sunshine and oak leaves

I've been enjoying printing with the sun streaming in through the windows today, pictures of Bristol Suspension Bridge, with the slopes of Leigh Woods covered with big oak leaves and whitebeam leaves (a species of which is native only to the Avon Gorge, which the bridge spans) and a very serious peregrine falcon surveying the scene.

A new selection of my Bristol prints are about to go to The Framing Factory on Bristol docks to replenish the ones that are already there.  Have a look if you find yourself wandering along the docks anytime soon!!

parrots

Parrots are a feature here at the moment.  The Southbank Arts Trail is coming up this weekend in Bristol and the theme is Pirates and Parrots.   Paper Village, our local arts/craft/everything shop, has been running Parrot making workshops for the last few weeks so that we will all be fully kitted out ready.   

We had to have a go at parrot making, they are so colourful and fabulous.  The person in the family who has a summer birthday (and whose friends are always away on holiday) decided that parrot making would be a great way to spend an 'un-birthday', so we gathered together a group of parrot fans and off we went.  A large flock of multi-coloured parrots took shape.

The parrot who came home with us has spent the last week sitting on a glass egg and after much discussion on the length of sitting time required to hatch a parrots egg, we have discovered that it is only 7 days after all.

The parrots are breeding...

dancing monsters

I've had a frustrating printing week this week - wrong ink, wrong paper, gloomy skies, hurumph.

As there was no point in ploughing on until I sort out the ink and paper situation I have consoled myself with finally getting round to printing my two current favourite monsters...Bicorne and Chichevashe, medieval monsters and the eaters of patient wives and husbands (do you know that story already?)

They have appeared in my sketch books several times over the years so I thought they deserved to be printed at last and if they are lucky they may well find themselves in a frame for the upcoming Southbank Arts Trail here in Bristol.

mud and rain

This week is most certainly a vegetable week as I haven't actually finished my winter digging yet.  Is it still winter?
I'm currently using the car as a mobile potato chitting shelf as the seedling table in the house is now covered with baby tomatoes and brussel sprouts (number one vegetable in our house) and so a backlog is developing.
I think the fact that I can no longer offer anyone a lift because the potatoes are using the seat could suggest to some people that I have a problem, but it is one which can only be solved by digging the potato patch, so that is what I have been doing...in the rain.

sunshine award

Long, long ago, way back in March, the lovely Floor Number Four passed on a Sunshine Award to me...hurrah hurrah.  

Now that the rain is back in the UK and we have started burning logs again I think it is time to spread the glowing golden rays to:

The Little Peach

Ruth Green design 

The Pea Pod 

Arcticmum blog 

SixtyoneA

Now I have to answer the questions...

+  Favorite Colour: 

   Grass Green

+  Animal: 

   Hippo.  I don't know why, but it's been like that since I was about 8.

+  Non-alcoholic drink: 

   Anything with ginger.

+  Facebook or Twitter: 

   Neither.  Am I missing out on everything??? 

+  Getting or giving presents: 

   Giving is better, but a just right suprise pressie can not be beaten.  How did they      know?

+  Flower:

   Anything that is not yellow at the moment - daffodil season is just finishing...

+  Pattern: 

   Small.  But bright is fine.

+  Passion: 

   Lino.  Seedlings. Hungarian folk music.  It will be different tomorrow.

+  Number: 

   42

ten days off!

I've just taken ten days off.  What a great idea, I must remember to do it again.  No computer.

Instead I have done a lot of reading, sorting, digging, sowing, pottering, drawing, lamb cuddling, eating, painting (houses not great art...), visiting, looking, walking and sitting.   Aaaaaah.

Now I feel really refreshed and I have got more ideas for lino prints than I can fit in and I'm not going to write them all down as the best and biggest ones will surely rise to the top!

luminous lino loveliness...

I spent a  really exciting day teaching lino printing at Paper Village in Bristol this weekend.  Lots of people trying printing for the first time, hopefully leaving with lots of ideas and inspiration and also a brave group who I pushed into doing reduction lino prints (where you gradually carve away more and more of your lino block as you add colours, until there is almost nothing left, so no going back!).  With a bit of brain stretching as they worked out where to start and a race against time in just a three hour session some great prints were made and hopefully the seeds of some fabulous future lino prints sown...

My terrible photography means that I can't show everyones work, so sorry if yours hasn't appeared here!

 Lou did pretty well to get her printing done while taking great photos of the morning session though so you can see lots of those prints here...

Reduction printers hard at work...