A Benchmark Of Home

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”. Mark has been working with five people who haveContinue reading “A Benchmark Of Home”

Scribbling In The Book Shop

  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 favouriteContinue reading “Scribbling In The Book Shop”

International Womens’ Day 2020

  International Womens’ Day 2020 is coming up fast and my fellow artist Patti McJones and I have been asked to organise this year’s event at Cinema & Co. It’ll be our fourth year in this great venue. If you’re in Swansea on March 12th around 5.30 – 7.30, you’re very welcome to join usContinue reading “International Womens’ Day 2020”

A Soft Squeegee And A Vacuum Press

  I cracked on with my trial proofs today at Swansea Print Workshop. I exposed and developed the screens yesterday, and today I mixed up some inks and tried out the screens. I’m very pleased with the quality and resolution. I’m using aluminium screens with 120 mesh from Screenstretch and Azocol photosensitive liquid stencil.  Continue reading “A Soft Squeegee And A Vacuum Press”

Exposing The Dragon

  After the block printing over the weekend, I moved on to the next phase of the multi-media print designed by the artist Jamie Reid. I worked with Kara Seaman at Swansea Print Workshop to coat two silkscreens with Azocol photosensitive solution and after they dried, exposed them each with a transparency in the UVContinue reading “Exposing The Dragon”

And …… Print

The little lino block is finished, the paper is cut, the work station is set up, so today I started printing using Cranfield Caligo Safewash relief ink in black onto Hahnemuehle paper. It’s underway!!!!!   I’m developing an edition of mixed media prints for GS Artists from an original by Jamie Reid. There is aContinue reading “And …… Print”

Finishing The Lino Block

I made the finishing touches to my little lino block “Revenge” today, removing lino from around the edge and cutting it down to size. Then I cut the paper. I sourced a lovely sheet of Hahnemulle German paper, 230gsm, that’s a perfect weight and a lovely velvety surface. I’ll get nearly 80 pieces from it.Continue reading “Finishing The Lino Block”

First Proofing

I did some first proofs from my little lino today, using Cranfield Caligo Safewash relief ink onto four different papers. From the bottom – Hosho, Zercall, Somerset and Bockingford. The Hosho was printed by hand, it’s so fine that I can press the back with my finger and it lifts the ink. The Zercoll wasContinue reading “First Proofing”

Scribbling At Speed

Sometimes there’s a lot of pressure to always turn out a ‘proper’ drawing but I don’t think that’s what sketchbooks are for. Artists need to practice, just as musicians do and my sketchbook is, for me, a great way to practice. Speed drawing helps to hone skills, forcing you to focus on what’s absolutley vitalContinue reading “Scribbling At Speed”