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Back in April 2014 I travelled to Pakistan with another Swansea Printmaker to do a residency at the Zaira Zaka Print Studio near Rawalpindi. It was an amazing and exhausting experience – jet lag, culture shock, a visit to the ancient monuments at Taxila; working day and night in the studio with my fellow artists to make enough work for a show; the exhibition launch at the fabulous Satrang Gallery in Islamabad opened by the British Ambassador; the hectic weekend in Lahore for my birthday; a full schedule of meetings with artists and gallery owners when we came back from Crazy Lahore, home, reverse culture shock, jet lag!

Hannah Lawson, Zaira Zaka and me in Zaira’s fabulous print studio near Rawalpindi.

When I got home, I was pitched straight back into normal hectic life and it’s taken a while to get my thoughts in order, to get back to the experience, to draw inspiration and develop new work from it.

But something’s finally happening! My fellow printmaker, Hannah Lawson and I are bringing our experiences back home in a four-day pop-up studio at Swansea Print Workshop, from Friday October the 23rd to Monday October the 26th .

Hanna, Zaira and me at the Taxila Buddhist UNESCO ancient monument in north-west Punjab.

We’re kicking off with a family-friendly Welsh – Pakistani tea from 4.30 – 7pm on Friday the 23rd, with Welsh Cakes and Bara Brith, Pink Chai and Builder’s Brew, Pakoras and Samosas and home made chutneys and jams. So if you’re in the area, please pop in.

And the Dragon, the Star and the Crescent Moon? Those are our flags. Pretty cool flags, huh?

I blogged more or less daily while I was in Pakistan and here’s one I did at the beginning of the journey.

Tags: art residencies, Bara Brith, chai, crescent moon, dragon, flags, food, Islamabad, monotype, Pakistan, Pakistani art, pakoras, printmaking, Rawalpindi, samosas, Satrang Gallery, star, Swansea, Taxila, tea, travel, UNESCO heritage sites, Wales, Welsh art, Welsh Cakes