Art can be very serious and it’s nice now and again to just have a bit of fun and play with it. I stuck my fingers in some kids’ poster paints and splatted them onto a sheet of sturdy paper. It was fun but also I got effects I wouldn’t normally when I paint because I’m too uptight.
I’m running a cyanotype session at GS Artists this coming Friday as part of their 9-to-90 Creative Community. I love working there, the atmosphere is terrific. If you want to come along, it’s free but you’ll need to reserve a place on Eventbrite because spaces are limited – here’s the link. There are lots of different ways to create an image in cyanotype, I’ve shown a few on the crib sheet (above).
“Cyan is the colour blue and also the first four letters of cyanide and it’s this poison combined with ferric compounds that form the chemical basis for one of the earliest forms of photography, invented by the Astronomer Royal Sir John Herschel in 1842 to take images of the moon. Other more stable forms of photography were invented soon after and cyanotype became unfashionable except as the ‘blueprints’ used by engineers and architects. It’s been having a revival recently and is often called ‘Sunprints’.
You can use lots of things to make a cyanotype image. There are Photograms where you put something directly onto the paper and expose it to light, this is great with leaves and flat objects – paperclips, sequins, feathers, cutlery, lace and we encourage you to bring small things that you might like to include in your design.
There are Photographic cyanotypes as well, using old photographic negatives on film. Or you can print out a negative onto a sheet of acetate in your printer. And if you like drawing and painting, you can do that onto a sheet of acetate or clear acrylic and make a cyanotype from these too.“
See Eventbrite to book and find out more about the session.
Husb and I went to the demonstration to support industrial action at the TATA steelworks in Port Talbot, organised by the trade union, Unite. I sat down in the sunshine and had a scribble. There was a lot of red against the dark looming steelworks in the background.
I’ve got three little lino blocks cut and ready to print, inspired by the research and drawings I did about the South Wales Miners’ Wives 1984-1985. I’ve set up the print station, everything’s ready to go. Eventually, these will be for sale here on my website.
Here’s our little elderly rescue kitty, ‘Bill’ AKA ‘William Chatnoir’ AKA ‘Phoebe’ who came to us almost a year ago. She ended up in a rescue shelter when her beloved human sadly passed. She was fearful and depressed when she first moved in but she’s found her paws and is quite feisty now, especially when our other elderly kitty, ‘Sparta Puss’, tries to pinch her biscuits! Here she is with tulips, my favourite flower. And ‘William ChatNoir’? Husb is a Trekkie!
Husb made a short film of a lot of my sketchbook drawings. Many artists draw in sketchbooks but they’re rarely made public. So please have a look 😀
I had a bit of fun with this little lino block. I teach art to adults a couple of days a week and I’m running a course on lino printing at the moment. We’re doing ‘jigsaw’ lino blocks, and today I demonstrated how to maximise colour using the ‘rainbow roll’ technique. It’s nice to do something whimsical once in a while.
Just doing a quick check on the carving so far, using good quality tracing paper and a block of graphite. It’s a bit rough and ready but gives me an idea about how much cutting I need to do on this woodblock. I started carving it as a demonstration piece on an adult education session I was running recently, and I’m going to finish it over the next week or so, printing it up using different techniques.
Carrying on carving my little piece of plywood. I like experimenting with my Flexcut tools. Some printmakers restrict themselves to a couple or three tools but I like to try them all out, they give interesting textures.
“Greetings Hoomins. Sparta Puss here. It’s been too long since I last got my paws on the Pooter Box. The she-monkey has been keeping me away from it! The hairless apes have been busy faffing around in the house and garden, they say we’re moving. I don’t know what that means but things around here are much tidier than they used to be. They’ve made me a new lawn to lie on and sometimes they put a rug and cushions on it for me. I don’t know why she left a book there though, it’s not edible and it doesn’t run away for me to chase it. Useless thing. Stoopid Hoomins. Ciao Miao.”
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