It’s All About The Technical Details!

March 16th and 17th at Swansea Print Workshop I’m running a course in woodcut printmaking using MDF. “Q. Can you use MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) for woodcut prints? A. Yes you can – as long as you get the technical details right. Q. And how do I make sure that I get a nice qualityContinue reading “It’s All About The Technical Details!”

My Weakest Link

I’m taking part in the 40 Day Drawing Challenge set by Green Olive Press in Morocco – isn’t the Internet a wonderful thing, it’s so easy to send stuff around the world instantly. I decided to take the opportunity to push myself right out of my comfort zone and draw objects. I envy artists whoContinue reading “My Weakest Link”

Met A Monkeh

Went to a wedding, met a monkeh! Seemed like a nice chap. On the arts front, I have finally finished the print installations that I’ll be taking to the Penarth Pavilion Gallery for a new show that opens next week, with work from Swansea and Cardiff Print Workshops. These small stamped images of Frida KahloContinue reading “Met A Monkeh”

Wellies And Woods

This afternoon, Husb and I went for a family walk in the gorgeous Penllergare Woods, just north of Swansea. It’s a spectacular Victorian garden, established by the photography pioneer John Dillwyn Llewellyn, that is being restored to its former glory. He had the valley of the Afon (River) Llan landscaped in the ‘Picturesque‘ style. IContinue reading “Wellies And Woods”

Deconstruct Reconstruct

A little while ago I made a group of cyanotype prints from some original sketchbook portraits of older women. Each was printed onto a piece of heavyweight Bockingford paper cut from a pattern for a Victorian corset. I assembled them originally in the sequence that would assemble the corset, tying each together with purple ribbonContinue reading “Deconstruct Reconstruct”

Get Over Yourself

  I recently had a rubber stamp made from a screen print I did a few months back (here) and tried it out today for the first time on some leftover pieces of lovely Shiohara paper. It came out like, well, a rubber stamp. Being a geeky and rather obsessive printmaker, I of course wantedContinue reading “Get Over Yourself”

Pulling The Columbian

I had a very busy Sunday pulling some woodcut prints down at Swansea Print Workshop. I used the beautiful old Columbian press, an antique dating from the 1850s, when Queen Victoria was on the British throne. How many prints have been pulled off this press? How many hands have pulled the lever? It’s not onlyContinue reading “Pulling The Columbian”

The Blue Stones

I’ve been thinking about how to develop the drawings I did last weekend in North Pembrokeshire. I have seven drawings from four different Neolithic sites and I thought that one or two of them might look good as cyanotypes. Cyanotype is an archaic form of photography invented in early Victorian times by Sir John HerschelContinue reading “The Blue Stones”

Constrained, A Victorian Tapestri

I’ve finally finished the piece I’ve been working on for the exhibition ‘A Victorian Tapestri’  at the end of this week. It’s constructed of the 12 pieces that make up a Victorian corset, cut from a heavyweight Somerset paper. I coated each with cyanotype chemicals and printed them with some of my sketchbook drawings. I’ve called itContinue reading “Constrained, A Victorian Tapestri”

Blue Sunday

A while back I began a new piece of artwork, quite an ambitious one using some of my sketchbook drawings of older women and a Victorian corset pattern to create a 3D piece in cyanotype, an archaic photographic technique. I cut the pieces from some lovely Somerset Velvet paper, 12 in all, and scanned andContinue reading “Blue Sunday”