Gryke textile/lino

Well it may appear that artwork has taken rather a back seat, while I have been off enjoying myself - and it has. That doesn't mean that I haven't been doing anything though..these two pieces took a while. The first is a traditional lino cut, hand coloured and the second is the same lino cut, printed on to cotton using Calagio Safewash; hand coloured using Inktense paint and then machine and hand stitched. I think this offers some quite interesting possibilities as a technique - I may have to go larger though - these were A4. 

Hand coloured lino cut.

..and the lino cut on fabric...

Details ...  and below.

A special postbox!

Well, while we were there we had to visit this splendid postbox - well the wall around it actually. The wall an extensive patch of Rocella phycopsis, not a common lichen and lovely to see. The post box itself is out of use as bees nest in it! 

Quirky Workshops - lino cutting

Last year I met with Annie, of Quirky Workshops in Greystoke, to discuss some potential workshops. Saturday was my first time teaching in this gorgeous venue where participants (and me!) are treated to not only a quality workshop, but tea,coffee, biscuits; lunch and scones and tea. We had an excellent day with some great work being produced - click here for more information about Quirky Workshops

All set up and ready to go...

After a PowerPoint about lino cutting, including history, techniques and inspiration we looked at the huts at the back of Port Mulgrave beach in North Yorkshire. 

I modelled different approaches to the same scene...

...and we produced a collaborative piece of work that gave everyone the chance to try different tools and experience both Soft Sculpt and traditional lino. 

After lunch everyone began work on their own buildings ...

Interestingly for me, we found that we ended up printing with my good old-fashioned oil-based inks rather than the Calagio Safewash and water based inks, as when you are trying to print off a lot of prints at the end of the day the latter two were liable to slip in the press creating a slightly blurred image  - not so with the oil-based relief ink - but of course it's harder to clean up. Having said that the Calagio Safewash worked perfectly at home when I was testing it  - maybe I was working more slowly when taking prints.

The final wokshop of 2022

On a cold and foggy day I led my last workshop of the year. To be honest, I was glad the fog didn't clear into sunshine as I was well aware of the fact that it would be a beautiful day on the fells and while I couldn't see the sunshine, it didn't feel like I was missing out. I do enjoy leading workshops though, and this one, with mulled wine (non-acloholic) and mince pies yielded some excellent and rewarding results! Attendees were complete lino cut beginners and certainly challenged themselves - well done all! 

A frosty start at Gosling Sike.

...and the lino cuts ....

Gosling Sike printing workshop

It seems to be all workshops and craft fares at the moment! One of the most successful has been a recent Cumbria Wildlife Trust printing workshop held at their Gosling Sike property near Carlisle. The day was loosely based on seedheads as sources of inspiration. We did lino printing for the morning and then after a late lunch gelli printing - there were some fabulous results! 

Natural Connections

 A great day, attending and contributing to the 'Natural Connections' day at the National Trust's Allan Bank property in Grasmere....and what a fine building it is! After an introduction to the watercolours of Beatrix Potter, by the Armitt Trust, we were able to look at the original artwork - wow! Then after a really enjoyable and accessible 'lichen walk',  I led a fungi/lichen inspired lino cut workshop - there was some great work produced and it was really nice to work with a range of organisations where participants all had a common interest. 

'Pepper Pot' lichen.

Cumbria Wildlife Trust lino cut workshop

What an enjoyable and productive workshop we had this morning, introducing people to the delights of lino cutting. Everyone worked really hard and I really look forward to the next one! Several of these are going to be hand-coloured when they get home and are totally dry. 

A Celebration of the Seashore

This was a whole day workshop, in a similar style to last year's Celebration of Seedheads day. I provided lots and lots of inspiration - emptying many, many shells and other seashore finds into the car and then into the village hall. After a PowerPoint giving different examples of artwork inspired by the seahore, participants were able to use a variety of resources and materials to create their work ....and there was some lovely work produced!