La Pinturera – Group Exhibition

art exhibition, group show, la pinturera, hairdressing salon, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, vejer, vejer de la frontera

Yolanda, the delightful proprietor of Vejer’s ‘La Pinturera‘ generously invited me and three other local artists to set up a group exhibition in her hair and beauty salon since she had a great deal of white wall space and the opportunities for sales would be high in the run up to Christmas.

Pinturera means swanky, so it’s quite apt!

We started in the window (left) with a mixture of all the participating artists’ work (below)….

art exhibition, group show, la pinturera, hairdressing salon, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, vejer, vejer de la frontera

…then each selected a space inside the salon to show our work individually:

art exhibition, group show, la pinturera, hairdressing salon, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, vejer, vejer de la frontera

My wall – above, me in the mirror

art exhibition, group show, la pinturera, hairdressing salon, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, vejer, vejer de la frontera

Chio adds the finishing touches to her wall of Vejer themed drawings.

art exhibition, group show, la pinturera, hairdressing salon, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, vejer, vejer de la frontera

Bryony’s ceramics in the foreground as she studies Laura’s paintings in the background.

art exhibition, group show, la pinturera, hairdressing salon, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, vejer, vejer de la frontera

Laura designed the poster, left and we set a date for the official opening…

art exhibition, group show, la pinturera, hairdressing salon, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, vejer, vejer de la frontera

art exhibition, group show, la pinturera, hairdressing salon, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, vejer, vejer de la frontera

art exhibition, group show, la pinturera, hairdressing salon, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, vejer, vejer de la frontera

 

Laura shows one of her beautiful sketchbooks, left…

…and below, Chio’s jewelry and sketches and my postcards…

art exhibition, group show, la pinturera, hairdressing salon, paintings, jewelry, ceramics, vejer, vejer de la frontera

I’m feeling very grateful to Yolanda for this wonderful opportunity to exhibit in such a lovely space alongside Chio, Laura and Bryony whose work I truly admire; they’re a great group of people. 

RetroNuevo Tags

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board, sherry, garlic, chorizo, cheese, ham, paddle

When my friends at RetroNuevo asked me if I’d adapt my cockerel design to make vintage style tags for their hand crafted tapas boards I agreed with relish (pun intended). 

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I’ve long been an admirer of their magic mixing of reclaimed and modern materials with paint effects to make marvellous muebles (= furniture in Spanish)…

 

 

retronuevo, reclaimed, upcycled, vintage, style, draw, paint effects, furniture

 

…as shown in these drawer details above and right.

 

 

 

Making the Tapas Boards

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

The wood was ‘harvested’ from century old wild Andalucian olive wood (acebuche) which had been felled naturally by the wind. No live trees were harmed in this process!

retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

 

carpentry, woodwork, process, graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board, paddle

The tapas boards were lovingly hand-hewn from hefty planks, each one unique in shape and grain.

They’re ideal for cutting and presenting food – tapas style, I also see them as works of art in their own right.

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

Making the Tags

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

These are the steps I took to make the cockerel side of the tag in Photoshop:

graphic design, Photoshop, process, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

  1. Scan a luggage tag to make a template in Photoshop
  2. Cut out the rivet and surrounding circle and place in separate new layers, make sure the rivet hole is the same size as the hole punch and ‘age’ the surrounding circle using scanned wax seal image
  3. Place the cockerel image above the background layer and below the rivet layers
  4. Deepen the colour of the cockerel image by duplicating the layer and changing the mode to ‘multiply’. Scan a vintage letter and place it above the cockerel layers in ‘multiply’ mode to add interesting stains
  5. Add the RetroNuevo logo
  6. Put a broken layer of white behind the logo to make it stand out
  7. ‘Age’ the edges of the tag by adding extra layers of parts of the vintage letter in ‘multiply’ mode

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping boardThese are the steps I took to make the reverse side of the tag in Photoshop:

graphic design, Photoshop, process, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

  1. Scan a luggage tag to make a template in Photoshop, see above
  2. Add the rivet and surround as above
  3. Scan a vintage receipt, cut and paste lines in layers
  4. Add the scanned vintage letter in a ‘multiply’ / ‘soft light’ mode layer as above to add texture and colour
  5. Cut and paste the border from the vintage receipt. Download a vintage stamp from the correct era and add in two layers – multiply + soft light
  6. Add text and RetroNuevo logo
  7. Age the edges of the tag by adding extra layers of parts of the vintage letter in ‘multiply’ mode as above

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

 

The double sided tags were printed locally on 300g watercolour paper to give them good heft and texture.

They were then cut, perforated with a hole punch and had their cut edges ‘aged’ with a brown felt tip pen before being strung with rustic twine.

carpentry, woodwork, process, graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board, paddle

graphic design, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

These gorgeous and versatile boards will soon be on sale with other delightful RetroNuevo items such as wardrobes, doors, benches, vintage crates, fittings and other reclaimed treaures at the pop-up shop in San Ambrosio, near Vejer on the 9th, 10th and 11th of December 12-3pm . 

Click here for the exact location

retronuevo, reclaimed, upcycled, vintage, style, draw, paint effects, furniture

graphic design, vintage, fittings, cockerel, retronuevo, vintage, tag, tapas, wild olive, wood, chopping board

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

retronuevo, reclaimed, upcycled, vintage, style, draw, paint effects, furniture, wardrobe