So, after two and a half months of research, preparation, creative blocks, blood, sweat and a lot of hard work, I finally finished carving my very large block of wood and did the first print. And breathe! The block has been sealed with three coats of shellac and methylated spirits (mixed 50:50) and I amContinue reading “And Breathe!”
Category Archives: At Home
Drawing Blood!
I draw lots of things. Today I drew blood! I’m back to reality after our short break to Italy and cracking on with carving my large woodcut (80 x 120 cms), a commission from Sky Arts TV channel. One of the occupational hazards of carving blocks for relief printing is the razor sharp tools thatContinue reading “Drawing Blood!”
It’s All A Bit Zen.
The carving begins! The final drawing has been transferred in reverse onto the MDF block in compressed charcoal. Then I redrew everything with a brush and walnut ink. And now I’m cutting. After all the rush and stress of the past few weeks, it feels a bit Zen to quietly carve into the wood,Continue reading “It’s All A Bit Zen.”
Getting On With It
I’m on the last leg now with “Here Be Dragons”, my commission for Sky Arts, getting my final design transferred into a large sheet of MDF. I’m back in my studio at home, with Helen Finney’s portrait of me looking down as I work. I transferred it using detail paper, that had a tracingContinue reading “Getting On With It”
Tart And Dumplings
It’s Autumn! Time for Autumn food. I have been given some windfall cooking apples and I had a few very ripe plums so I got the butter out of the fridge, made some pastry and turned the fruit into four apple dumplings and a large plum and apple tart. I would have drawn them, butContinue reading “Tart And Dumplings”
Daisy Dawg
Greetings apes. Sparta Puss here. The she-monkey that I share my house with has been cheating on me with a dog called Daisy. A DOG! They’re as smelly as apes and even more stupid.
Up Yer Furry Nose
Greetings Hairless Apes. Sparta Puss here. My trained monkeys have left the pooter box unattended so I thought I’d give you the benefit of my wisdom. Even though I know it won’t be of much use, you’re just a bunch of simians, after all. The idiot she-monkey, the one who does the scribbling, has beenContinue reading “Up Yer Furry Nose”
Anything Goes…
I’m not a painter. I draw, I make original prints, I experiment with mixed media work. But I rarely paint. So as far as I’m concerned, anything goes. If something doesn’t work out, I can paint over it and start again. So I don’t know what the rules are (well, some of the basic ones,Continue reading “Anything Goes…”
Out Of The Blue…
Where do we draw inspiration from? Well, frankly, could be anything, anywhere, anytime. Sometimes it flows from a planned programme of research, other times it just hits you out of the blue. I try to listen to a TED Talk each day and one popped up yesterday by the oceanographer Penny Chisholm about theContinue reading “Out Of The Blue…”
Seven Years A Blogging…
WordPress sent me a message a couple of days ago to remind me that I had been blogging for 7 years. I’m really chuffed that I’m still at it after all this time and I’ve published about two and a half thousand posts. That’s a lot of art I’ve done and written about. I did myContinue reading “Seven Years A Blogging…”
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