A Silver Anniversary

This year is the 25th anniversary of the opening of Swansea Print Workshop, where I spend many happy hours drawing and making prints, usually linocuts or woodcuts but also sometimes etchings and screenprints. It’s a great facility for artists across South Wales and it’s entirely run by the members who are the artists who useContinue reading “A Silver Anniversary”

#Caturday Archives 15

It’s #Caturday / Saturday again. Once upon a time, Sparta Puss was a little kitten. A naughty little kitten. And small enough to run up the curtains. One day, I caught her soft-furnishing shenanigans on camera as she clawed her way up and down some voiles with a spiral pattern. I made a series ofContinue reading “#Caturday Archives 15”

Four Females And A Film Festival

I cut this MDF woodblock a couple of months ago and got round to printing it today, using Cranfield Caligo Safe Wash relief ink in black onto Japanese Hosho paper, using a Japanese bamboo baren instead of a press. It’s my interpretation of the logo of local independent picture house Cinema & Co. It’s aContinue reading “Four Females And A Film Festival”

Shellac And Meths

  So the new woodblock I’m working on has been cut and is now out in the shed drying after a coat of shellac and methylated spirits in a 50:50 ratio. It needs two more coats to seal it properly so I hope to be able to take a first proof from it sometime onContinue reading “Shellac And Meths”

Pronto

I’m in printmaking mode at the moment, with a woodcut and a silkscreen in development. This woodcut will hopefully be ready for an event at Swansea’s Cinema & Co this Saturday, November 9th. It’s a free event with a screening of the marvellous film “Set Fire To The Stars“, poetry, music and new art throughoutContinue reading “Pronto”

A Big Box Of Pencils

  I did a bit more work on my next woodcut today, making a tracing from my original drawing to transfer the image onto the wood block. I used a thick charcoal pencil for the tracing because I have to turn the tracing paper over to reverse the image onto the wood. Once the reversedContinue reading “A Big Box Of Pencils”

A Glutton For Punishment

  So did a couple of hours teaching today and loads of admin- the glamorous life of an artist eh? And a little bit more work on my preparatory drawing for a woodcut. I worked out where the dark areas are to be and started to think about the cutting and registration of the finalContinue reading “A Glutton For Punishment”

A Bit Each Day

It’s easy to get precious about making art, I’m guilty of that! I spend so much time agonising about what to do that I almost get creative paralysis at times. One of the things I do to overcome this is to start working on a process and just do a bit every day. Sometimes youContinue reading “A Bit Each Day”

Draw, Redraw And Tidy Up

  Today I had a good clean out of my working space, sorting out cupboards and boxes, clearing desk tops and shelves, filling recycling bags and setting aside things to give away, a new start for the new year. Then I began to so some preliminary work for a new woodcut. I did a drawingContinue reading “Draw, Redraw And Tidy Up”