Cutting out lino blocks

This week is a lino cutting week - a couple of commissions need doing ahead of birthdays and Christmas so These will be cut and hopefully printed by the end of the week. Obviously these are super top secret at the moment, but I am alos cutting out a companion piece for 'Woodland Glade' (above) which is for fun and will include at least as many leaves as this one... I draw the images in pencil first and it is very easy to get carried away with all of the lovely leaf shapes and woodland bits and pieces and then once the cutting starts it becomes very intricate and slow to carve! But the end result is definitely worth it - hopefully the new piece will work well...

Lovely Bear - lino cut print

A Lovely Bear lino cut ready to send out for Valentines Day this month - lots of my lino prints include retching dogs and fighting cats so this one is a little on it's own in terms of cuteness!! Also very happy to send secret messages in a little card along with the bear :) It is in my online shop just HERE if you would like to take a peek...

Lino Printed Golden Bats

Having a great time printing these little Flappy Bats in gold - they look really striking on black Stonehenge paper and make a really sweet little print.

Tea towels for Autumn fairs - real life and virtual...

Stocked up with a new batch of British Wildlife and Bristol tea towels in these amazing zingy colours - great timing as I have a few dates in the diary for the Autumn in real life and also in virtual life.

I have added them to my ETSY SHOP too if you want to hop over and take a look there - at the moment they are available in Pink, Yellow, Blue, Grey and just a couple of Peach.  Looking forward to seeing which colours are the popular ones this season!  A bright pop of candy pink could be just the thing...

 The Bristol tea towels are going to head off to our local Etsy Pop Up shop this Christmas, but I am sure they will find their way online too before the month is out.

Lino cut print - Wolf Nursery School

Inspired by the wild weather, recent super moon, winds and storms - a little lino print of wolves...

These are the friendly ones though, not the wild beasties of the night - these are the jolly young ones playing at the wolf nursey school!

Trying to achieve wolfish body language in a little lino cut - without making them ferocious and snarling, that is my self imposed lino challenge.

September exhbition

After a summer break and then a lot of beetle carving it is time for a show - really excited to be part of an art exhibition called NATURAL HABITATS in Bristol at The Malago on North Street. 

It has been organised by TRIBE AISTHETICA and there rare three of us showing nature inspired work, so definitely worth popping in if you are in Bristol.

I have several pieces based on drawings of birds and beetles I have made in Bristol Museum, where I have been lucky enough to spend time in the stores with some of the amazing collections held there.  The beetles are mostly burying beetles and it has been fascinating studying them so closely.

The show runs 2nd September - 6th October if you fancy calling in.

Lino print sort out!

I have spent the last few days having a studio sort out - always a dangerous task to start as who knows what will be unearthed in the process.

These Seagulls have re-appeared from the bottom of the lino print drawer.

Lots of unfinished lino blocks too, all asking for a bit of attention....

New Dog lino print and Featured Maker on Folksy

Here is  a new lino print, freshly printed - Dog Disco

My sketchbooks are filled with dogs so it was only a matter of time before they all got together and had a party and here they all are.

This lino print was also great fun to cut out - all those twirly bits on the string of lights... but then I am happy cutting out lino prints anyway, however twirly.

The image happened during a weekend at an Art Fair - they had amazing twirly lights along the beams which I doodled all over my sketchbook and then I started drawing all the dogs who were visiting the Fair.  It was a particularly popular one for dogs and some very fine hounds stopped to say hello which was fun.  Somehow the dogs and the bright lights got mixed up together on the page and before I knew it the idea for Dog Disco had arrived.

I have popped it into my Folksy shop and right now I am their Featured Maker which is exciting - so to celebrate I have done one of those money off things.  Type in PIGEONPARADE15 as you go through the checkout bit and you get 15% off (until 9th June 2019) - hurrah!

Bristol Craft and Flea

Is three days notice enough?  I am going to be at the Craft and Flea in Bristol on Bank Holiday and it would be so great if you came along to say "Hello"!

I will have lots of my lino prints of course as well as lots of Bristol themed goodies - tote bags, mugs, cards and so on - I am so excited, having seen the exhibitor list it is going to be amazing fun.

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.

Three Foxes at the Disco - lino print

Three Foxes at the Disco, they are ready for a great night out dancing!

It's nearly December which is definitely party season - and great to have a bit of shimmer to brighten up the Autumn gloom...

Leeds Print Fair

I had a stand at Leeds Print Fair for the first time this month and it was really fab.  Very busy and lots of interest in my lino prints which was great - also time for an amazing pizza, a French film at the lovely Hyde Park Picture House and a pit stop in a great house filled with amazing children's art...yeah!