I spent a lot of time bent over a bench hook today, carving away at some more little lino blocks. I’d started some on brown lino yesterday but it wasn’t working out, the lino is very hard and not suited to my design. So I switched to the grey lino, that I’d used for my first three blocks, and it’s working well. I’ve done a rough cut so the next thing is to do proof prints from tham all to see what needs recutting.
I’ve been cutting away at tiny lino blocks to print words onto fabric and I’ve been using up offcuts as lino is expensive. The grey has been fine but I started on a brown lino block earlier and it’s much harder than the grey and quite slippery too. It’s not really suitable for the rounded text I’ve used so it’s back to the grey lino tomorrow.
Today was a mixed bag with Zoom meetings (how quickly have we taken to Zoom?), an allotment visit, finished cutting a small lino block and marked up two more, made soup and biscuits and then had an hysterical family ‘pub’ quiz on Zoom. It’s been so good to be able to keep in touch through IT, but there are still so many people who don’t have that option and are going through the lockdown alone.
There’s a lot of work going on in this city to get homeless people into housing and to support those who are isolated, but this emergency has highlighted how many rely on libraries or others to connect to the Internet. Some people are living on their own, shopping on their own, going out to exercise on their own, without the Internet, without human contact, week after week. Digital exclusion doesn’t just affect people’s life chances but also their health.
I painted a rainbow onto a small canvas and put it into the window and then went out to do a bit of shopping and came across another of these little Jack Russell wheatpastes, this time he’s been censored! He’s on Instagram, he’s @theswanseajack
Queueing today at the chemist (pharmacy). It took a while so had a quick scribble while I waited. It’s lucky that we’re having such good weather, queueing is pleasant enough, but it’s going to be horrible when the weather turns.
Just doodling this evening with my Samsung Galaxy Note 8, a free app called “Markers” and Sparta Puss. She’s looking a bit scruffy because it’s Springtime and she’s moulting. She needs brushing but every time I get near her with a brush, she bites me. Hey ho.
I chose another word to carve into a small lino block today. I’d been playing around with lots of words and phrases that have become associated with the pandemic lockdown. But it isn’t just about choosing random text, but words that have some meaning and resonance for me. The first word I cut and printed onto a mask was “isolate” which was pretty much the first message of the lockdown. But I work part-time for a homelessness charity and as the weeks have gone by I have come to realise that for some people “isolate” has become “isolation” and is hard to cope with.
Many charities, alongside the statutory services, are working flat out to develop different, safe and effective ways of supporting the most vulnerable people in society. If you have some time to spare, please check out some of their websites to see what they do.
Despite global lockdown, there’s loads to do; all those jobs that we’ve been putting off for years as well as getting creative. Making a work of art is often a bit like an iceberg, you only see the top 10%, the final bit of the process. Behind that work of art is a lot of thinking, planning, sketching, thinking, trying things out, thinking and …. more thinking before anything concrete happens. Today was one of those days, lots of thinking, some sketching, doodling, scribbling and even more thinking.
Didn’t do any cooking today, just warmed up the leftovers ….. lovely ……
Lockdown carries on. Cooler today but still sunny so I spent some time in the garden sketching some ideas. Then I marked up a block of grey lino – I should get three small prints from it.
I’ve been playing with words; words that keep cropping up throughout the pandemic; some good; some negative.
I’ll work on the lettering and try out different styles before I transfer them to blocks for carving. I like hand lettering and I love the book “Hand Job, A Catalogue of Type” by Michael Perry.
Then I made lasagne – there’s enough for tomorrow too.
And now Husb and I are settling in for a night of Deadpool and Deadpool 2.
See you tomorrow on #PlanetLockdown xx 😀
Another quick little sketch in a queue…..
scribblah 