I tried this neat trick with the two letterpress pieces I did recently at Swansea Print Workshop. After the first print, I moved the paper slightly and put it back through the press and it picked up the ghost from the remaining ink on the wooden blocks.
I played around with Letterpress again at Swansea Print Workshop this week. Last week I did a piece using Intaglio Printmaker’s relief inks and this week tried out Cranfield Caligo Safewash, both times using a rainbow roll. I found little to choose between them, to be honest. The Safewash is slightly runnier and less sticky which gives softer edges but it’s also much easier to clean up.
I used a combination of different type from the “odds’n’sods” draw, leftover letters that don’t belong anywhere else. I love these vintage and antique wooden blocks, they have so much character, they’ve lived a life and the little nicks and worn bits are so much more interesting to me than brand new perfect ones …. or computer generated.
Carrying on with the little still-life painting, I filled in the colours roughly on the bottles and took the background through a mixed pink to dioxazine purple. Once the drawing is in place, this painting seems a bit like colouring-in. I normally stress over making art, but this is very relaxing.
I started the painting with Daler Rowney System 3 acrylic paints but since bringing it home, I’ve switched to Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic. I’m painting onto a canvas board.
Last week I taught an introductory adult education session at GS Artists, one of Swansea’s finest. I borrowed a selection of decoupaged bottles for the still life and set them on a plinth in the middle of the group. I chose these instead of clear bottles so we didn’t have to cope with reflections and refractions.
I started with a few drawing warm-ups, continuous line and drawing negative space, then the participants drew onto canvas board and painted with Daler Rowney acrylic paints. I worked along with them so I could demonstrate techniques in real time. I wouldn’t normally work directly onto a white background, but as it was a basic class I decided not to muddy the waters.
I finished scraping a layer of Dioxazine Purple (transparent) over the bulk of my nocturne with a palette knife. When it dried, I started to sketch in some figures with Unbleached Titanium (opaque). I’m using Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paints over a recycled and heavily textured stretched canvas. Still a long way to go ….
It’s #Caturday / Saturday again and here she is, Sparta Puss, lounging on a comfy blanket surrounded by cushions. What a life! I put the image through Adobe Photoshop using a Watercolour filter.
I carried on with a little bit more of my current painting, a nocturne with a fiery figure. I laid some Dioxazine Purple (translucent) onto the Cadmium Orange (opaque) ground with a palette knife and a couple of flat brushes, scraping it to let some of the orange show through.
I’m using Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paint onto a stretched, sized canvas.
I printed the type form I put together at the weekend, using a rainbow roll of Pthalo Green and Rhodamine Red oil-based relief inks. I printed with Swansea Print Workshop‘s Columbian Press onto Kent paper. I love the way the well-worn vintage letters have dints and dimples and rough areas that add to the character of the print.
I often sketch when I sit behind people in audiences, but rarely get to draw such a magnificent pair of ears.
Here’s another scribble I made when Husb and I went to a political panel event in Penybont ar Ogwr / Bridgend the other evening. I sketched this audience member and his haircut with a ballpoint pen into my leather-bound A5 sketchbook.
scribblah 