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...

Printing 'Dungbeetle' in gold ink

This lino block of a Dungbeetle with its lovely ball of dung is one that I carved long ago and it has lived in a drawer for years - and then I had the idea to try it again with a bit of gold ink as I was printing some other gold prints...luckily it has survived well and printed perfectly still. Inked up it looks like an ancient relic to me with the gold. Plans now are to make an edition in gold, printed onto black Stonehenge paper and enjoy printing a lovely golden ball of poo!

Wagtails - lino cut print

A new mini-print to add to my growing selection of bird lino prints - Wagtails These birds are always a joy to watch and I have a pair living just in front of my house so I had to draw them. The sketches have evolved into this little lino print, with the Wagtails bobbing and rushing around, ever busy as in real life! This lino block printed really well too, and it was a satisying print to start editioning with all those little birds being revealed each time. In my online shop just HERE if you would like to see any more details...

Hedge - new lino print

'Hedge' is a new lino print that I carved during February 2021 - based on a smaller lino printed idea I had a while ago. The idea is to try and avoid a strong focal point and have an image filled with details, like a real hedgerow... Included in the carving are lots of typical Hedge plants and animals - Hawthorn, Blackberry, Cuckoo Pint, Elder etc and hopefully there are lots of little details to discover within the image. I have editioned it as a limited edition of 100 prints, hand burnished onto Somerset Satin paper and it is online here if you would like to take a look and see any more details about it.

New Lino Print - Otter Feast

A new lino print of a trio of hungry otters - well not that hungry as they have a pile of fish to eat. I have only ever seen an otter footprint, never a glimpse of the elusive creature although apparently they do live right here in waterways of Bristol, urban otters! This was a fun little lino print to carve, especially the little pile of fish bones - somehow the perfect subject matter for lino. I have added the Otter Feast to my online shop HERE if you are interested in any more info about it (size, paper etc) so pop over and have a look.

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.

Lino Print postage update

I am still sending out lino prints to wherever they need to go - I am lucky enough to have a Royal Mail Parcel Postbox really close to my house, so I can buy online postage and then feed the into the box - so still sending out lino printed tapirs, dancing dogs and lines of hares ready for birthdays, cheer up post, sprucing up your home office or just because you fancy a golden Pilea in a Pot...


...thanks so much for all recent orders, it has been great fun writing birthday cards on behalf of friends and family and sending them off into the world!

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.

Greetings Cards

Great to get another delivery of my cards from ARTPRESS recently - including the new Christmas Card, yipee!

I'm so happy to have my lino prints on their lovely cards and it is great fun looking out for them in shops/galleries/museums as I travel around the country.  Do let me know if you spot any out in the wild...

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....

Puffin lino print - work in progress

Starting to plan a big flock of Puffins...
Smaller flocks will also be printed - I am just going to have a warm-up session of Puffin lino cutting to see how they come out before going for the huge one!

I went to see Puffins on the Farne Isles in June and it was amazing, totally overwhelming to spend an hour on their island and watch and draw them.  It was too early for Pufflings but the parents were busy.

I am trying to show their brilliant flappy flight in the way I draw them, so hopefully that will work out too as the drawing progresses....

I always draw my designs out on paper first before l transfer it to the lino block using tracing paper.  It can take a while for a large lino block but I love drawing so would hate to miss that stage out.  I know some people draw straight onto the block or just carve, but that is not for me!

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!

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...

Everybody at the table - lino print frenzy!

Due to having a long list of other things to do I have managed to get quite a few new lino prints started this month...the other things can go away :)

This one is now proofed and ready to go - I've called it 'Everybody at the table' and especially enjoyed cutting out tiny little guinea pigs.  We don't always keep ours on the table.

Here is the print in my little Etsy shop if you want to take a look.

Lots of handprinted bits and bobs...

 

...and some laser cut birds too!  So excited to have my lino printed birds turned into a lovely wooden flock.  That is my week filled up now, playing with wooden birds :)

Several of these printed goodies have found their way into my Folksy shop so you can always pop over there if you would like to!

Relaxing printing

After a couple of weeks where any printing I did had to be spot on and perfect it's been great fun to print a whole batch of new cards, where the print has to come out well, but hopefully nobody is going to be using a magnifying glass to check for imperfections!!

A very satisfying pile of cards resulting from  a few hours of work with my roller and my burnishing tool - hurrah.  They are off to a couple of galleries now (and not a heart in sight...)

nocturnal printing

I am a little bit nocturnal - although confusingly I also like to have a lot of sleep - and printing until late in the evening is often what I do.

In the daytime I am very easily distracted, by anything or nothing much, but in the evening there is less of that somehow...and then I can print until I am nearly asleep.

This week I have made a lot of cards (maybe 'lot' should be in capitals, because I mean a LOT) and I'll be dropping some off to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery to top up their shop and then posting the rest out to other galleries - happily not a single Christmas card is included...



By the way - have you spotted that I'm not using a press?  This lovely boxwood tool makes all my prints.  I think by now it could probably do them on it's own as we have made hundreds together, but I do still like to be a little bit involved.