Herstory

herstory print

 

International Women’s Day is coming up fast and there are loads of things going on all over the world to celebrate it. Here in Swansea, on March 12th, Cinema & Co is hosting two exhibitions by Esther Ley, Sally Davies, Patti McJones and me followed by the Feminista Film Festival. 

I used traditional brown lino to cut the little block and printed it up with Cranfield Caligo Safe Wash relief ink using a Japanese baren.

 

And by the way, International Men’s Day is on November 19th – for chaps to celebrate being chaps.

Four Females And A Film Festival

cinema co 1

I cut this MDF woodblock a couple of months ago and got round to printing it today, using Cranfield Caligo Safe Wash relief ink in black onto Japanese Hosho paper, using a Japanese bamboo baren instead of a press. It’s my interpretation of the logo of local independent picture house Cinema & Co.

It’s a great place that supports local culture in many ways including giving artists free space to show our work. They don’t charge commission, all they ask is for artists to make a piece of work relating to the cinema. So here’s mine.

IWD

There’s a fantastic evening coming up on March 12th to celebrate International Womens’ Day. From 5.30 to 7.30 there’s the launch of an exhibition by four local artists (above) – Sally Davies, Esther Ley, Patti McKenna-Jones and me (FREE with home-made cake).

Feminista

And that’s followed by the Feminista Film Festival from 7.30 to 9.30 (info and tickets here). This series of shorts tells the most inspiring stories about women and girls around the world, from America, Syria, Greenland and more. Here’s the trailer….

 

 

 

Workshops Galore!

Some amazing printmaking workshops by Kara Seaman coming up at Swansea Print Workshop soon. Please click on the link to find out more 🙂

 

via Workshops Galore!

Blocking

anger and herstory

I finished cutting a little lino block and made a start on a second. The one that’s finished, I’ve stuck to a commercial handle to make it into a stamp. I got the handle when I visited Berlin a couple of years ago, from the Modulor store. They’re really neat, relatively cheap and available over the Internet here.

 

Here’s a better view of it…..

herstory 1a

Rhubarb!

17-rhubarb

I picked the first rhubarb of the season yesterday. It’s the earliest I’ve ever picked it, it’s out in the open garden, I don’t force my rhubarb to bring it on early. I guess it’s the relatively warm and wet winter we’ve had.

rhubarb

I did a drawing eight years ago just as the rhubarb was starting to come through the ground – it’s almost three weeks later than the thick robust stems I picked over the weekend.

rhubarb-crumble

 

Then I made a crumble. Husb had it with lashings of custard. I don’t eat rhubarb. It has it’s original ancient medicinal effect on me – a laxative!

Welsh Cakes For Saint David’s Day

welsh cakes a

Today is Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant, or Saint David’s Day, here in Wales, a day of tradition and celebration and one of our finest traditions is Welsh food. I cooked some Welsh Cakes – or Pice ar y Maen (little cakes on the bakestone). Here’s a recipe if you want to try them. I used dairy free, vegetarian spread instead of animal fat to cook mine.

welsh cakes

I have a very traditional cast iron Maen (griddle or bakestone) that I’ve had for over 40 years now and I think it’s the best thing to cook Welsh cakes on – they are part of a long history, possibly thousands of years, of cooking over an open fire. Welsh cakes and similar griddle cakes would have been cooked this way for many generations. And they’re perfect with a nice cup of tea.

 

A Benchmark Of Home

Benchmarks 2

I went to the opening of the new  exhibitions at Elysium this afternoon. The larger gallery is devoted to work by the resident artist Mark Folds, called Crises, while the smaller gallery has three large-scale pieces made by members of Crisis, the homelessness charity, called “Benchmarks”.

Benchmarks 3

Mark has been working with five people who have experienced homelessness, using materials usually associated with home – wood, benches, carpets, beds – to produce these life size artworks.  

Benchmarks 1

 

The title of this show, Benchmarks, means something that serves as a standard by which we measure or judge others. And other people are often very quick to judge those who are or have been homeless. But also, homeless people are often not noticed, are hidden, are ignored because so many others are complacent about it.

Benchmarks 4

Crisis is an organisation that recognises the importance of creative activities in helping people to move into a stable lifestyle, supporting many creative tutors across the UK in visual arts, crafts, music and creative writing. and recognising how the arts can be used to educate people and improve skills as well as offering people something to do with their time.

The exhibition runs until April 18th at 210, High Street SA1 1PE.

Scribbling In The Book Shop

waterstones cafe 2020

 

I spent today doing lots of little bits of stuff, catching up with things I’ve been needing to do. One thing I’ve neglected for a while is sketchbook scribbling so I called into Waterstones cafe on my way home for a nice cup of tea and a relaxed scribble. It’s one of my favourite places for chilling and sketching; it’s been converted from the old Carlton cinema which is a beautiful building, inside and out.

The Final Touch

finished

 

The mixed media print I’ve been working on for the past couple of weeks is now finished! I did the final touches this evening. “Dragon’s Revenge” is designed by Jamie Reid and commissioned by GS Artists and is a combination of archival digital print (the pale blue background and the word DRAGONS), screenprint (the red Welsh dragon and the blue Saint George), lino cut (the word REVENGE) and a separate digital print (the words MAE HEDDWCH YN GALED).

I collaged the final pieces this evening. It’s great to see an artwork in two languages; Mae Heddwch Yn Galed means Peace Is Hard.

 

dragons-revenge

 

An exhibition of the political works of anarchic artist Jamie Reid, is at GS Artists on Swansea’s High Street until March 1st.

 

 

Onto The Next Block ……

herstory 1a

As one art project comes to an end, the next one gets started. I’m cutting a new little lino block – something for International Womens’ Day #IWD2020 . I’m using hard brown lino and I’ll fix the block to a stamp base that I bought in the Modular store in Berlin a while back.

And here’s a very short video of me finishing printing my last little lino block on my antique Sampson Mordan & Co press. It’s a gorgeous chunk of cast iron with lush Victorian styling and rather Steampunk.

 

 

This little block in the video is part of a print I am editioning, designed by Jamie Reid for GS Artists, who are showing an exhibition of his radical art in Swansea at the moment.

 

dragons-revenge