A New Year Dawns

Happy New Year All

Well we all seem to have got through another Christmas and we have a whole new year ahead of us.

As all ways on New Year’s Day I try to spend it in my studio printmaking in the hope to start the New Year in the way I would like the rest of the year to play out.

This is one of the mono prints I made:  A New Year Dawns 

 A New Year Dawns

Monoprint 

Jan 2013

So again I would like to wish you all prospers and creative New Year

Spring is Here and a New Broom

Ok it’s the 1^st September and that means is spring here and it’s one off the nicest days we have had in a long time blue skies and fluffy white clouds

So im going to start my spring cleaning with a week of cleaning out my studio and workshop and getting the garden in to shape

Its hard looking though all the UFP’s and deciding which one to carry on with, which ones to pack away for later and which ones are beyond hope and mead to be recycled.   

mono/type relief print

Tea and Black Ink 

World Roast Day

What a great excuse to have a nice roast meal of roast beef and Yorkshire puddings and roast veg with family and friends    

mono/type relief print

Tea and Black Ink 

Last of Winter Blues

OK i'm getting really tired of this winter.

So I'm going to try to shake myself out of the blue and start to get back in to making art 

ATC 

Relief print  

Change As Good As a Rest

Change As Good As a Rest so they tell me. Well my wife and I went on a 3 day retreat at my friend’s studio and retreat this weekend. Spent all day Thursday cleaning up and packing my print shop up I had no idea what I was going to need for the week end so I took almost everything we set off just after lunch time on Friday and drove for 2 hour to get there we had plenty of time to look around on the way. Over the week end I did an impromptu demo on relief printing made 10 wood grain texture plates 2 woodcut blocks, a linocut and 2 dry points plus I got to proof them all. All in all I had a really great weekend I hope you all had one too.    

Woodcut proof

Not much happening this week

Well I have been busy this week been working hard making art but I can’t really say that that done anything of interest but I made a goal to try and blog at least once a week so here it is.

MonoPrint

Gelatine plate water base inks

One Down

Well we are in to February and it feels like this year has been made up of short weeks. This weekend has been another long weekend but I think it is the last one till Easter, I like that idea as it means, I do not have to stop and start and can just work though. Plus the kids are back at school so there are not so many people on the beaches. Haha

MonoPrint

Gelatine plate Acrylic paint

In the shadow of the mountain

I’m really looking forward to the first art group of the New Year, to meet up with artist friends at a friend’s studio. Her studio is right under a mountain range and puts on a different mood each day, it’s a great day working, talking, sharing ideas plus we have a marvellous pot luck lunch. The only down side of the day is when we have to pack up and drive home, but we came start to looking forward to the next time haha.

Woodcut (Recycle block)

Safewash ink on 220gm Print paper

Ed of 5

Now that Over with

Ok now that Christmas Day and Boxing Day are over with for another year or at lease 364 day I can start kicking all the stuff out of my studio which was hidden in there for Christmas day and I can start thinking about project to do in the New Year.

Woodcut (Recycle block)

Safewash ink on 220gm Print paper

Ed of 5

That Time of Year

Well it’s that time of year again were I can not move in my studio, as in the process of getting ready for the family Christmas dinner every thing that we do not like the look of, need to hide or need just to put some were for the day has ended up in my studio.

So there is no bench space to work on and no floor space to move, but it is a small price to pay to have a great meal and a fun time with family and friends plus the good thing is the day after I can start moving it all out again and have my studio to myself again.  

Woodcut (Recycle block)

Safewash ink on 220gm Print paper

Ed of  5

That time of year again

Will its December again and the silly season is on us again and people are starting to shift into high gear getting ready for Christmas and the summer holidays.

Everything in the garden are growing and going mad including lawns and weeds so there plenty work there to do.

I have had two Members Art Exhibition openings on the 1^st December at two local community art centres.

I did get the last colour done my xmas prints finished, I had so much fun playing will them that I have decided to carry on and play with the recycled wood block printing into the new year

“I R not Turkey”

Woodcut (Recycle block)

Safewash ink on 220gm Print paper

Ed of 18

One more colour to go

Nearly done, had to let the prints have a day to dry between colours, one more colour to go and them it time to tidy them up, sign and title them and see how many are left in this edition.

First colour done and dusted

Finally found the time to get stuck in and start the printing of my xmas print it took best part of the day but I really loved the time I spent rolling up the block and them the hand burnishing of the print it really make you part of the print or the print part of you haha.

So first colour done and dusted

Underway

Ok I have my print well underway I have cut all the block. There are 4 blocks and I’m going to use 6 colours..

I have also decided on the method of printing and for the registration of the print plus I have been play with the colours

Waste not Wont not

Ok playing with some ideas for my xmas print I think I know what I want to do.

A friend have just given me a stack planks from shop fitting displays so I have decided to use the recycled wood to make the blocks for the print so I spent all day cutting some down to size. They are quite thick so I cam use both side and get the most out of my recycling

Still busy

This years moving along so fast here we are in the middle of spring, the weather is very unsettled and plenty of hard work to beat the garden back in to shape so there will be some fresh veggies on the table, plus they tell me a hand fall of week till its Christmas again. So it must be time to start my xmas card print.

Monotye relief Collagraph
paper and shellac collage plait
water based ink on 250gm paper

End of another one

It’s just funny how one minute you are planning the month ahead of you and the next it’s over and you have to start planning the next.
This month has been very busy I started by planning every thing that needed to go into the month, events, openings, deadlines, workshop, art group meetings and other stuff that needed to be done, so I did them as they came up and the month just flow by and its time to start planning for the next one. This year is running away at its own pace with wings to help it along.

“Tranformation #75“

MonoType ink ¼ sheet 300g printmaker paper
June 2011

Still Playing

Been making lots of Collagraph plates for the last two week playing with all sorts of different texture made in deferent ways with all kinds of stuff so now I will have to spend the next week or so to seal them all before I can have the fun of playing with the printing of them. I do enjoy the making of the plates as much as the printing of them it’s the cleanup I find hard and boring haha

Just a little Blue

Been a busy week this week the time shore fly when you having fun

This is just a little colligraph plate I proofed looking at textures

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all, I would like to thank all the people that have taken the time to read and follow my blog. The end of last year came up real fast and I had projects unfinished and not started but this is a hole New Year completely unmarred and a clean canvas for all.

I have also taken the time to make a list of some of the goals I would like to achieve this year and the first is to keep my Blog up to date more often and try to make it more interesting for the people that take the time to read it.

I went in to my studio to clean it up a bit, a bit of a slow start in the morning and found my self playing with the inks instead of cleaning ended up make a couple of monotypes.

So with all that said here is the first monotype of the year

“New Year #2“
MonoType
W/B ink ¼ sheet 300g printmaker paper

Jan 2011