Practising What I Preach

I’ve been doing quite a bit of teaching lately and I encourage people to experiment, to loosen up, to enjoy playing with the materials and see what turns up. And I really should practise what I preach! So I’m trying to chill out and splash about with paint and not work directly from life asContinue reading “Practising What I Preach”

Returning Children

I usually work from drawings done from life, only occasionally from a photograph and this is one of the rare original prints, a monotype, done entirely from a photo. I took the original image on a digital camera when I first visited Pakistan back in 2007, an amazing, life-changing journey. We travelled up the KhyberContinue reading “Returning Children”

The Finished Piece

It’s been a couple of weekends since I did the screenprint book course at Swansea Print Workshop with Kelly Stewart and I just realised that I didn’t blog about the finished piece. Well, here it is: the front above…… ….. and the back below, showing the covers ….. And here’s everyone’s …..

The Book Covers

Last weekend I did a short course in making a screenprinted book and part of the process was the covers. I did the designs with black acrylic paint brushed onto acetate and then scratched into the surface with a nail when it was dry. The hand lettering was done with a Faber Castell Pitt drawingContinue reading “The Book Covers”

Print Explosion at Volcano

There’s a new exhibition at Volcano on Swansea’s High Street called Print Explosion! It’s the annual show for members of Swansea Print Workshop and I have 8 original prints in it. The opening party is on Friday July 6th, 6.30 – 9.00 pm and the show runs until Saturday July 28th. If you’re passing, pleaseContinue reading “Print Explosion at Volcano”

Absolutely Shattered!

It’s the second day of the weekend screenprint book course at Swansea Print Workshop, headed up by Kelly Stewart, and I’m absolutely shattered. We did the drawings and design for it yesterday and today we printed, working at a fast pace in a heatwave! Yesterday, I produced 6 drawn images on acetate for the interior,Continue reading “Absolutely Shattered!”

Out Of My Comfort Zone!

Today! Right out of my comfort zone!   I’ve been at Swansea Print Workshop on day one of a weekend course with the excellent printmaker Kelly Stewart. I’m learning how to make a hardbacked screenprinted concertina book inspired by my drawings. I started with a group of mixed media drawings of Neolithic Standing Stones IContinue reading “Out Of My Comfort Zone!”

Getting Started

Just started drawing an idea for a new woodcut, scribbled it out onto a piece of layout paper with a chunk of 6B graphite first then did a couple of more detailed studies.   Next stage – getting some hand-lettering worked out….

Working With Wood

I recently did a woodcut selfie. I showed the print that I took a couple of days ago, and here now is the woodblock. I often like the blocks more than the prints, especially if they’re on a nice grained wood. I sometimes don’t want to ink up a woodblock because I think it wouldContinue reading “Working With Wood”

Something Of Myself

I have always done a lot of teaching with adults and I think that an important part of my  technique is demonstration. I always work alongside the people I teach, going through the same processes as them, and facing the same highs and lows.   I was running a weekend course at the Glynn VivianContinue reading “Something Of Myself”