More fun workshops

I've had lots of fun working with lovely people coming to my workshops. Here are the results, as usual inspiring.

Tess's tree worked really well in red on black paper and Nicola chose black to show off her house and cats, very effective.

Lynn's iris was lovely, 

Gilly's sea horse looked great in blue.

3 friends came to my next class. 

 

Clare's lino block of her lovely hare, I didn't get a picture of the finished print.

Collette's toadstools were very effective. 

Nanette's sunflower was delightful. 

All were excited by the possiblities of lino cutting; fun had by all. 

I've been working on a new lino cut, Hares in the Spring, which has taken a lot longer than usual to plan and cut as I've not been well. Getting back to being 'me' again a,d here's the print. It's a series of small editions, each one in a different colour.

One of the screen printed backgrounds. 

 Blue sky version.... 

and this colour way ready to be my next card design.

Recently my son Will watched Mum and fox cubs on his walk locally and I 've spent time quietly watching them, so cute and small. I love their dark ears! 

 

My own delightful family, Barney walked out of the first picture but the 2nd one shows enthusiastic

removal of pond weed by Barney and William, now walking. They had great fun!

My son William continues his recovery following his radiotherapy. He and Louise have birthdays this week, 35 and 37 so happy celebrations. 

 



Sketchbook pages and some new work....

Here are a few pages from my sketchbook, finished at home after my museum drawing day. I don't spend time on sketchbooks, often my ideas are a very rough sketch which I then use for a lino cut; so it was a change to spend a little more time on these pages.

 

Following on from my love of hares my new work is 3D lino cuts, each a one off featuring a hare.

This one is Hare, the lurker, the looker to the side. 

They are great fun to do, working smaller makes a change for me.

Here's Hare, the swift as wind at Wimpole Hall. 

The titles are taken from a Middle English poem The Names of the Hare which may have come from a Shropshire family. It was apparently designed as a ritual to be recited by the hunter on his first encountering a hare; and the 77 different names were supposed, on their recital, to deliver it into the hunter's power. It's 64 lines long, so I can't help thinking that by the time the hunter has recited it, the hare would be long gone!

Drawing at the museum

Last Saturday I went on a drawing day in Cambridge organised by White House Art. Neil Payne was the tutor, he has a fresh, wacky approach and came along with lotsof different pens, charcoal, graphite pencils, water colour crayons (use spit to wet and smudge them was his advice) - obviously no water allowed in the museum.

We spent the morning in the Sedgewick, full of wonderful bones, fossils and crystals to inspire us. 

In the afternoon we were at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, full of collections from many different cultures. 

These were huge containers for food served at feasts, they were beautiful. I haven't photograped any of my sketch book pages yet, some still to be finished. It was reminder of how lucky we are to have wonderful museums to visit - I last went to the 'Arch and Ant' went I was at school in Cambridge!

More Lino Workshops

Some more lovely work from my recent workshops.

Mia, Pam and Maggie at the cutting stage. 

Careful inking up, 

Mia's lion... I'm sorry I didn't get final photographs of the lovely landscapes printed by Pam and Maggie, but here they are having fun. 

The next day featured a komodo dragon, 

a horse

and honesty

Marcy, Janey and Jenny had a very successful day. 

The great thing about teaching these days is that it's a shared learning experience and I love helping people start their printmaking journey.

I was pleased recently to be asked to tutor some lino printing classes at Missenden Abbey next academic year. Alison had seen my work in Cambridge Contemporary Art. I gave it a lot of thought but realised that at the moment I couldn't make that committment, so have reluctantly declined this opportunity.

A fun day

I've taught 3 lino workshops recently and while they were tiring they were also wonderful. It was a great reminder of how therapeutic creativity is.

Jenny, Joanne and Paula joined me this time.

Jenny found the right angle for her board.

Joanne printed her sample fish and below is her inked up lino block - a beautiful butterfly, I forgot to photograph the actual print. 

Jenny's flowers showed her great design skills.

A busy day!

Paula's design is a good example of the simplicity I advise for a day's workshop.

White on  black paper looks good.

A successful day!

I'll end with a family theme, so important at the moment. Mia, Wills girlfriend is staying with us from New Zealand.

She cooked us a sensational Balinese meal. These are steamed fish parcels - fish tum.

We also had rice, beef dendeng ragi and urap - a wonderful vegetable stir fry.

I was sous chef for this yummy, spicy, aromatic meal; lots of chopping!

I've so enjoyed cooking with Mia.