Stephanie Redfern course

Recently a friend Anne and I went to The Bramble Patch in Weedon, Northamptonshire for a 2 day course with Stephanie Redfern. It was good fun to be working uninterrupted on a project alongside other like-minded people in a lovely environment (fabulous shop!). The title was Into the wildwood.

On the first day we printed, painted or stamped papers and fabrics and started designing our piece. Stephanie is on the left.

My friend Anne having fun!

The colours I chose to work with and a sketch of ideas.

We stayed at a hotel in Weedon and had a great meal at The Narrow Boat pub in the evening, right next to the Grand Union Canal.

The next stage......

Anne at work.

Discussions; sorry I didn't know everyone's names.

A few examples of the lovely work, all different.

My first machining.....using Somerset paper as the background.

I used fabrics I'd printed at home using screens I made using my own photographs.

I finished my piece at home, it's called Six Trees.

 

Bits and pieces

Pepper the cat is making himself completely at home, he kept trying to catch my pencil as I tried to do some sketching - unsuccessfully (the sketching that is)!

I'm really a dog person although until 10 years ago I'd always had both, but Pepper has such a personality I find him endearing. My previous cats were called Theobalds 1, 2, 3 and 4 (pronounced Tibbles) and I find myself calling Pepper Tibbles or Mr. Tibbs which reminds me that he IS a he! I know now for certain I won't have another dog; a cat is so much easier and as my life is now I don't need the responsibility of a dog.

Some work in progress, I'm enjoying making this wall hanging using screen printed fabrics, some I printed last year. I'm considering some more machining maybe, which you can't really see in this photo!.

I'm part of a mini print exchange that Lesley http://printedmaterial.blogspot.co.uk/ has organised and have enjoyed planning a small piece of work; of course I'm not going to show what I'm up to!!

The grandchildren continue to delight. We took Barney to Standalone Farm in Letchworth, he's not usually shy in front of the camera!

Having fun with water, making tea I think!

Brother William is growing fast, now 9 weeks old and weighing quite a bit more than Barney did at 4 months; being full term makes life much easier.

Last week a friend and I went to The Bramble Patch in Weedon to join a Stephanie Redfern 2 day course. We had a lovely time and my next post will be all about it; I've not had time to finish my piece yet. Day 1 was printing/ painting fabrics and papers, great fun.

Woodpecker lino cut

I get really good prints using my old press, here's the inked up block of my woodpecker,

 which I carried on printing at home.

It is a variable edition of 35 and I've printed half of them. Here's a finished print with the red rump added with watercolour.

I've experimented with adding more colour (hence the variable edition). The bark isn't finished but I'm not so keen. The 'sky' is pale blue but doesn't show up very well on my photo.

This morning I invigilated at an exhibition in the Guildhall in Cambridge. I met Jan, a lovely person who was 'on' with me. It was an interesting, busy morning, in our slot 65 people visited.

I was delighted to see a little red dot on my print! This is the only photo I have of it framed (no photos allowed but I thought it OK to take one of mine!)

I submitted 3 pieces and all 3 were accepted, the others are an owl lino cut and a monoprint with jugs and cups. It's a great exhibition, with work in many mediums, all of a high standard; well worth a visit. 



Printing fun

Last week I had a print day with my group Inkline at the Curwen; it was the first day working together this year as we missed a day last month while the whole studio was being rewired following the fire last year. It was lovely to see everyone again. Here are some of my group: Lauren and Maria and

 Mike with Kate busy in the background.

My main aim was to expose some silk screens using some of my photographs.

Pebbles on Findhorn beach.

A log pile in a forest in France.

A slab of rock by the beach in Tasmania.

The images (manipulated on Photoshop) ready on film.



I was putting the images on to screens for textiles and for paper (they have a different thread count to the mesh).

The first exposure on the textile screens didn't work as they needed a longer exposure time - the emulsion all started to come away as I was washing it off so I had to start all over again, first stripping the screens clean. All very time consuming (the whole day) but I now have 4 screens to play around with once I'm back home (in Dorset for Easter).

While I waited for emulsion etc. to dry I managed to pull 3 prints of my latest lino cut, a Great spotted woodpecker. I'm going to hand colour his lovely red parts.

It needs to be framed and ready to deliver to an exhibition in Cambridge next week; first job when I go home tomorrow!

Quilts completed!

I finished my big and little quilts a couple of weeks ago, a satisfying end to a fun project.

 They both have the same striped backing material and edges bound in black.

I've made 4 pockets on the back  for Barney to put his favourite little toys in.

This quilt is a little premature, as Barney is still  in his cot, so it will live at my house for a while.

Below is the little one I made for Barney's soft  toy doll, Max, who has a little wooden bed  shared with various other toys; I've used some of the same fabrics, again with a little pocket.

My first attempt at free machining on anything that mattered!

I had to look in my old school needlework folder to remind myself how to work blanket stitch....a long time since I did any embroidery!



I've been ill for over a week with a lousy cold, but yesterday felt a little better and did some screenprinting. Thinking about a small piece with a trees/ wood theme... in black and yellow, not sure why...maybe because of the lack of sun outside...

over printed in grey....

first playing around....more fun ahead.



Another lino class

We had more fun a week ago when 3 people came to my latest lino printing class; Rebekah had come before and Ann and Paula were new to lino cutting.

An intense, busy day of learning and much discussion produced lovely prints.

Ann's charming print of William, her cat, star gazing through the window,

Rebekah's abstract flowers and a sample piece,

and Paula's bold flowers...

Discussions are a big part of the day....

that's the great value in taking part in a course, we all learn a lot from each other.

Recently I used my new Gelli plate for the first time, printing on  fabric

and paper.

It was fun to play with no outcome in mind although I'm more used to working with some project in mind.

I stamped over some of the papers.

The fabrics could end up in quilting projects and the papers be used for book covers and collage  if I end up with any I really like!