all write to Dover books and protest, and ask them to
include her name- what was it anyway? They call her "Blake's wife" all
through this article!
If they just added her name and said she did a considerable but unknown
amount of the printing and hand coloring, it would improve the
truthfulness of the presentation, and people would understand that much
more more about Blake.
This is common knowledge today- did Blake evcer try and hush it up?
Maybe they (as a couple) agreed that he seemed more the genius if he
was believed to have done it all, and that helped sell books, and that
helped them eat.
I was glad to read, if it is true, that she delighted in the work. its
hard to imagine such industry otherwise.

R

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Message 6
From: GWohlken
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 15:08:25 -0400
Subject: [Baren 27749] Blake's Wife
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Regarding Blake's wife, I did a report on Blake for Art History class
and I remember some neat stories about his wife helping him (also of
the two of them being seen sitting in their garden nude sometimes).
She was a greengrocer's daughter named Catherine Boucher (or Butcher)
and she signed their marriage certificate with an "X". There is a
pencil portrait of her which was made on the reverse side of a page
proof.

~Gayle

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Message 7
From: "Diane Cutter"
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 14:30:35 -0400
Subject: [Baren 27750] Re: exchange 25(b)
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Maybe we could be the Exchange 25 Refusee...???

Diane...

www.dianecutter.com -- New oil paintings (calla lilies)
www.WetCanvas.com - internet artist community
www.eeag.org/dcutter/dcutter.html
www.artplaces.com/cutter/

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Message 8
From: "Diane Cutter"
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 14:33:12 -0400
Subject: [Baren 27751] Re: exchange 25(b)
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Never mind (and forgive the second post in a day)... I just found out I sqeaked in behind Maria on the 'a' list... Whew!

Diane...

www.dianecutter.com -- New oil paintings (calla lilies)
www.WetCanvas.com - internet artist community
www.eeag.org/dcutter/dcutter.html
www.artplaces.com/cutter/

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Message 9
From: Robin Morris
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 12:33:45 -0700
Subject: [Baren 27752] Re: Blake's Wife
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Thats beautiful...i wonder , he must have taught her to read? Do you
think she learned?
That they were much in love seems plain.
R

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Message 10
From: ArtfulCarol # aol.com
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 15:46:23 EDT
Subject: [Baren 27753] Re: exchange 25(b)
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I like the Salon Refuse idea because we have done it twice before and it is
historic.

Carol L.

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Message 11
From: Wanda Robertson
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 16:38:06 -0700
Subject: [Baren 27754] Re: Blake: my obsession
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Aha! The talk about the etching, collotype etc. had me confused. I
associate Blake's work with the small wood engravings (on boxwood?) of
tiny forest creatures. The Portland Art Museum has some of these tiny
woodblocks & a friend of mine was chosen to print some them for display
with the block. He talks about them with such delight - you couldn't
help but be thrilled!

Wanda

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End of [Baren] Digest