lino prints by the under 10s

I'm not sure how old I was when I started doing lino prints, probably secondary school - I can remember the blood though, as it's impossible not to chop your fingers up when using sharp tools in a large group of chatty teenagers...

The primary school age members of the household spend a lot of time asking to do lino prints, (being surrounded by ink, rollers and cutting tools at all times probably giving them the idea) but I find the whole process scary and not a relaxing family activity at all!   What's wrong with felt pens only until the age of seventeen...

Compromise reached - one 'baby princess' and one 'raaing dinosaur' drawn onto lino by the artists and cut out for them by the 'lino technician' with no blood spilled  - and really the printing is the fun bit anyway...

being outside instead of in...

Inside was very dreary today having got used to light and sunshine, 

so as soon as it brightened up I went outside with tea and not very nice biscuits that noone else will eat, (possibly because I adapted the recipe to fit what I actually had in the cupboard) - even the quails say 'no' and they think woodlice are tasty...

we had a quick chat and then they went back to sandbathing and quailing in the brief sunshine - here are Golden Eagle, Speckle and Megan resisting the camera as always.

but look what the plum tree is doing, and the bees love it - hurrah!

my monochrome life

My lino prints are all black and white, my teatowels and canvas bags are all black and white, my walls are white and the floors are white and black (well dark grey really, but certainly not coloured!).  Even the things on the kitchen windowsill have all managed to be beige...there's a theme emerging here.

And today the sky has joined in after a lovely weekend of sunshine.

Thanks goodness for this lovely picture from Banwell Pottery in Somerset, which is not black, white and beige but full of colour!  I would love to live in a really bright colourful house (maybe the orange one in the middle) but would I be brave enough to do it to the outside walls??

eggs aplenty

The girls are stepping into their springtime stride now, with Rosie well into the lead, and we suddenly have enough quails eggs for a pretty yummy feast...and yes, we do store them in the pansy pot outside the back door - fridges are sooo old fashioned.

because of this...

because of this allotment (which at the moment is mostly a barren patch of earth, but if you look closely a fine crop of onions and shallots are just peeking through) combined with a few sunny days and a strange compulsion to dig, all other tasks have been cast aside this week....

so when I finally force myself indoors because the backlog of 'real' work is increasing and I'm starting to have to make excuses, this is the state I find my table in and so another days work is lost as I sweep all the debris away and return things to their proper places (lino cutting is really messy when I do it but how do all these other things find their way into MY space?).

I think I may need to do an 'after' photo soon...

getting carried away....

When I start printing it is sometimes hard to stop.  I tend to print in batches and do several prints from each lino block in one session - then I think 'oh, I'd better use up all that ink' and carry on and add in a few cards or little blocks that the children have designed or try a monoprint experiment...all great fun.  Then I have a problem - where do I put all these wet prints to dry for a couple of days when I'm printing downstairs and other people live in this house too! 

My solution at the moment is to balance prints along the tops of all the bookshelves, the record collection, the DVDs are perfect too, the record player is good and flat and so is the printer...lets just hope noone wants to read/listen or watch anything until the weekend.

I think a bit of rethinking may be inorder before long.

spring sunshine

Every blog I look at this week seems to be celebrating the spring sunshine

I think we were all ready for it this year, so that's a good excuse for me to join in with a sunny washing line shot of another teatowel....

I waited weeks to take these...and I imagine that all these little creatures are enjoying the spring sunshine too (maybe not the slug).

I'm working on an online shop at the moment with Lou at Little Green Shed so hopefully you'll find more of my teatowels and canvas bags there soon...

lambs and bird beaks...

This time last week we were in the middle of a stay at this lovely place in mid-Wales...

roaming around, enjoying the freedom and the sunshine (so much so that we stayed for an extra day and missed a teeny tiny bit of school...).  

When we went inside the shed at the bottom of the hill this is what we found - 

lots of lambs, all raring to go in the spring sunshine and here being bred for their beautifully coloured fleeces!  

This weekend we have been much better behaved and promise to be at school on the dot of 9.00 am.

I spent some time today trying out some different framing ideas for pictures,

this is one I've had for a while, but it's made out of driftwood and has just been waiting for the right sized picture to appear - maybe this is it, but I can't help swopping things around...

eggs

It's arrived!!  The first egg of the season from our flock of urban quails, laid by Rosie and presented in a nest of chopped up ribbon by her proud owner - the others are enjoying the sunshine a little too much at the moment, spending their days preening, eating and sand-bathing - laying eggs is low on their list but they really should take note!  Extra woodlice for Rosie please...

spring is springing at last...

Having spent a happy couple of days at the allotment this week where everything is stirring (including the brambles) I thought I'd show you my 'Allotment' tea towel, photographed finally in the beautiful sunshine this afternoon - lets hope this year's veggies end up in such straight rows...

reg the veg

My journey to and from work at the museum takes me past this wonderful fruit and veg shop.

Reg the Veg.

Reg has got most beautiful shop and knows how to display his wares.  It is such an inspiration of colour and variety in the produce.

If I was to own a green grocers I would take my inspiration from him.

x

the morning after...

I often do my lino printing late at night - partly to avoid children's fingerprints, but partly because I like working in the evening and always did in pre-child days - this means that I have to get downstairs early the next day to clear up drying pictures and make space for other peoples breakfasts...

loving this....

Image via bookhou

I have just come across this beautiful teatowel.  Amazing illustrations and I really like how it is displayed.  I must remember this trick of using a wooden hanger to display my teatowels.

x

so guilty of this!

Oh my, is this aimed at me????!  Hahaha so so guilty, brilliantly funny though.  When he says 'I'm allergic!'.

x

I really like

I have just lost an hour flicking through the many shops on Etsy and have totally fallen for this print by TournesolPrints.  Reminds me of the specimen trays of bugs at the city museum.

x