Ullswater and Coniston Old Man mini paintings

With another box of mini canvases and easels arriving, this morning was spent with a palette knife!

Coniston Old Man from Tarn Hows.

Towards Helvellyn over Ullswater.

Gelli printing Christmas card designs

 I hadn't intended on doing these today, but sometimes it's really nice to do something you hadn't planned or expected to do! I'd forgotten how much I enjoy using the gelli plate and the fact that you, well I, can't plan things - you just work with the first print and keep modifying it with overlays. It was also an opportunity to try my new Speedball roller - which I must admit was great compared to the lino roller I usually use.

The first pull...

The second pull.....

The results ...after a third pull....

Caldbeck - Riverside Cottages

For my next lino I want to do the riverside cottages in Caldbeck - I took enough photos, but inevitably the only answer for planning the linocut is going to be to stand in the road and sketch! This way I can get the proportions of the cottages correct from a front on view - then it'll be tricky deciding what angle to put the bridge at and where to include bushes and trees and which to leave in/out to create an overall impression. Annoyingly it's going to rain tomorrow - 97% chance according to the BBC website - so maybe outdoor sketching isn't such a good idea! Time to find something else to do tomorrow!

New mini paintings

Four new sets of 7cm x 7 cm paintings: Dash Beck through the heather on Binsey; Skiddaw from Bowscale Fell; Carrock Fell and Ennerdale. All come with an easel and are done solely with a palette knife.

Castle Crag, Borrowdale

While I, for my sins, was at a craft fair, Molly and Rocky went up the smallest of the Wainwrights. Castle Crag is 290m and affords some nice views over Borrowdale - especially at this time of year.

Bog Bean Cushions

I've just had a commission of 6 different 'bog bean' cushions collected by a customer. They are a mixture of techniques - mainly patchwork, applique and quilting. The photograph in the middle was printed onto fabric using a home printer and the design taken from it. Needless to say they did take quite a while to make! Now which flower next?

RD Glass - fusion results!

Following my post on my glass fusion course Click here , here are the results! I was really pleased and can't wait to go back again....I'm thinking I'd like to do a set of three bowls based on the hanging design.