Printy Inky Messy Day!

I spent last weekend in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, staying with friends.  However, the reason I was there, was to attend a day of Monoprinting at The Yard Artspace, with Sue Brown.  

We had a really good day, trying a great technique for producing pieces of work, using a sheet of clear acrylic plastic, inks and a small press, with cut out card shapes, pieces of non-absorbent materials (such as lace, textured wallpapers) and dried flowers and leaves.

I enjoyed the day very much and was quite pleased with the results that I achieved. There were four of us, plus Sue and we all produced some very different results, using the same basic techniques.  

The large red area is ink (oil-based relief printing ink) rolled onto a sheet of clear plastic (which just shows up as slightly grey against the magazine behind it).  Over this I placed some torn strips of textured wallpaper - face down.  This was rolled through the press, to leave ink on the surface of the wallpaper.  

Here you can see the strips of wallpaper, with red ink on them, also the plastic, with more red ink.  This time there are two birds, cut from shiny (non-absorbent) card offcuts, plus some dried leaves.  Again, the idea was to transfer ink onto the surface of those items, in order to print from them.  You can see that the birds were inked in yellow for a previous print... 

These two prints were made from a plate inked with deep blue, with the bird shapes and some dried cow parsley placed on top.  Paper was then laid over the whole plate and it was put through the press.  The shapes & flower acted as masks, preventing ink being transferred to the paper (the blue-inked birds and flower were used for another print later).  I then used those red wallpaper strips, over the top of the first blue print.  Work in progress.... 

 

Here you can see the original bird prints, before the red strips were added... also some other basic prints from a blue-inked plate and that red-inked plate that I showed in the photo above, with wallpaper strips on top.  

The second print from the left was made from the plate After the fifth print (the deep blue with outlines of ferns & cow parsley, using the ink that remained after printing and removing the plants from the plate.  The same thing applies to the third and sixth prints, with the birds & cow parsley.  

The fourth print is from a plate that was printed in green, after the plants had been removed; the print was then run back through the press, with the blue-inked plants from the print to its right, thus making a second print on top of the green.   

In this way, prints were worked and re-worked, to build up layers and patterns.  I was very pleased with some of the results... 

Left) A basic one colour print, with the shapes of cow parsley and ferns showing as white paper (where they had been placed on the plate, to act as masks). 

Middle) The red print with yellow birds and white leaf outlines was made by re-printing the red-inked plate, after removing the wallpaper strips, birds and leaves.  I inked up the birds with yellow ink (by rolling the ink directly onto the bird shapes) and placed them over the empty area where the original masks had been.  The whole was rolled back through the press (with a sheet of paper!), to make this impression.  

Right) The right-hand print has been worked in several layers.  First a red print, from the inked plastic sheet.  Then a green-inked plate; I scratched a design into the green ink, then placed a dried flower and the leaves over the green ink, before printing again onto the red print.  I then re-printed by laying the blue-inked ferns and a piece of plastic mesh - also inked with blue - directly onto the printed paper, covering with scrap paper (magazine paper is shiny and doesn't stick), then rolling through the press. 

Various attempts at producing interesting layered images. 

I also tried a print in silver, onto kozo tissue paper - a loose-textured hand made paper.  I wanted to see what would happen.  In fact, it made a very good impression, though the ink soaked through the paper.  I hope to float it on glass, in a frame, so that the print can be seen, as I think it looks pretty nice.  

The third print from the left is an attempt at collage.  After printing in silver, with various feathers, leaves, flowers and pieces of handmade paper as masks, I attached some of the mask items to the print.  Not sure about this one... I'll leave it a few days and then take another look.  

Layers...and no layers - the blue print is just a second impression from a blue-inked plate, after the mask items were removed.  It's very simple and I really like it.  

And more experiments...  The left-hand item is an experiment in print and collage, using a page from a magazine as the support, then overprinting with red, green and silver and finally adding collage elements.  Again, I think it needs a few days before I can decide if I like it! 

So, those were my own pieces of work.  I have mixed feelings about the end results, but the process itself was good fun and a very rewarding experience.  I'm very grateful to Sue, who is a great teacher and very nice person! 

The others didn't mind me photographing some of their work to show you.  However, I'm afraid I am hopeless with names and I have forgotten all but one...and there were only three to remember! I do wish I'd written their names down. Sorry ladies!

Some beautiful results from experiments with ferns, snowdrops and allium flowers.  Also simple shaped masks, overprinted with different colours.  I like all of these very much! 

The four prints to the right of this photo are Sue's demo prints, using cut-out shapes, dried flowers and textured wallpaper.  

The other seven prints belong to Kate, who used leaves, flowers and strips of textured paper, also a bird cut-out.  I love how she has achieved some very delicate prints from her inked-up leaves and flowers.  Also the lovely results from the textured paper - not sure how she achieved the orange... by careful over-printing I think.  Really lovely prints! 

 

These landscape-like prints are really quite fabulous!  The artist used masking and overprinting to produce the layered-up prints.  They looked even better in real life.  You can actually see their creator through the window there - making herself a cuppa! In her "day job", she is a printmaker, who creates work inspired by Dartmoor - the area near where she lives.  I just wish I'd asked her to write down her name, website etc... So silly of me. 

Anyway, thank you for reading.  If you've made it this far, you have done really well!  I hope you enjoyed seeing what can be achieved, with a sheet of plastic, six colours of ink, a printing press and some bits & pieces.  Such different results from five people, all using those same materials! 

* * * 

And just for a change... some Bunny cuteness!  This is my friends' house-rabbit. Her name is Cassie (though everyone calls her "Bunny") and she is ten years old and still going strong.  She sleeps all day, but can be very lively in the mornings and evenings - especially on warm sunny days.  

Scrap Club - Four Pages in One Day!

... must be a record (for Lizzie!)

Sunday was Scrap Club day.  As my title says, I managed 4 pages, which is pretty good going for me.  I tend to be slow and dreamy when scrapping, so it's not often that I manage more than 3 pages. 

I had a couple of details to finish, so I did that this afternoon, while the Gas engineer was overhauling the heating!

I used an adaptation of Shimelle's "Stash Diving" technique.  For Christmas I received a rather lovely and very thick pad of scrap papers, from my lovely Niece.  It is called "Lost and Found" by My Minds Eye.  There are a number of colourways and lots of designs, all co-ordinating beautifully.

I chose papers from three "sets", to go with a number of photos I wanted to scrap.  Then I cut pieces/strips of the papers and arranged them to make good backgrounds for my pages, using extras to mount the photos and create some embellishments. 

I have ended up with two single and one double layout; and I'm really pleased with them!  While I won't use this technique every time, it's certainly a handy starting point for creating some good pages with co-ordinating papers.

Here they are:

"Location Location Location"

The two photos are of our very favourite place, Wells-Next-the-Sea, in Norfolk.  As the journalling says, we'd love to live there, if funds and logistics would allow it.  We can't so we have to settle for frequent holiday visits. 

For those who are not familiar with "Kirsty and Phil", the title is borrowed from a popular British tv programme, where two property finders help people to locate their perfect homes. 

I cut little hearts from some scraps of the patterned papers, then used one of my small lino stamps, to make two prints, which I cut with a scalloped punch.  One was printed with a soft turquoise ink, the other with a much brighter shade, so I layered them, with the bright one raised on foam sticky-pads.

* * *

"Play Your Happy Music"

James loves his guitar - possibly more than he loves Sherlock!  He plays it every day and composes his own music.  His tunes are always "happy" and I love to hear him play.  It makes me smile! 

Recently I had a "proud mummy moment", when he played in a local fund-raising concert, at the church in a nearby village.  His friend, A,  got the concert started and his mum helped to organise it.  They did a fantastic job, arranging for the local middle school to bring their choir to sing and for local amateur and professional musicians to play for us.  A and another friend, M, have a band together; James joined them, with his guitar, as they sang / played two very nice songs.  James also had his own "spot", playing "Romance" by John Brunning, plus a tune he had composed himself, which he called "Spanish Armada" - it really sounds very Spanish and is a good, stirring piece, which he plays very well.  The concert raised a good bit of money - over £700 - which was split between the church fund and a charity nominated by A & his family.  We were all very proud of our boys!

The photo on this layout isn't from the concert, but it is James practicing.  We weren't allowed to take photos during the concert, however I know that A's mum did take one of James - I must ask her for a copy of it!

* * *

"Oh for a Book - and a Shady Nook"

Little E. loves to read her story books.  Keri-Anne took these wonderful photos of her reading and drawing. I think they are so lovely and just had to make a layout with them.  It ended up being a double-page layout, as I didn't want to separate them. 

I chose the large letters to emphasise the "Oh" and "Book", as I wanted to have a good "stand-out" title, but obviously couldn't make all words equally large.  This worked really well, with the two "speech marks" and the little pink letters for the rest of the quote.  I wrote the name and dates in grey pen, underneath the quote.  I used my new heart border punch to make some little trims for the title boxes, then cut larger hearts and some butterflies, to embellish little corners of the photos etc.  The cut-out hearts from the edging punch made great "confetti" to decorate the journalling box.  I haven't written any journalling - I think I will ask Keri-Anne to help me with that.

The photo isn't very good - in fact, none of the photos are good, as the light was very poor this afternoon.  You'll just have to believe that these pages look much nicer "in real life"!

* * *

My other Project this weekend, was to have another go at tidying and organising my Studio.  I didn't get it all done - there is still a lot to do - but I made some progress:

I put the folding table under the window.  It had been cluttering up the middle of the room, in the way of the white desk and shelves.  Now the room feels enormous! 

It's hard to see, but there is now an extra shelf at the bottom of the unit.  I had a big stack of paper on the bottom shelf, which was too difficult to get into.  Whenever I needed something, I had to lift out all the paper, so I could get at what I wanted; I had cleared the second shelf from the bottom (the one that's visible, without much on it now) and put half the paper storage on that.  However, the shelf has a big space above it, which wasn't being used.  We have added an "in-between" shelf, so my paper can all be stored on two shelves, but I now have the tall space back, to use for boxes etc.  Still need to sort it out, but I'll get there soon! 

I did tidy my desk and table, but the mess crept back onto them very speedily - especially when I got lots of stuff out, to get ready for Scrap Club!

* * *

The other thing I did on Saturday afternoon:

"Midsummer", by Mariann Johansen-Ellis - a lino reduction print.

I've had this print, which I bought from Mariann, since June 2010. 

It had been languishing in a folder, shamefully neglected, along with all my other prints. 

I finally got it framed up and mounted on the wall, above my white desk (spot the reflections)!  

And I was fed-up with having all the lovely art prints I'd collected, sitting in a folder, waiting for me to save up for frames and mounts.  So, I cut some pieces of white and black card, then mounted them with invisible photo-corners (so I didn't damage them).  Then I attached them all to the wall behind my desk.  I think they look fabulous!

On the left are three wonderful photographs, by my very talented niece, Keri-Anne Pink. 

There are prints here by four artists. 

Top left: Three Cat Lino Prints, Lori Dean-Dyment; Below: "Dandelions", Nina Moscrip (was Clough); 

Bottom Left and also the other bird prints along the bottom row: Amanda Colville;

Top of the middle section - the deep blue owl print - "Night Flight", Celia Hart. 

To the right, next to my poster: "Old Books" reduction lino print, Jennifer Bass; 

details of two prints by John W. Golden. 

The other four prints?  Well, they are my own work and I thought I really should put them up on my own wall!  They are "Reflection" - a three-colour lino reduction print; "Spanish Lemons" - a four-colour lino reduction; the central one, below the clock, is a drypoint etching, "Lace Birds", which I did on my printmaking course at Knuston.  At the top right is a collograph print, which I also did at Knuston; it's not fabulous, but it's not awful either and I like it, so there it is!!

And that is my new Art Wall, that I have been threatening to make for about two years!

So, I think I achieved something this weekend.  Quite pleased with myself!

Tidying Up, Catching Up with LYP! And Teacher Gifts too...

Wow, I wonder if Life will ever slow down enough for me to catch my breath! It's soooo busy here just now.  This week we've had a visit from my Mother-in-Law, from Saturday to Wednesday... 

D took this with his mobile phone, at a local Village Show on Sunday.  MIL is the little one on the right!

We have also had various appointments at osteopaths, dentists etc... and J's end-of-term Celebration Assembly at school yesterday. 

In between, my friend D. has been helping me to knock this place into shape. She has boundless energy and really enjoys a good springclean and tidy up... so she has taken me in hand and sorted out the mess, which I have been trying to organise for months.  My problem is that I run out of steam very quickly and a job which seems easy at the start, suddenly becomes impossible to complete and is left half-done. This is so frustrating and I have hated having such a messy, untidy and (in places) dirty house.  D. has now helped me to tidy and clean the kitchen, sitting room, hallway, dining room and, today, the junk-heap that we referred to as the "Utility Room", but was really just a big mess, with a washing machine and dryer in the corner! 

That was, until today.  Wish I had thought to take "before" and "after" shots for you... just believe that it was a huge mess this morning, but by the time D. had finished, it was a picture of laundry perfection!  All my remaining craft stuff (this used to be my workroom before we got the extension done) is now upstairs in a little heap in the corner of my new studio room. I need to finish the shelves in here, then have a "project" to organise all my stuff.   D. put things in the dining room, in little heaps; I went through the heaps and sorted out what was "keep" and what was "throw away".  There were 2 large bags full of recycling when we'd finished, plus a few bits in the normal bin too. I think about half the stuff she pulled off the desk area was thrown away! 

I had been wanting to do this for months, so it's such a relief to have it done and sorted out.  The shelves, which had just become a dumping place for junk, are now populated with bits & pieces from the kitchen, which I don't use often, but need to keep (like cake decorating stuff, a sandwich toaster, a spare coffee jug, vases - you know the type of stuff, we all have it!).

So, despite a state of minor exhaustion, I'm very relieved and happy this evening. It was hard work, but definitely worth it.  D. is a fabulous friend and deserving of a special present, I can tell you!  She won't allow me to pay her for the work she does; we have an "arrangement", where I am buying stuff she would like, but can't afford - things for her home, the odd nice treat from the supermarket, that kind of thing.. Still, if I had to pay someone for the time she has spent helping me over the past month, I would need a job!  I am very grateful for a wonderful friend (even if she does enjoy herself while she's tidying up and cleaning!!).

* * *

So, visitors, appointments and cleaning aside... I have been reading the prompts for Shimelle's Love Your Pages course.  Haven't had a lot of time to keep up with them, but yesterday I got my camera out and had a go at a few pictures, with Prompts 7 & 8 in mind.  I played with settings on my camera, to explore Depth of Field and Exposure a little bit.

I only have a point-and-shoot; I didn't have a lot of time  and it was a wet day; consequently the photos are not wonderful, but it's a starting point and I can build from there.

Prompt 7 - Depth of Field shots

A general shot of the rainy day view from my window... Auto Setting

I switched on the Macro function and set the camera to "Baby" setting (nice natural colours).

I think this photo of raindrops on the window pane has a great blurry background. I like the contrast.

This was taken with the Landscape setting switched on. The raindrops are now blurry and the background is in focus. 

Total contrast with the previous photo! 

For this, I pointed the camera at that elusive little patch of blue that was in the sky, set it back to Baby setting and took the photo. I really like this one - the raindrops are clear enough to be obvious, but the lovely blue and white of the sky is just fab.

If you look very closely, you might be able to pick out a very small silhouette of a bird against the clouds, towards the bottom of the photo.

Prompt 8 - Exposure

Not really much work done on Exposure with these shots.  I just faffed about with the pre-set functions a bit. 

This was the Auto setting... Rather dark and not very impressive, despite that nice bit of blue sky...

This worked a bit better. It was taken with the Landscape setting - much better light.

I really need to read the manual and work out how to get more from the exposure functions. I think there's a way to override the presets, to some extent, but I don't know how to do it.  So far, I've just learned that the "Baby" setting produces nice, true colours, especially for pastels and for shots taken indoors.  Auto setting is rather feeble, except outside in good daylight. Portrait setting is okay, but the colours often need tweaking.  Landscape does produce good colours and focus for stuff that's further away (and even just across the room/garden).

Flash is rubbish. Always.

So, I'm kind-of learning stuff... but I do need to spend some more time on this to get any real benefit from it.  At least the prompts are making me think about what I'm doing and I've got a few fun ideas from them too - like putting the camera on the ground etc.

I want to try some of the wonderful scrapping ideas too.  The sketches are really good - and I don't usually bother with scrap sketches!

* * *

Finally, the thing that has filled up my remaining time - Teacher Presents.

J. wanted a number of presents for his teachers. I was "commissioned" to produce some books, so this is what I have made so far (you can click on the small photos, to see bigger versions):

A Moroccan-style covered notebook, for the Science Teacher (paper by Basic Grey from their "Marrakesh" range). With an elastic fastening, fixed at the back with an eyelet.

A fun orange-inspired notebook for the German and French teacher (more Basic Grey paper - "Ambrosia"). This is fastened with a ribbon, fixed at the front by a button and brad.

An A4 size notebook, with pink-lined pages decorated with flowers. The binding is Japanese stab-stitch, with eyelets to decorate the holes on the covers.  The covering paper is a lovely blossom-printed, thick quality gift-wrap that I found.  This is for J's English teacher. I think she'll love it.

A pocket-sketchbook, filled with off-cuts of the lovely print-making paper I used for the silk-covered wedding book last week.  This is for J's Art and Ceramics teacher. It's covered in turquoise lokta paper, with a coptic-style binding (only 3 threads though, so it's not a "proper" coptic binding - they have an even number of threads). 

The design on the cover is a lino-cut by J. printed onto canvas fabric and glued to the front of the book.  There is an elastic strap to fasten the book, which slips on and off - it's fixed together with a metal grip, like those hair-band things.  J. took this into school and gave it to his teacher today, but she didn't open it when he was there - so we don't know if she liked it. I think she would though... useful for her holidays and just the right size to carry about with her.

Those are what I have made so far.  We already had a present for J's Form Teacher, which is a set of cute little lanterns, designed to hold tea-lights, which fix together, one under another, with little chains that hang underneath them.  They are painted cream colour and look very pretty.  I'm tempted to add another covered notebook though... And there is at least one other book required, for the Maths teacher, so I still have work to do!

Off to London tomorrow, to meet up with some friends for a picnic.  Hopefully I'll remember my camera and will take some decent photos.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Dreaming Spires and Pizza...

J's school was closed to the pupils today, for a statutory teacher training day.  We decided to take advantage of this and have a day out.  Destination: Oxford.

I thought that this would be a great opportunity to explore some of Oxford, while most kids were at school and before the big flood of summer visitors really got going later in the month.  We invited J's friend, G. to come along too.

We left the car at Water Eaton, where there's a Park & Ride facility.  Oxford's P&R is really excellent - other towns could learn from it! There are buses every 20 mins during the majority of the day (and every 15 mins in the peak parts of the evening). The fare is very reasonable and under-16s travel free when accompanied by someone using the car park. It makes the journey far less stressful, as you can leave the car on the edge of the city and use the bus lanes to travel into the centre, avoiding the worst of any traffic. The bus journey took about 15 mins and I was able to look out of the window and admire the lovely old houses and buildings (especially when we got close to the centre and went through the gorgeous St. Giles).

We got off at Magdalen Street and spent a few minutes exploring the Martyrs Memorial:

This was build in 1842 and commemorates the three "Oxford Martyrs", tried for heresy by Mary Tudor and burned at the stake. They were Anglican bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley and the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer.

It has the martyrs depicted in little niches near the top, and painted shields and inscriptions round the sides.

See the lovely buildings behind J's back?  The lighter coloured one is Balliol College. The memorial stands at the top of Magdalen Street, at the edge of St. Giles.

We then made haste to this cafe - my favourite in Oxford:

The News Cafe in Ship Street does a mean breakfast! I was in Oxford quite early in the day on two occasions in the last couple of years, having dropped J. at a local Primary School for a one-day course.  This place is a life-saver - scrambled eggs and fried mushrooms on toast - just what you need after a very early breakfast and a 2 1/2 hour journey, started at 7am!

Hot chocolate with whipped cream and mini-marshmallows... J. can confirm that the chocolate muffins are very good and I can testify for the newly baked croissants with honey!

How about this beautiful, ancient house, at the corner of Ship Street? So old and still going strong! It houses various shops and a cafe, but I wonder if it was once an inn.

We then went for a bit of an adventure in the Covered Market in Cornmarket Street (though it has entrances also on Market Street and High Street).

We found interesting puzzles...

...stripy pasta...

...and a leather elephant

Then it was off to a nice pizza restaurant, to meet a friend for lunch and a lovely chat about her expected baby!

After lunch we explored the castle area.  This is the old castle mound, which you can climb (for a £1 fee).

and here's the castle itself - with a couple of familiar people...

The old part is a "Castle Experience" type of museum and the newer part is now a hotel.  Visitors can sleep in rooms that were once cells in the Oxford Prison!

We then went to the Ashmolean Museum...

  

(Picture from Freefoto.com)

...passing some lovely little side-streets on our way... honestly, who couldn't love this City?  See why they refer to "Dreaming Spires"? There seems to be one in every view!

Saw this great little painting..

I love the style and innocence of Medieval and Early Rennaissance Art:  

• 
  
  All the lovely gold-leaf or golden paint, to make the painting glorious and valuable, to the Glory of God. 
• 
  
  The depictions of mermaids (see the evil mermaid here?), dragons and other mythical creatures, alongside "normal" animals.
• 
  
  The rather sweet faces of the women, children, madonnas and babies. Their flat, but well-proportioned bodies.  Later on, art got a bit silly with its cherubs and fussy madonnas. The drapery is so overdone and if a modern baby was as seriously fat as some late-Renaissance cherubim, the Health Visitor would be nagging the mothers to put them on a diet!
• 
  
  The glimpses into everyday life and Court life that are given in even the religious-themed paintings. Saints are depicted in every-day settings, with ordinary people, doing normal stuff, like cooking or shopping.  People are shown hunting with their horses and dogs. You see the trees and flowers of the forest, the deer, all long-legged, with smooth noses, dogs with their tails up and noses down a rabbit-hole. Ladies sit spinning or stitching, while a knight rides by the window...

This painting shows a storm being stopped by St. Nicholas: -

I love lots of things about this little painting - the detail of the ship - sails filled with a violent wind, that is tearing them, rigging stretched to breaking point, the great, dark sea with swirls and waves, frightened people on board, the ship's boat made ready for the order to abandon ship... the evil mermaid and the holy saint - his hand stretched before him in the common gesture of benediction and blessing...

...but my favourite part is the sky...

I love this blue, rich sky, with the wonderful sprinkling of golden stars!

Whenever I hear or read this poem, it is this image that I see in my mind:

Aedh wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

HAD I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet: 

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939). The Wind Among the Reeds. 1899

This is one of my favourite poems. To me, the wonderful sky in this small painting perfectly depicts those "heavens' embroidered cloths" - read on to hear that they are "The blue and the dim and the dark cloths...

of night and light and the half light..."

The sky in this painting is just perfect.

There were so many, many exciting things to see at the Ashmolean.  They have recently given it a major re-vamp and introduced new displays and interactive exhibits etc.  There is a section all about conservation and display of the museum's treasures, which is really interesting. 

We saw Egyptian artefacts and mummies; Roman statues; many sculptures, paintings and other art-works from many places and cultures throughout ancient and modern history; pottery and porcelain; silver and gold items; jewellery and treasures; ordinary objects and furnishings from homes long ago; a collection of ancient and more modern musical instruments... there was far more there than we could possibly see in an hour-and-a-half on a Friday afternoon.  We came away tired out from all our looking and exploring, but I'm sure we'll go there again.

A race down the stairs at the end of the visit...

We were lucky that the bus pulled up just as we reached our bus-stop; a quick bus-ride back to the Park & Ride and a fairly straightforward 50-mile drive home, to find that D. had made a nice pasta bake for dinner.

All in all, we had a lovely day out - J. & G. both agreed it beat going to school!  Perhaps we'll do it again soon - in the Summer holidays this time.