Wednesday Worktable - Thursday 11th June (!) - Finished and About to Start...

Hello, thanks for visiting my blog! This is my contribution to WOYWW (What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday), over at JuliaDunnit's Blog. Each Wednesday, Julia invites fellow crafters and bloggers to show a photo or two of their worktables, and explain what they've been doing.

I'm late this week - it's Thursday lunchtime already!! Busy, busy... but I did want to join in and I hope you will all forgive me!

Well, last week I posted about a broken car windscreen, which I'm happy to report was repaired by Thursday evening, so I could go out to our regular Craft Club at the local sewing and quilting shop.  I took along my in-progress bookbinding project, that I had posted about last week: 

 

This! 

It's now completed and you can see it on my desk this morning:

A bit of a messy workspace today...  

So, in the middle is my bookbinding project.  It's actually for ME, just for a change.  I made myself a sketchbook, using one of my favourite cover papers (I do love peacock feathers) and a piece of favourite silk for the edging of the covers.  

A couple of detail shots, for anyone who's interested: 

Front Cover (pen is just for size reference!)

Binding - I used a hybrid Coptic/French Stitch binding, to make it pretty.  Stitched in deep turquoise linen thread.  

Don't know if you can see... the pages are a mixture of cartridge drawing paper (l/h side) and mid-weight watercolour paper (on the right), so I can scribble away, but also add some colour if I wish.  

 

Of course, being for myself, I didn't need to make it 100% perfect.  So, I took the opportunity to use some paper that had been mis-folded when working on a previous commission project.  I don't mind the crease-lines down the edges of a few pages, but I wouldn't want to sell a book that was like this!

And just to return to the Desk...

To the left is a pile of prints, which are drying out.  I wrote about how these came into existence in This Post!  

To the right there are some greetings cards, with designs from Russian/Soviet matchbox art.  In a previous post, I showed a notebook that I had made with a Zebra card...

... I now plan to make a set of these notebooks, as the Zebra looked really good.  

As for the rest of the table... well, it's just clutter. But it wouldn't be an authentic Lizzie Desk, if there was no mess!  

Anyway, this is my contribution for this week.  I hope you'll come back and visit again soon.  Meanwhile, once you've finished browsing around on my blog, do return to Julia's Stamping Ground, to see what's going on elsewhere this week.  

Thanks for Reading! 

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!

And Another Lino Project!

Another Lino project - though probably the last for a little while, as there are so many bookbinding projects clamouring for my attention!
This is something I tried at home, a few days after I got home from Mijas (see the various posts all about that here: http://lizziemade.blogspot.com/search/label/Andalucian%20Adventure !)

I wanted to see if I could make nice prints, using the equipment I already have to hand.

I started with a photo from a magazine story...  I loved the dancer's feet and the reflections in the studio floor, as if she was dancing on water.   I made a tracing-sketch of this.

I transferred the tracing to a piece of my soft lino and cut it out with my lino cutters.  This photo shows the plate inked up, after making my first test print.

The card surround is to help me line up my paper when printing, so I can get the print straight and in the middle of the sheet.

I have five colours of water-based printing inks, in tubes - white, black, crimson-red, ultramarine and silver.  I decided to print with a pink colour, mixed from my red and white.  Here's my glass inking sheet (it was once a kitchen chopping board - about a zillion years ago, before I realised how useful it could be in my craft room!) 

I found that nice little roller at the local art shop, in their "reduced" basket.  It was originally quite expensive, so I was really pleased to pick it up very cheaply.  The other roller I have came with my "Letterpress" set, for my die-cutter.  It's really not very good - a bit rubbish in fact.  This roller is okay - I like it, "it'll do" as they say!

Of course, when choosing the printing colour, I didn't really think about how tricky it is to photograph pinks... ah well!

The first test - printed into my sketchbook.  I printed this like a stamp - just laying the plate on top and pressing hard.  I wanted to see what it came out like.

My first "proper" print.  The paper was laid on top, using my registration guide.  I burnished the back of the paper with my favourite bone folder.  It came out okay in places, but more work needed.

This is the second attempt at burnishing on the back of the paper.  It came out better, but not brilliant.

I had a sheet of Murano art paper, in a sort of rosy-beige marled finish.  So, I thought it would be good to try printing on this.  I really like the effect of the beige paper showing through where I cut the lino.  Because the ink is quite pale, it gives a great contrast. 

The printing is still a bit soggy though...  

I had an idea.  I already have a "letterpress" kit for my die-cutting machine, which prints quite nicely.  I wondered if I could come up with a combination of base-plates, which would allow me to put the linocut plate and paper through the machine, as if it was a tiny printing press. 

The die-cutter doesn't have any facility to alter the distance between the rollers; the only way to increase or decrease pressure, is to use different thicknesses of base-plates, with little card shims in between, if a tiny adjustment is needed.  And, if the lino plate was too thick, it could break my machine!

After a bit of messing around and experimenting, I did manage to make some prints.

The first attempt.  Not sure about this. I think the ink had dried a bit by this point, which made it less smooth. 

You can see the "dent" round the bottom edge of the print though, from where it went through the "press". 





The second effort, which isn't bad actually.  It has printed a bit more evenly.  It's not so easy to see these prints, because I chose pink as my print colour!

A second try with the rose-beige paper.  This one did come out quite nicely.  I think I could do something more with this "printing press" idea.  At least I could make small prints in this way, until I can get a "proper" press!

I think that, on the whole, this was quite a successful experiment.  One or two of the prints I made are really not bad.  I may have another try soon.  I may also get some sort of medium to mix with the inks, to see if I can stop them drying out so fast and making the prints patchy.  Or else, I will try dampened paper. I'll maybe buy some other ink colours too, if I can get small tubes - no point buying large amounts at this stage.  Not until I have some more skills built up!  

It's all experimenting and learning - it'll do me good!  

When Life gives you Spanish Lemons - Give Some Away!

Sooooo, hello all Blog Friends!  I posted this last Sunday, about my printmaking adventure at Cascada Studio, in Spain.  And, I promised to give away one of my edition of "Spanish Lemons" prints:

Spanish Lemons - an edition of six Lino Reduction Prints

All you had to do, was leave me a comment after you had read the post (or I suppose without reading it, but the comments all suggest that the commenters at least looked at the pictures!).

I said I would draw a random comment as the Winner....  There were 16 comments (plus one from me, but that doesn't count of course).  Sooo, I have used Random.org to draw a winner....  a number between 1 and 16....

* * *

The Winner of a Spanish Lemons print iiiiiissss  (loooong pause, just like on telly - are you bored yet?)

.... (hee hee...)

* * *

Number 3! 

Which is....  Pam Smallcomb of Yoborobo - Yay! 

Pam said this:

"Oh my gosh, Lizzie! I love Mariann's work, and I would love to take a class with her. Your print turned out beautifully, and I would love a chance to win it. :) xox"

Well, guess what Pam?  You did win and your print will be swooping its way across the Atlantic, all the way to Maryland, just for You! 

I'm quite excited about that... especially as Pam did a giveaway of her own and is sending the prize to one of my friends in UK!!

I'll be in touch Pam, to get your address.

* * *

Thank you to all who entered my giveaway - and particularly, thank you for your really nice comments!

I'm off to write another blog post now.... bye!  

Andalucian Adventure - Spanish Lemons

I spent a week in Andalucia, Spain, at a village called Mijas, which is in the hills above the Costa del Sol, between Malaga and Marbella. 

I went there to attend two printmaking courses, with a great print artist, Mariann Johansen-Ellis, at Cascada Studio.

I have already posted all about my stay, the two courses and something about the prints I made.  This post is the story of how a Linocut Reduction Print Edition is made, using my Spanish Lemons prints as the Demonstration Models!

This is my own story, about how I made my linocut.  If you would like to see a great video, which explains in more (and professional) detail, how a Lino Reduction Print Edition is made, visit Mariann's blog, where you will find this video, along with a selection of others, which cover many printmaking topics.

Spanish Lemons - From Lemon Tree to Prints

It started with a photograph of a lovely little Lemon Tree, which was growing outside one of the houses in the Pueblo:

I turned it into a sketch first of all.  The sketch was coloured, to pick out the main colours and shading of the image.  Using this - with Mariann's help - I decided there should be five colours in my print (or four actually, since I didn't print the white - it was made by leaving blank, unprinted paper).  The colours would be yellow, light green, brown and dark green.

Colour No. 1 - Yellow (and white!)

The image was transferred to the lino plate.  The first thing I had to do, was carve away all areas of the print, which should remain white (ie. plain, unprinted paper).   The picture here shows that process part-way through.  If you look closely, you can see some areas where the lino is partly cut away - see the little shreds of lino sticking up, between the top lemon and the leaf?

A test print, in a brown coloured ink, to check the progress of the cutting, also to look for any already-cut areas, where a bit more work was needed.

Mariann suggested that it would add extra interest to the print, if I cut the two smaller leaves behind the first lemon as skeleton leaves. 

I couldn't decide which of two yellow shades would look best for the finished print.  It's quite difficult really, choosing the colours to use.  Often, I would suggest something, but Mariann's experience told her that this would not work - she would suggest an alternative.  I am glad I listened to her, because I'm sure I would have made some sad mistakes otherwise. 

The colours are printed over the top of one or more previous layers of ink.  This means that the previous colour will have some influence over the appearance of the ink that is printed on top. 

Also, when you look at any colour in isolation, it will appear quite different to how it is when it's placed alongside one or more other colours (the best way to get a true colour representation, is to look at a colour against a white background, in natural daylight - but we rarely see colours like this day-to-day, or in a piece of artwork).

We decided to print half the edition with the lighter yellow (a "lemon yellow") and the other half with the stronger yellow colour.  After all, the point of my being there, doing the course, was to learn - so this print was a learning exercise for me (and boy, did I learn a lot - including how much more I could learn, if I continue with lino printing!).

At the end of the day, I had ten sheets of prints on the drying rack, with the white areas defined and the yellow layer printed. 

Colour No. 2 - Light Green

Stage 2 was to print the Light Green colour, over the top of the yellow that I had already printed.  The same lino plate is used - this is why it's called "Lino Reduction", as you are using the same plate for every colour, removing areas of lino as you go, then printing over the ink that you have already placed on your paper.   This means that you will only use the plate for one edition (set of prints), as you will have cut away most of it by the time you are finished.

I like reduction prints, because I feel that the layering of colours, one over the other, gives a wholeness and cohesiveness to the print - it is quite a different feel to a multi-coloured, multi-block print, where each colour has its own separate block and each colour (or most colours) is printed onto the plain, white paper.

In order to keep the yellow lemons and a few highlights for leaves, I had to cut away all areas of the plate where I wanted to leave the yellow (or not print over with green).  You can see in the photo, that I cut away the lemons, plus the edges of some leaves.  A few small areas of the lemons remain, as I wanted the light green to provide some shading and shape.  

Note that the cuts on the lemons follow their shape contours.  Mariann explained that this is very important - any lines that are printed onto the lemons, should appear natural and enhance the shape of the lemons.  To cut away the yellow areas of lino with vertical or diagonal cuts, would leave very strange marks on the print, which would no longer look like round fruits. 

It's difficult - almost impossible really - to cut away every single little area on the lino plate.  Also - as I found out as I got further into the print and had cut away more and more - it is difficult to roll ink over a plate, where there are no raised parts, to support the roller.  You end up with ink in the cut-away parts and some of this will inevitably transfer to the paper when it is put through the press. 

Stage 2 - the light green printing. 

Colour No.3 - Brown

So now I had a set of prints that were white, yellow and light green.  I wanted to add some brown, to give definition to the tree stems and some of the leaves.  However, I didn't want to lose the light green highlights on my leaves.  So I cut away more of the plate, removing all areas that should remain light green. 

The brown layer, showing both the lighter and deeper yellows.  

You can see that the lemons have light green areas, defining their edges and their shape. I did not want to overprint any of this with brown ink and - as I said already - it is almost impossible to remove every little bit of lino - especially as I was now cutting away all of the lemons, merging those areas into the background - see the photo of the plate above. 

Mariann's solution was simple and elegant really - cut shapes from tissue, which could be placed over the lemons on the plate, before laying the paper on top.  Any brown ink would then be printed onto the tissue, which was peeled away, leaving nice, clean yellow-and-green lemons underneath! 

Colour No. 4 - Dark Green

The final layer of colour to be added to the prints, would be a dark green.   This was the most tricky layer, as all the dark green would show - none of it would be covered by any more ink - meaning it was important to print it well.  Also, the final green would affect all the other colours in the prints, altering the viewer's perception of the whole artwork.  It was important to choose the right shade of green.

Here are all ten sheets of prints, drying on the table.  On the left, at the front, is a mis-aligned print, where I accidentally printed the light green layer with the page turned through 180 degreens (upside down).  I decided to carry on printing anyway, as it would make a good "practise print" and Mariann said I might even get something interesting from it, which I could use in some way later on.  These are all printed up to the brown layer of ink.  They need the dark green layer, to finish them. 

Having cut away all areas that should remain brown (not many, but definition for the branches, leaf veins, some stems etc), we mixed up a deep green and printed it onto one of the light yellow lemon prints.   We didn't really like this green - it was just too heavy and dark, quite overpowering.  It was clear that I needed a lighter shade of green for the final layer.

Second attempt.  This was a lighter green, but it was still far too heavy.  You can also see where I didn't mask the lemons, to prevent dark green ink being printed onto them - a bit of a mess. 

Mariann lightened up the green again.  This photo shows the brown layer prints - to the right - with all three dark green prints to the left.  I hope it's clear how the darker greens make the lemons look "all wrong" and a bit washed out. 

The final green works far better:

This was a much better green and I printed the remaining prints with this colour; Mariann kept one for a Studio Copy, which left me with six to take home - not bad for a learning exercise! 

"Spanish Lemons" - My finished print. 

I gave one print as a raffle prize, for a charity concert that J. played in last Friday evening.   This leaves me with five prints.  I will give one to my mum, who really liked these, plus one for a wall, somewhere in the house... and a Studio Copy for myself and my portfolio of course.  Obviously, it's a learner's piece, but I still think it might be worthy of a bit of space on a kitchen wall, or some little corner that needs brightening up. I am actually rather proud of my prints - the Spanish Lemons and the other prints that I made in Mijas. 

That still leaves me with a couple of "spares".  I can give them away as presents - how nice!

I will give one away to a Blog Friend - I like that idea.  Would you like a print of Spanish Lemons, hand printed by Lizzie?  I will sign it properly, as part of the edition of 6, pack it carefully, with a backing board to keep it flat and a nice cellophane wrapper.  I will post it to anywhere in the world - wherever my Winner happens to live!

So, if you'd like to win a print, please leave me a comment on this post - I will make a random draw next Sunday evening. 

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If you would like to read all of my Andalucian Adventure posts, here is a list, with links:

Andalucian Adventure: Part 1

Andalucian Adventure: Part 2 - Monday in Mijas  

Andalucian Adventure: Part 3 - Three Days in the Studio

Andalucian Adventure: Part 4 - The Valentines Day Edition

I hope you enjoy the story - don't forget to enter the draw, if you'd like to win a print!