PODCAST Season 1, Episode 15, "PET PORTRAITS"
Wisdom At The Crossroads, The Podcast.
Art imitates life and sometimes it documents it too.
Pet lovers unite as today we meet the cheeky cat brothers Rylands and Fletcher in a fairy tale of sorts.
The “once upon a time” of today’s backstory leads us through torrential rain, to a job interview in puddling linen. Then onto a creative classroom filled with pre teens and carving tools and a drawer full of band aids. Seriously I can’t make this stuff up.
We also get a glimpse of a simple example of the colour reduction block printing process. In the backstory we are reminded to
a) always bring a brolly and
b) to find creative ways to keep memories close at hand.
The meditation at 8:40 In the recording is dedicated to the fur friends featured in the pet portrait, Rylands and Fletcher, and to our lovely tyrant, the recently departed 159 year old Miss Addy cat.
Joy is definitely invited to this short interaction where we reflect on the weightlessness of dreaming and moments of unconditional love spent in the company of our fur friends and family.
Join us for a little magic in the memory
We know you’ll be smiling and relaxed after this one.
Since we are chatting about portraits I should probably move beyond my personal fear of them and introduce myself. Here I am immersed in colour at the studio the other day with some new blooms fresh from a winter on my paint wall. Day dreaming in colour.
This week at the studio I spent less time painting than I had hoped but bade farewell to 3 commissioned pieces as they made their way to their forever homes. I am so grateful to my loyal clientele who continue to support my work in colour. Thank you.
SEASON 1 EPISODE 15 Pet Portraits.
This week on the podcast I want to introduce you to some pet portraits. If you have or have had a pet you know how much you have loved them and how grateful you are to receive their wagging tails or bounding paws or to be weighed down by their purring heart beats at the end of the day.
At our house we have just mourned our 150 year old Miss addie cat who happened to be the most expensive free cat anyone has ever owned. Let’s just say her expenses started with 3 couches but we miss her tyrant ways and her work at home pandemic antics. I don’t often do pet portraits and have actually enforced the disclaimer to recipients in the past who have either received a pet portrait as a fun gift, in trade for a Persian rug or maybe even successfully twisted my arm to convince me to do one, not to tell anyone it came from me. Don’t get me wrong I love our fur friends, I just don’t want to do their portraits all the time.
Today though I am making an exception to share the story of a little lino block print I made as a demonstration piece way back in 1990. It has hung in our living room since then because it features the cheeky cat brothers “Rylands” and “Fletcher”, who beyond “Sad “ the Australian feral cat who befriended me when I had a cast to my hip… another story for another day, Rys and Fletch were my very first cat friends. They trained me to be a cat person.
These two tiggers adopted me when I became a thing with their person. They were named after a legal torte that means basically the land owner is responsible for items that escape from their property. Rylands wore a black tuxedo with a little white bow tie and had one white toe while Fletcher was the consummate Tabby with the personality to match.
“Rylands and Fletcher”, Colour reduction print on paper, 1990. By Amanda Onchulenko
Note this example is not numbered but instead reads “A.P.” It is an artist proof which means it was at the front end of the edition and was used to plan and test the registration. An AP is not technically considered to be part of the edition.
The story starts off a bit like a fairy tale as in once upon a time I found myself in London England at the beginning of a school year. I was looking to earn a living so I could continue travelling through the wonders of art history I had learned and loved.
I had spent the previous summer on a side trip to Canada with my now husband who had followed me through European art museums the previous spring feigning an interest while he was seriously wooing me. In the middle of Canada that year was where I met the subjects of this art print.
I was able to live and work in the UK thanks to my English grandparents and I relished the opportunity. I worked at 2 high schools in the London Borough of Brent, splitting my time between the energetic Wembley and Kingsbury high schools.
Getting those jobs was a miracle given the job interview.
I don’t know if you have any memorable job interviews? As I was sharing my first draft of this episode with my husband he said “I hadn’t heard this story”… in the 30 plus years we have been together, and I was not surprised that I had buried this one.
At the time I was travelling with my minimalist wardrobe in a backpack. I had exactly one dressy interview appropriate outfit, a calf length full circle linen skirt and blazer which by the way were fabulous but took a considerable effort to iron.
Detail of Fletcher the friendly tabby. The registration is a little off in this print but it is a useful example that documents the layering of colour from lightest to darkest in the creation of a limited addition print.
Imagine then, one tube ride through the inner city of London, England, to Kingsbury down the line a bit and a walk across a beautiful lush green park that became an appendix to the school’s expansive grounds. Stunning, right?.
It was the quintessential beautiful, and quaint English postcard setting except for the pouring rain, no, pouring doesn’t quite describe the scene, it was more like a deluge that erupted as I set off across that park after the train ride. I was the nervous yet optimistic Aussie without an umbrella. Remember the two key words here, linen, and deluge.
Bless the administrator and Nema Ferguson head of the art department who both sat curiously across from this literally dripping candidate. I must have looked like Fletcher the tabby cat fresh from a dip in the Thames.
I got the job, miraculiously, and was excited to embark on an ambitious printmaking project with some of my classes.
Rylands was alway such a chill dude. I am sure he would forgive me for accidentally cutting off his outline.
In art school I had double majored in painting and printmaking but had dropped the prinkmaking and its oil based inks and paint thinners as they didn’t agree with my sensitive system. It was too bad because I loved the results.
I did teach colour reduction block printing to my junior high art students though and they rose to the challenge of the occasion using the much greener water based version of printing inks. Lino block prints are not reproductions but are instead a method of producing consistent multiples in small batches. You might have seen a signed print with a title and signature as well as a fraction at the bottom of the image. The process retains an element of the handmade. Producing them involves thinking about 1 colour at a time and can be quite a complex process. I was always proud of my young students in Australia at Holder High, which side note, burned to the ground in a terrible bush fire season some years ago, where some of these examples had proudly hung. Carving a lino tile involves the removal of the surface with a carving tool, rolling ink onto the surface that remains with a roller and running the paper and inked tile through a press that lifts the ink off the tile and transfers it in reverse onto the paper.
Fine art prints are printed in editions, for example an edition of 10 would mean ten impressions of the same block after what was to remain white was removed. Next the areas that are the next lightest colour are cut away and the block is inked in say yellow and those same ten sheets are aligned and printed with the yellow. The process is cumulative and continues with the artist thinking and planning one colour at a time, carefully registering each page before the next colour is added. A black and white print is a good way to get acquainted with the process, a 4 colour reduction print is quite an accomplishment for 13 and 14 year olds. I was often amazed at the beautiful pieces kids produced and found kids will rise to our expectations. It’s amazing what creative challenges students will meet when we show them we have faith in them and their ideas.
“Resonance” 48” x 48” has been part of the suite of large paintings that have been blooming on my painting wall through the winter. She was adopted this week by an amazing family to join 3 other paintings in their home that have also bloomed on my painting wall.
“Tina’s garden”, part anniversary gift and part memorial also left the studio this week.
36” x 48” acrylic on canvas, 2022.
My students completed their editions by continuing to work through some industrious lunch and recess breaks. The activity definitely consumed their teenage focus and grounded them in creative presence.
At Kingsbury High school fresh from my Canadian interlude I had a couple of snapshots of my fur friends Rylands and Fletcher that I used as the starting point for my example… with the help of a photocopier and some carbon paper.
Lino tools are sharp. One of the first lessons is always to cut away from yourself. We don’t want anyone bleeding in the classroom but bandaids are always a good insurance policy. The process of cutting a block for printing is reductive which also means when we make a mistake and inadvertently cut something away that we needed to print, there is no longer an opportunity to create a mark in that space with the ink.
In my example I was chatting while demonstrating one of the last layers and got to demonstrate humility in explaining I had just cut off a crucial outline I needed for the final colour. Oops sorry, I now have a cat with no tail.
This little block print of the brothers Rylands and Fletcher, is a souvenir of both my time in London and the memories of that first Canadian summer being wooed by my now husband . It is also a reminder of the power of our pets and their endearing way of wriggling into our souls with reciprocal unconditional devotion.
“Bear Necessities” , 36” x 48”, acrylic on canvas, was not painted as part of a commission but went home to a commissioning family this week.
Miss Addy cat was part of our family for 22 years.. Her mother was a stray who somehow made her way into my original studio building. We chose the little tiger and named her Adelaide since she was born on the corner of Adelaide and McDermot in downtown Winnipeg.
So what are some of the take aways from today’s backstory?
For me the new rule is to buy that umbrella even if it is destined to be left on a train or the back of a taxi, is key.
Linen is not the best choice for a job interview outfit, particularly if you are backpacking
Never underestimate the power of creativity especially in the young
And find fun and creative ways to keep your memories close at hand.
“Kaleidoscope” 48” x 48”, acrylic on panel, 2022 also recently drove off to her forever home.
This week’s meditation begins at 8:40 in the recording.
I called it Meditation pet recollection in honor of the fun characters who were featured in the pet portraits, for the cheeky brothers Rylands and fletcher and our recently departed 150 year old miss Addy cat, our lovely tyrant who we miss dearly.
Leave your questions or comments on the website or find me on instagram @mandartcanada. I would love to hear from you
Until next time, stay well,
all best
Amanda