Norwich Pubs

A new limited edition screen print, designed especially for Norwich-based print collective Print To The People's Year in Print scheme. 

'Norwich Pubs' is a celebration of the public houses, inns, taverns, alehouses, tap-rooms, watering-holes & shabeens of old Norwich city, a town that once famously had a church for each week of the year and a pub for each day! Some are still very much in existence, others lost in the mists of Time, remembered only (if at all) by plaques in the pavement or by the names of Streets (Golden Dog Alley, Flower Pot Yard, Lobster Lane, Queen of Hungary Yard, etc., etc..)

http://paulbommer.bigcartel.com/product/norwich-pubs

Stiffkey Stores

The letterpress flyer I designed for the sumptuous and delightful Stiffkey Stores, at Stiffkey on the stunning north Norfolk coastline.

The design shows an image of the counter and top there, made from old wooden fruit-crates, laden and filled with beautiful things - great coffee, delicious cakes, flowers, books, toys, bags, &c, &c.

Diamond Anniversary

An invitation I designed and printed to celebrate the Diamond Wedding anniversary of my lovely parents-in-law. Congratulations Pat and Chas!

A swan as symbol of their graceful journey through life, the flower in its bill for love's blooming and the crown for its nobility.

Year in Print - Proofing & Printing

A great day colour mixing, proofing and laying down the first two layers (of three) of a new limited edition screen print for the Year in Print scheme. Many thanks to Jo Stafford, Paul McNeill & Toby Rampton at Print to the People in Norwich!

Can you guess the theme? Hope to print the final, outline layer later this week.

Bacchus

My latest mini-print shows Bacchus, Roman god of Wine and Vineyards, with a quote from Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra.

'Come, thou Monarch of the Vine, Plumpy Bacchus with pink eyne! In thy Vats our cares are drowned, with thy grapes our hairs be crowned.'

This three colour print measures 20 cm square and is printed in a strictly limited edition of 50, signed and numbered by the artist and is part of a series of Shakespeare inspired mini-prints (see also Where the Bee Sucks, Puck and Cupid). Part of Shakespeare 400. 

http://paulbommer.bigcartel.com/product/bacchus

Cupid

My latest mini-print shows Cupid, spirit of Love, with a quote from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

'If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again! it had a dying fall: O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound, that breathes upon a bank of violets, stealing and giving odour!'

This three colour print measures 20 cm square and is printed in a strictly limited edition of 50, signed and numbered by the artist and is part of a series of Shakespeare inspired mini-prints (see also Where the Bee Sucks, Puck and Bacchus). Part of Shakespeare 400. The perfect gift to the love of your life, perhaps?

http://paulbommer.bigcartel.com/product/cupid

A Look Ahead

January and a chance to look ahead at the unfurling year and what I hope to try and to achieve within it.

As always I plan to be in a number of group exhibitions this year as any other, but I have taken the decision to limit myself to just the one solo exhibition for 2016 - AMUSE BOUCHE at the Town House, Spitalfields in October (see you there!) - in order to give myself the space and time to develop my ideas and explore other avenues of expression without undue pressure.

More limited edition screen prints for sure, but hopefully other forms of print too - linocut, etching, fabric, letterpress, etc. As well as that I hope to pick up my paint brushes again after a few years' absence, and to continue developing my delft tile production - this small cottage I'm sat in now is crying out for tiled walls in the kitchen, hearth, staircase, bathroom…

Many other exciting projects and collaborations along the way, self-initiated and commissioned alike.

My main objective this year is to renew my love and vigour for what I do, and to embrace a playfulness in my approach, to welcome flaws, marks, the scratchy, the undefined, the incomplete, happy accidents. A challenge for me perhaps, but a fun one!

Above is a chart (blurred for discretion) of all the ideas currently buzzing around my cranium, laid out before me to survey - to assess what needs to be prioritised, and what might be shelved or postponed. It is immediately apparent that there is more than I could ever possibly get done in three or four years flat out, let alone in one! Still, it is useful to see it all there in front of me - a gentle reminder when unsure what to tackle next and an edifying note-to-self not to take on too much.

Here's to a great, creative and prosperous 2016! Bon Voyage!