Print Studio | From Drawing to Drypoint | Clive Powsey | March 21st & 22nd, 2025 | 10am - 4pm

Join us in this fascinating two-day workshop as we explore the foundational techniques and properties of drawing and then apply them to the art form of intaglio printmaking. We’ll discuss and practice drawing/design principles: composition, qualities of line, creating textures and values between black and white through hatching and stippling, and creating form in a drawing. The lively instructor will share a number of astonishing anecdotes and a brief slide show about drawing and, because drawing involves intense and sustained looking, perception itself. Once participants have settled on a drawing they’re happy with, they will inscribe them onto plexiglass plates and make a trial image, before proceeding to create their own limited edition of drypoint prints. Variations on the printed image might be explored by tinting and painting with watercolour or tea, or collaging thin papers into the print with rice glue. 

Bring a selection of your drawings (5x8–8x12 inches) that can be collaged or cropped down. Or, if you feel iffy about your drawing skills, bring some reference material: your own black and white photos, magazine pics, etc. (The instructor will also bring some visual materials.) Think objects and not scenes or views: bones, shells, heads, still life objects, insects, leaves, fossils, manufactured objects—things that have caught your eye for some reason. The idea is not to copy but to use your  references as a jumping off spot from which something new and different can emerge. 

This workshop will not only grow your enthusiasm for drawing, but will also offer you a springboard into the fascinating world  of printmaking.

I was born in Ashford, Kent, U.K., 1958, emigrated to Canada in 1969, and trained in drawing, painting and printmaking in Fine Arts at The Ontario College of Art from 1976 to 1980 spending the fourth and final year in an off-campus program in Florence, Italy. I lived and worked as a fine and applied visual in Toronto and regions until 2004 at which time I moved to Vancouver Island continuing to exhibit fine art and work remotely on animation projects.

As well as regular solo exhibitions with galleries, group exhibitions included International Waters (1991) with members of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, the American Watercolour Society, and The Royal Watercolour Society. The show travelled to Toronto, New York and London. My watercolours won awards, including the D.L. Stevenson Award for Excellence (2009) at the CSPWC annual Open Waters exhibition, and Best Watercolour (1999) at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition.

I worked a layout and background artist and art director in animated film and television for large companies such as Nelvana Ltd. and Walt Disney Animation Canada, and also freelance for small studios such as Chuck Gammage Animation, The Animation House, and Red Rover Studios. I worked occasionally as an art instructor for courses and workshops. I taught courses in drawing and painting in the Fine Arts Department at the Ontario College of Art (1988-92), and background painting and design at Max the Mutt Animation School (1999-2003) in Toronto. In later years I taught courses in drawing and rendering and design fundamentals in the Metal Jewelry Design Certificate Program at North Island College in Campbell River BC.

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All classes and workshops are non-refundable. Cancellations made 7 days, or more in advance of the workshop or class date will receive 100% credit. 6 days before class, and no credit will be issued.