Golden Pilea lino print

Really pleased with how my little Pilea friend is looking in gold ink on black Stonehenge paper.  The gold isn't glittery, its a lovely soft warm gold and seems to suit those lovely leaves perfectly.

It is in my little Etsy shop at the moment too...

Lino Print Exhibition

All hung and the show is open - if you are in Bristol it would be so lovely if you popped in and had a coffee/beer with my lino prints...

The Tobacco Factory - Bristol

Lots of birds and animals, a few of Bristol and also some of my new botanical lino prints are there too, so a good old mix.

If you can't get to Bristol then Etsy  or Folksy are good places for a browse too!

Lino Print Exhibition at Tobacco Factory, Bristol

Really excited to be putting an art show together for an exhibition at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol!

It will run from October 17th until November 27th and will be in The Snug, so a great excuse to go eat there, meet some friends, have a hot chocolate - I think I may end up hanging out there every single day :)

The really hard part is choosing which lino prints to exhibit, because I have been working on three new series of prints and want to show them all to everyone...but actually that would be a terrible, cramped mess so I had better get curating!

I really hope you can come and have a look at the show.

Drawing and printing plants

I have spent a few weeks drawing plants, all those amazing leaf and flower shapes, foliage shadows and criss-crossing stems and branches.  It's been fun.  Now I am trying to make some of the doodles and drawings into prints that show off the plant forms...

I do like taking a plant out of context so that you can really see its shapes (like this one above) as well as drawing/printing the whole tangled mass that exists in a garden.  We will see what happens...

Night Dancing lino print on Folksy

Happy to spot my 'Night Dancing' lino print on Folksy's Favourites list at the moment.  I love the idea  of pets getting up to things as we sleep (and we all know that they do!) and lets hope it is just a bit of harmless dancing...
It is fun printing this one too as I so rarely use blocks of tone in my lino prints, so a good dramatic area of black is good to see when you peel back the paper from the block.

Check out what else is on the Folksy list here (and take a look quickly if you want to see my kitties there as who knows when the Folksy team will find some new favourites!)---> FOLKSY FAVOURITES

Owl lino prints

I have been busy proofing a lino block of owls, drawn from the Natural Science collection at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.  They have an amazingly interesting and varied collection of specimens and it has been a real privilege to be allowed into the stores to draw them.

This block took a while to carve as I wanted to keep the 'drawn' feel of the original whilst turning it into a lino print - all the lines and no tone, a bit of a leap of faith that all the cutting out would pay off, but I am pleased with how it has come out.  Next stage is to print it in gold on lovely black Stonehenge paper which will change how it looks all over again...

Projects, lino cutting, print drawers

I've had a lovely couple of weeks lino cutting - a tricky map showing bird migration routes for a book, some more museum bird specimens and a couple of test blocks to try using with different inks. Ive been printing in copper and gold for a while, but really want to try out some different ink/paper combinations so I have been collecting papers ready - should be a fun experiment!

I've also had a great clear out/rummage through my print drawers, which meant I uncovered this little goat - one of my favourites.  It is definitely Spring Cleaning season around here.
My little goat lino print is hanging out in my Etsy shop if you want to pop over :)

Winter exhibitions

I've just collected unsold work from a few winter/Christmas shows, pop-up galleries and craft shows.

It has been such a fun season and it has been fantastic to have my lino prints mingling with some really great work from other artists at some great venues.  Highlights have got to be Present Makers at Thelma Hulbert in Devon, Bristol Bazaar and being part of the Co-Exist shop for the first time!  (Mainly because they let me come out of my studio to hang out with them for a bit) Thanks too to all my lovely stockists who have been working so hard all winter too :)

Lino printed birds

I've been doing a lot of drawing in a Museum store, focusing on the bird scientific study skins...
It's been the best as a way of focusing on drawing skills.  The images I am making are just slightly different to the Foxes at the Disco though!

Don't worry - a few animals having a boogie are bound to fight their way out soon.