#Caturday Silhouette 16: More Stripey.

It’s #Caturday Saturday again and here’s a positive silhouette of Bill aka William ChatNoir, our sweet little black rescue cat. She’s on the same background as last #Caturday. It’s Fabriano drawing paper I prepared with a couple of coats of gesso and then dribbled my home made walnut husk ink onto it. When it was dry, I dragged some of my Daler Rowney oil pastels along the stripiness. I sometimes take these prepared papers out into the countryside to do landscape drawing, but I don’t go out of the city very often (I’m a city girl) and so I have a lot of these prepared sheets hanging around.

Some Spontaneity…

I did some more drawing on my new Mari Lwyd linocut, it is almost finalised, and I got on with some more carving today. I rarely complete the drawing before I start carving because I often want to change some of the design when I see it starting to take shape on the block. Some printmakers make very precise designs but I like to allow for some spontaneity when I’m printmaking.

An Overlooked Destination.

I went to the opening of a lovely exhibition for International Women’s Day, at Cynon Valley Museum in Aberdare. The show is called ‘Women & The Valleys: The Valleys’ Daughters’ , curated by Karin Mear and runs until 30th March 2025. I submitted my screenprint, “Smiling and Splendid” inspired by the Miner’s Wives struggle of 1984/1985. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, 9.30 – 3.30. The South Wales Valleys are often overlooked as a destination to visit, which is a pity because there’s a lot there, culturally and historically.

Shaft Of Spring Sunshine.

I started to carve into my large lino block this afternoon and a shaft of Spring sunshine glowed across the room and onto my work space. The strong shadow made the cutting difficult, but I thought it made a good photo. I’m using a Flexcut gouge and traditional grey, hessian-backed lino.

Sketchbook Archives: 27

Back in May 2013, I visited the USA to do a residency at Wingtip Press in Boise, Idaho. Here are some of my sketches from that visit. It was a fascinating journey, Idaho is the Wild West and the culture and geography are so different to the UK. I’m used to wet Wales and Boise is extremely dry.

Drawing Details.

Over the past few days I’ve been carving details of my new Mari Lwyd linocut design into a small piece of lino to see how they work out, so now I’ve started drawing details onto my full size block. There’s a way to go yet though before I start carving…


#Caturday Silhouette 15: Stripey!

It’s #Caturday Saturday again and here’s a negative silhouette of Bill aka William ChatNoir, out little black rescue cat. She’s very sweet.

Ribbons And Bells.

I’m carrying on cutting my practice piece, carving some bells and ribbons that will adorn the head of the Mari Lwyd. The bells are quite a challenge.

I’m using Flexcut tools kept sharp with a Slip Strop into traditional grey hessian-backed lino. I drew directly onto the lino with a Faber Castell Pitt drawing pen, working from a photo of my own Mari Lwyd.

Blooded Myself…Again!

I’ve cut the little eye of the Mari Lwyd, a practice run for my next large-ish linocut. I’m using traditional grey, hessian-backed lino and Flexcut tools and a Slip Strop to keep them sharp. I blooded myself today! Still do it after all these years!

Sketchbook Archives: 26

Here are some heads from May 2013. Three are from my sketchbooks, one is charcoal over a discarded cyanotype print, one chalk over an ink splash, and one full colour monotype. I think I like drawing people’s faces more than any other thing.