Christmas cards

Hi everyone, I 've been on a long walk; but more of that in my next blog. This is about my lino cut designs for Christmas cards that were accepted by the RSPB and are now on sale in their shops and available in their catalogue. It was all by accident as well. Someone who has bought several of my prints turned out to work on products for the RSPB; she saw my card designs last year and asked to take samples to show her boss. Here are the two designs they accepted and printed in gold and red.

Here they are in the catalogue - I still can't quite believe this has happened; it's exciting....apparently I am now a freelance artist!!!!

I called them Snowy trees and Winter trees, the RSPB renamed them Winter silhouette, as you can see.

 I have recently submitted some designs to be considered for 2012; they work a long way ahead.





Artist's book course

I went on a great 2 day course last week with Gillian Hand  http://www.gillianhand.com/ at Art van Go in Knebworth. Gillian lives in Oz and has been over here for a few months sharing her book making skills.

Work in progress on a concertina book made with origami paper.

The finished book  (I will probably add some decoration to the covers), it was fun to make.

This flag book has a lovely sculptural look to it. On the 2nd day we tackled this one....

I used part of one of my prints as the cover with off cuts of somerset velvet paper as the pages.

 I love the spine of this book. It was tricky to make as my paper was really thick.

This one took most of the morning and I think we were all worn out!! However the final book was fun. We made the hard cover with a spine and stitched in 3 folios (a group of pages) using a linen thread with 2 needles to make the rope pattern down the spine.

Again I used a not so good lino print for the cover with some hand made paper pages. This was my first time at book making and took lots of concentration; so two tiring but enjoyable, successful days.

Herts Open Studios

Last week I was getting ready for my open studio weekend with Herts Open Studios event, which takes place from September 10 to October 2nd. I was also baby sitting for my cute grandson, Barney, who decided to lend a helping hand.....

He delved into my box of paperwork waiting to be shredded.....

...........just checking a bill!!.......

.................what fun he had playing with a pile of paper, he brings lots of joy to my life.... and how great to be 15 months!!

Curwen summer school

What a fun week at the Curwen, attending their summer school. Monday was spent on a drawing day with Chloe Cheese, starting with Chloe showing some of her lovely work and talking about her inspiration.

Chloe is the daughter of Bernard Cheese and Sheila Robinson, both artists who lived in, and were part of the Gt. Bardfield groups of artists.

Chloe asked us to do 5 minute sketches of an object with certain types of printing in mind. Lots of interesting things to draw!

My pencil sketches haven't photographed well as they were light lines. Then we spent longer on one object using colour as well, I chose a fabulous shaped piece of flint.

This was sketched and painted using Brusho powder paints. I hadn't painted for ages so it was fun. Later we went outside and sketched anything we liked. There are lots of interesting sculptures in the grounds, I took lots of photos.

I loved this one.... and this... Chilford has it's own vineyard.

On the 2nd day John Mills, sculptor, spent the morning with us sharing his prints and telling us how he became an artist, which was very interesting. A modest and extremely talented person.

We spent the afternoon on drypoint, working on acetate. I printed these jugs.



My welsh gaudy jug and a modern design...

This one has chine colle on.

They both need some sort of background printed round them.....I'm doing some open access days at the Curwen next week, goody!! 



Plan chest

At last after missing one I wanted, in July I managed to buy a lovely old plan chest on ebay. There were 43 bids in total, so a bit frantic!! My last second bid won it. I thought the delivery would take some time, but was surprised when the carriers wanted to deliver it on July 20th, 2 days before my final open studio weekend!! Not ideal as that week was already busy, but they came early in the morning, right on time. It looked pretty clean but decided it would be best to clean it well now, before I filled it!! It turned out to quite dirty, needing an all over wash twice, even the drawers inside and out. Then lots of beeswax polish and elbow grease.

Rather a large piece of furniture to have sitting in the middle of my studio, but I made space for it and it proved a useful place to display the necklaces I make.

It holds all my prints, paper, lino etc. which has meant the beds upstairs are no longer covered in prints!! I filled it quickly, now when I have a moment or two I will re organise it so I know exactly what's in each drawer!! Sadly I couldn't fit in a visit to Art in Action that week, I went last year for the first time and loved it.

Curwen exhibition

I am back online after weeks without my laptop, which sadly crashed completely, no hope of resurrection! So here I am on brand new laptop, getting used to it and catching up on everything. All because I have a wonderful IT guru, my son in law Mark who set up my new laptop and is always patient with his Mum in law!!

So much has happened in the last month. My printmaking course has ended and we held our end of course exhibition at the Curwen on July 12th. The day before was hectic,cleaning the floor!!! and setting up our boards.

 My boards are nearly ready.

On the Tuesday it was assessment time with Stanley Jones and Chloe Cheese, we each had half an hour with them to show and discuss our work. It was a very positive and helpful experience although slightly nerve wracking; eminent printmakers with years of experience looking at my prints!! At the end of the day we were presented with our cerificates; I passed The Advanced Printmakers Certificate with merit, that was exciting!

The evening exhibition was a big success, with lots of visitors.

including my grandson and daughter....

........of course, he really enjoyed all the prints..........an art lover in the making!!

Actually, he was more interested in crawling around, a new skill he had just discovered!!



Cambridge Open Studios

My first weekend was a success! Luckily my sister came to help me, so I could concentrate on chatting to people. I had some lovely visitors, interested in my work and wanting to know more about the various printmaking processes. I enjoy sharing my exciting journey with others; sales were good, the sun shone and the wine and elderflower cordial were enjoyed. The Sunday was quieter but it meant I could keep an eye on the Wimbledon final now and again. So, a very busy, exciting weekend.

My studio looked good and my work went down the hall and spread into the dining room as well.

Here are some of my cards that I sell, printed from my original work. My welsh gaudy jug....

....my aerial view......



and my spotty shoes. I'd like a pair like these!