This and that....

When I collected my book binding press late last year I was given this lovely embosser by Les Baynam, who runs Homeward Bound, a company specialising in book binding and printing presses.

 A friend kindly cleaned it up for me and I intend to get my own stamp made for it;I don't want to be known as Dover Corporation Electricity Department! It's a fine piece of Victoriana which looks lovely in my studio.

I recently submitted work to The Cambridge Drawing Society - http://www.cambridgedrawingsociety/ - and was elected as a member. One of my lino cuts was selected for the exhibition at the Guildhall in Cambridge which ended last Saturday. It was an interesting exhibition which made the news due a painting being stolen at the private view!! Luckily the police recovered it! My print wasn't sold but lots were, which seems to be unusual at the moment. Being a member means that next year I can enter 4 works and they run another exhibition in the Autumn.



Print day at the Curwen

It's over a month since I wrote a post; I've had a really uncreative period and am hoping with Spring blossoming all around me my creativity will too! My March print day with my group at the Curwen was fun as usual, here are the rest of the group; there are 6 of us.

Maria and Kate, both screen printing Queens......

I only managed to get a photo of Jacque as she was packing up.....

Mike talking to Sue Jones, our tutor, and Jenny in the background....

and Jenny working out on the etching press!

I played around with some mono prints using fabrics and stencils of cups and jugs. Basically you ink up your metal plate and plonk/carefully place bits of fabric/stencilson before putting though the etching press using slightly damp paper; you can over print, take a pale 'ghost' print etc. and of course anything you end up with is unique.

    I chose a pinky red and grey inks.......

just before lifting the stencils off a print.... 

and a print using the inky stencils and scrim, shame the jug isn't clearer but it was fun playing around.

I ended up with 2 or 3 prints I will mount and/or frame.....



A jug and cups series I think, and a few prints to work on next time....like this one...

and I ended up with some scrim and stencils that I can use for a collage maybe?......

all good fun!

Japanese Woodblock Printmaking Course

On that freezing cold Saturday in February I went on a printing course at Artworks Mk in Great Linford, Milton Keynes. It was a beautiful drive with the trees covered in frost. I really wanted to take lots of photographs at home but it took me ages to defrost the car and I didn't want to be late for the course.

It was a wonderful setting, as you can see from the photographs.

This is the cafe, exhibition centre and reception building.

The beautiful hall in the park.

Great Linford church.

The course was with Laura Boswell, a printmaker whose work I love. If you don't know of her, take a look at her website. www.lauraboswell .co.uk

Laura demonstrated at Art in Action last year. She learnt water based woodblock printing in Japan during an 8 week residency with a master carver and printer.

I have done some wood cutting but this process is very different from inking up a block with a roller. It is an ancient printing form in Japan and comes with all the rituals one would expect from that country. There are special cutting tools (similiar to lino cutting tools) and a clever, precise way of registering prints.

Laura suggested we started with a simple design that we could complete in a day.

I settled on a simple landscape, which we drew and then transferred to tracing paper, all with an exact frame drawn to relate to the size of paper we were using. Carbon paper was used to transfer the design onto the block.

This would be cut as 3 blocks, mine could be fitted on one piece of ply. The initial outline is cut with a hanghi to.

Cutting in progress and below the tools.

My cutting finished. The notches for each block are the kento slots for registering your prints.

Laura demonstrating placing the Nori paste (made from rice flour) onto the block....

and mixing the water colour paint with the Nori paste on the block...

The printing is done by hand, using a baren, the paper proteced by a piece of silicone paper.

Here's my block with 2nd block inked up ready for proofing, which Laura does on lining paper.

Here are 2 blocks printed....

the 3rd block ready to print....

and the proof....

I then experimented with colours on Fabriano paper; by the way, this method always uses damp paper, which needs to be kept damp throughout the printing.

and a close up....

This has some splodgy edges where I had too much paint/ Nori paste but OK for a first attempt. It is an interesting process which takes endless practise to get a feel for the method.

Laura says 'It can be unforgiving, wasteful and often tiresome, but the end result is so wonderful that it really is worth the effort.'

Obviously in a day we learnt the basics; colours can be built up by printing layers of colour and there are effects such as bokachi (shading) to give more depth or texture.

It was a lovely day and I enjoyed learning the processes of this ancient Japanese art form. I have to mention what a good tutor Laura was, highly organised and it was one of the best courses I've taken.

I have all the tools now.....

Log cabin completed

Last week I realised my log cabin design was dry enough to print the final colour; it was going to be blue but I changed my mind and went for a deep purple. Here we are ready to print.

I masked off the middle of each print so it got no purple on it.

 I was a bit nervous, as being a reduction lino cut if I messed up the placing......

........but luckily it went OK.

I wanted to get a bit of a retro feeling, like the log cabin bed spread I started in the '70's. I knew it was all lurking in a bag somewhere and found it last year. I had loads of strips ready cut and some squares ready to put together, so I made a few more squares and joined them up to make a throw rather than a huge bedspread which would never get used. It needs backing, quilting and edging of course!

This is full of memories, curtains made, a shirt for me, the dressing gown I made to go into hospital to have Louise, dresses for Louise and me.

On this square the brown and white crepon was left over from the very first dress I made myself in the 60's, I do wish I had it now! Also the material I made a button through dress with, to go over my hot pants - worn with the skirt part unbuttoned - wish I had a photo!! A lot of the fabrics are Laura Ashley; I used to shop at their first shop in the King's Road, where they just sold fabrics. It's a shock to realise the fabrics are 40 to 50 years old!

Log cabin in progress

I've been a patchwork and quilter for many years and have thought for some time about a log cabin lino cut. I found a design I had sketched and decided it had to be a reduction cut.

 I forgot to photograph the 1st cut and 1st colour, which was yellow. I then cut away the areas I wanted to stay yellow and over- printed with red.

This design is a small edition of 12, here they are drying....

and a close up of the print so far.

It is actually on a creamy white paper, 300g Daler Rowney smooth water colour paper which takes the inks well. I now need to cut away areas that I want to stay red.

The prints won't be dry enough to print the next colour for a few days, so I decided to print my new lino cut, called Home.....

I cut this design on the grey hessian backed lino, which I hadn't used for a while, preferring the thin floor tiles I use. Using really sharp tools and warming it I found it OK, but it can be a bit crumbly.

Here's the result....

This is a limited edition of 50 and here's number 1 framed and ready to go to The Art Nest gallery in Hitchin this week, together with another 'Love' image to replace a sold print.

Happy New Year

Happy new year to everyone, rather late I know but it's been busy with my son back from Oz, hospital appointments, playing tennis, working on my website, printing, Barney sitting, taking prints to an exhibition, a new private pupil this week and 2 lessons to plan for tomorrow. I do wonder how I taught 34 children full time and remained sane - well almost!

 Interesting times also in that I did my meditation practise for the first time at a Buddhist Temple; the next morning I found myself unexpectedly sitting in on a water colour class watching James Willis painting  - a varied life!

I'm getting the feel of my press, last week I had more fun....

This is to mark the birth of my grandson and is an example of the Special Event commissions I do.

Ready for St. Valentine's Day, a LOVE lino cut with a chine colle heart .......

and the same design printed on sheet music.

The next print links birds and song......

my guinea fowl feather lino cut on sheet music. A bit of a tenuous link, as of course no-one could call the noise guinea fowl make, a song or musical!! We kept them on our farm and my mother hated the noise. They're one of my favourite birds; I love their shape and the beautiful patterns of the feathers. I also like eating them.....