Colin Bailey is a British artist and printmaker living and working in Hastings, East Sussex after living in Rye for ten years and Kings Cross, London for fifteen years
As a painter and etcher with a love of traditional methods and techniques, and with a printmaker’s instinct for multiple images, Colin has also accepted modern art technology and makes full use of digital photography, high resolution scanning and archival quality giclee printing to reproduce his original paintings as limited edition prints. At the same time Colin continues to create the detailed tonal original etchings for which he was originally best known.
As a popular Rye artist Colin Bailey realised the wider appeal of this small picturesque area of England’s south east coast and established Ryepress as an online portfolio for his Rye and St Pancras original etchings. Now in Hastings, with a growing reputation as a Hastings artist he reproduces many of his new oil and acrylic paintings as fine art limited edition giclee prints, scanning his paintings personally and carefully matching the colours to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the reproduction print.
As well as traditional views of Rye & Hastings, Colin is also building a portfolio of more experimental paintings exploring the weather-beaten coastal textures and structures of Rye Bay (the East Sussex coast between Hastings and Dungeness); Ancient groynes, banks of constantly shifting shingle, fishing boats drying on the beach, and the prehistoric coast at the foot of the cliffs at Rock-a-Nore are examined in paintings with an almost abstract scale and attention to detail. Close-up and often ambiguous, these images of peeling, faded paintwork, rusting metal and cracked, bleached wood chart the results of man-made and natural structures slowly breaking up through the relentless onslaught of rain, wind, sun, sea, sand and time.
Colin Bailey exhibits frequently in various art exhibitions and with art groups in Rye, Hastings, Tenterden, and East Sussex. See Exhibitions for details of forthcoming shows.
Ryepress has now opened as a fine art gallery and original print studio in the centre of Hastings old town. Situated next to the well known Retro shop in Hastings High street, and including the wire wrap jewellery of Seacandy, the Ryepress Studio and art gallery joins a growing collection of art galleries in Hastings. The Gallery exhibits all of Colin’s limited edition original etchings, reproduction giclee prints, original oil and acrylic paintings as well as giclee printed greeting cards of his recent paintings exclusive to the Ryepress art gallery.
With the eponymous Rye press now installed in the rear of the art gallery, the original print studio also features ad-hoc etching demonstrations. Questions about printmaking methods are encouraged and visitors are offered a unique opportunity to see the etching process in action, preview proof prints of the various stages of each new etching and in many cases handle the original etched copper plates. See Etchings for a detailed explanation of the etching process.
New work currently being exhibited includes the oil on canvas painting East Hill Snow and two new original etchings; Croft Road Hastings and Net huts and Funicular which can be seen in Hastings etchings.
For a thumbnail index to the Limited Edition prints and an explanation as to what is an original print and what is a reproduction print please see Prints.
Colin Bailey January 2009
AN INTRODUCTION TO ETCHING
Etching is one of the satisfying and oldest forms of printing and in the hands of a expert can deliver intricacies of line and tone unrivalled by any other printing process. Over the winter Ryepress will be running a short introduction to etching at the studio in Hastings. In the meantime see Etching for an explanation of the etching process
ETCHINGS: Rye Hastings Beachscapes Greenhouses St Pancras station
GICLEE: Rye Hastings RX Rock-a-Nore Groynes Nudes
GICLEE: Rye Hastings RX Rock-
ARTIST & PRINTMAKER
Limited edition prints:
original etchings
paintings and giclee prints
original etchings
paintings and giclee prints
Limited edition original etchings and reproduction giclee prints direct from the artist.