printmaking is full of surprises and happy accidents!





paper tree (3), digital monochrome image, Philip R. Bennetta, 17 March 2023
printmaking is full of surprises and happy accidents!
paper tree (3), digital monochrome image, Philip R. Bennetta, 17 March 2023
a new film/poem just completed
(happy birthday dear Tess, aged two today)
Sorting through artwork and publications, after our recent move back to Walmer, Kent from Cornwall, I came across this book containing some of our work, published in 2016: Home By Different Ways, Community of Poets & Artists Press, 72pages with 32 colour illustrations and 29 poems: limited edition format. The book includes the extended poem Glittering Loss, from a year long arts project in Dover, just down the coast from here, in 2013.
(Home By Different Ways @ £15 each including p&p within the UK. please ask about postage for other regions.)
recent conversations 1-4
conversations (1) oil and paper on canvas, Philip R. Bennetta 2022
conversations (2) oil and paper on canvas, Philip R. Bennetta 2022
conversations (3) oil and paper on canvas, Philip R. Bennetta 2022
at Walmer and Deal
at Hannafore by Looe
28 May to 5 June 2022 11am to 5pm
I shall be taking part in this event, here’s my cover image, more details to follow…
our latest short film/poem with original music, from Bodmin Moor, Cornwall
and then there were thirty, and this short film-poem…
Hannafore, eight September studies, oil on Somerset prepared paper, Philip Bennetta, September 2021
Hannafore six, oil on prepared Somerset paper, Philip Bennetta, September 2021
our latest work from home…
continuing this year long project with a short film featuring music, poetry, birdsong and Tess, our Jack Russell puppy
A new work in the Poem by Post Series, also marks the beginnings of our latest yearlong arts project, On Bullard Downs
I have re-edited this video poem due to reported sound issues, so here is the latest version, I hope you find something in it for yourself…
A new film with original music to do with a sense of place, filmed and recorded on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall
a new film poem, made on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall in an old Citroen van, to do with history, memory, folklore…
Sunday in February pure pigment on paper Philip R. Bennetta, 2021
on a walk down from the moor, where trees hold up the sky
A simple contemplation to do with place and memory, reflecting something of the present situation in which we find ourselves; misty, chilly, uncertain and beautiful; missing the moor, with original music on citera and bodhran drum…
These mixed media works are inspired by living and working in a region of outstanding natural beauty and dark skies. For me, they hold a sense of the moor; silent, atmospheric, an emptiness where everything exists…
I am including this series of studies, together with several short films and poetry-music publications, as individual works which contribute to a body of work in 2020 -21.
VIRAL – Journal of a Plague Year by poet Michael Curtis is now published and is our latest in the series:
The Pamphlet Poets Series is an imprint of Community of Poets & Artists Press and features hand sewn collections, in the pamphlet style of the 1920’s and 1930’s, by contemporary poets. Some of these unique publications also include original artwork. We published the first pamphlet of the series in 1997 and our most recent in 2021. Here is the full list, with the earliest in the series first:
Louvre Imperial, by W. H. Petty (ISBN 0 9523546 6)
Under the Skin by Narissa Knights (ISBN 0 9523546 7 5)
To be continued… by Philip Bennetta (ISBN 0 9523546 5 9)
Looking for gods by Dawn Gorman (ISBN 0 9523546 9 1)
Going not Gentle by Jean Sealey (ISBN 1-902529-05-07)
Spontaneous Overflow by Stella Jackson (ISBN 1-902529-07-3)
Interpretations of History by W.H. Petty (ISBN 1-902529-09-X)
Bus Dreams by William Hazell (ISBN 1-902529-01-4)
Standing Stone by Natasha Carthew (ISBN 1-902529-02-2)
Airing Cupboard by Barbara Dordi (ISBN 1-902529-03-0)
Henge by Mary Rice (ISBN 1-902529-04-9)
Cafard by Robert Cole (ISBN 1-902529-06-5)
Paths by M.P.A. Sheaffer (ISBN 1-902529-09-X)
Looking for Solutions by Susan Bennetta (ISBN 1-902529-14-6)
Those Marks So Deeply Scored by Philip Bennetta (ISBN 978-1-902529-17-2)
VIRAL Journal of a Plague Year by Michael Curtis (ISBN 978-1-902529-29-5)
VIRAL – journal of a plague year: a new limited edition publication in our hand sewn Pamphlet Poets series
by poet Michael Curtis.
Congratulations to poet Michael Curtis whose outstanding and sensitive collection VIRAL – journal of a plague year is published on the 18 January 2021, by our small not for profit press, as a traditional hand-sewn pamphlet, in the Pamphlet Poets Series. We are delighted to be part of yet another collaboration with Michael, who is an extraordinarily insightful poet and friend.
Bodmin Moor is a remote, rugged, heather, gorse and fern covered upland granite moorland in Cornwall, England. The Moor is the largest unit of the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which spans a number of mostly coastal areas in southwest England. It is the first AONB, a type of landscape in the United Kingdom designated for conservation due to its significant value, to receive International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) accreditation for its dark skies.
We live on Bodmin Moor and it is a landscape that inspires my most recent works. Here is Dark-Sky Moor, a work in progress.
robin flew into our sitting room today, through the open cottage door, and perched on my abstract landscape…
Inspired by the poetry of a moorland mist, when the constantly shifting landscape blurs then vanishes away, alone and dreaming…
poetry and music and a van…
Work on paper, based on sketches from last year and a recent visit to Hannafore by Looe (Acadiane Journeys Bodmin Moor to Looe)
I prepared this Somerset paper for an edition of cyanotypes. Unfortunately, it became prematurely exposed to light and could not be used in the edition. However, I did not throw the thirty sheets of paper away and, after several experiments, decided to make some new work, based on sketches I have made. Here is Willow, my first experiment with the prepared paper and medium:
Made on our first outing in the newly arrived Citroen Acadiane, a short journey from the moor to the coast of Cornwall, with a traditional Celtic tune weaved through the film…
We made a series of films whilst living in France entitled “Acadiane Journeys…” filmed from our Citroen Acadiane van, on journeys in France. All these films have original music and poetry, in English and/or French. We lived in France for eight years, had our studios there and were registered as Artiste Libre. Sadly, when we returned to live in the UK our little French van was sold and something larger purchased to help with the house move. Our van was originally registered in Charente Maritime (17) and today Daisy has returned, an Acadiane from the same region, via Wales! So, more films to come, here’s a link to an earlier one, made in France, when we were struggling with staying or returning to the UK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DcHVLDC_Jc
and here is Daisy, just arrived today:
We had a quiet lock-down, exercising each day near our home, along with other walkers and cyclists, noticing how the birds, animals and wildlife, including escapee sheep, had also taken to our little no-through lane, leading to Siblyback Lake on Bodmin Moor. Then lock-down ended, traffic returned, and it became no longer safe on the lane and walkers stayed away. We find animal corpses most days…
This is our latest Poem by Post, entitled Killing of Crow
photographs taken from the copper path, a route taken by miners, that runs along a stream by my studio, on Bodmin Moor.
The studio roof is now fixed and the culprits, 40 rusty screws, is a current work in progress (apparently 95% of the leaks in metal roofs are due to poorly fitted screws, which rust and let water through)
The opening quotation comes from my published notes in 2019, when I began this project. However, the actual reason the studio roof leaked and the screws became rusty was due to condensation forming within the roof structure, and not rain dripping and pouring in. A new roof, coated with an anti-condensation product, has now replaced the old one. So, with a dry space in which to work, I return to the project and coat each of the rusty screws with two coats of PVA to retain their integrity and history. I then attach these endearing found objects on a golden acrylic canvas, backed with timber, each one secured by a robust U nail…
(Note: If the work were to be hung in a gallery/white space, I would have them attached directly to the wall, as with other work I have made)
I was obviously working on this one metre square painting in 2013, while living in France. I really like it and left something of myself there…
So, here is a photograph of the painting, which is now the work.
I like using commonplace materials, bringing found objects to the studio…
I was making steps down to the stream running by the studio and needed one last plank of timber to front the top step. I came across a sawn-off scaffold board, which had a nail-plate on one end. The metal plate was jagged at the edge, so I removed it…
When the steps were complete, I took the now twisted nail-plate to the studio and instinctively placed it on a canvas I was working on…
The question is…
burning Birch is said to uplift the spirits. These Birch logs were in the log basket and drew my attention, so I took them to the studio…
at Walmer & Deal
I have now withdrawn from this event