a rock and a hard place

Two and a half months of hand sewing, swearing, pricking my finger and bleeding have resulted in this beauty. Time lavishly spent on an old, much washed pillowcase. This work has a very personal story behind it... It brings to mind a postcard I have somewhere by David Shirley with the cheery message 'good luck in the strange and brutal kingdom you call home'.

a rock and a hard place

testing testing 1 2 3...

The world of linocut is opening up to me... Was thrilled with the print quality from my first two linocuts below. I'm learning about papers, rolling out ink, inking the lino and registering the print. There are simple tricks to help with this and the t'internet provided fruitful search results - particularly Nick Morley at Linocut Boy. I'm now coveting a set of Pfeil tools plus this little beauty and will be borrowing Linocut for Artists and Designers by Nick from Derby Universities library.

I've been using such basic tools, I wonder at what could be achieved with grown up tools!

This Monday (21st Jan) I'll be in the printmaking studio at Derby University bright and early to hand print a limited edition of 25 of each lino on lovely, heavyweight Somerset satin paper. I've had a positive response on social media, so I'll see if this turns into sales. 

It's all about the boundaries...

Dry stone wall (A5)

 Hawthorn hedgerow (A5)

 1st print on newsprint

Varied papers

 1st print on newsprint

 Varied papers