Monday, 20 June 2011

Seagull Linocut

Forgot to post this earlier! Last week I ran a give-away once I got to my first 100 on my facebook page.
This linocut was up for grabs. Think I will do this again as it was good fun and I got a lot of good feedback.
A close up of the lino being cut

Linocut prints ready for shipping up to the North Rock Gallery

"Whit'll we dae wi the Herrings Heed"

So much for thinking this would be easy! I thought I would do some herring collagraphs in keeping with the theme of work I am currently producing for North Rock Gallery. I really enjoyed putting the plates together.
Making one of the herring collagraphs

I decided to try out some new water based ink and try out the relief method of inking up (where the ink is just rollered straight on and printed straight onto dry paper) instead of intaglio (where the ink is pushed into the plate and then wiped off gradually and then printed onto dampened paper). I do prefer the intaglio method, but I don't have the proper inks and drying facilities in my studio so I have to go through to the print workshop in Dunfermline (which is fab by the way!). Sadly it didn't work out as well as I hoped. The colours were peely waaly (wishy washy!) and I just wasn't happy with the outcome.
Herrings ready for printing


So Dunfermline it was. I decided to use my old favourite 'Prussian Blue' and 'Turquoise Lake' as colours. The result again was disappointing as some areas were underwiped and some overwiped leaving the prints patchy in areas. The pressure from the press was also flattening the plates too much and I therefore had to stop or else lose the detail completely.

Collagraphs printed using the intaglio method
So back to the drawing board at the Natty Maid Studio! I decided to use my oil based inks and this did produce a better result.

Although these are collagraphs, I have decided to adapt these for screen so that the herrings can be printed individually or in groups on loads of different things like fabric, notebooks etc.......now for a name!

Monday, 6 June 2011

An eventful week

Well, a lot of good things have been happening this week.

Lloyds TSB have used my image in some publicity material.
It is really good to see it used in context.
Geese image for Art of Nurture used in publicity material
I also got news that I have won an award in conjunction with Forth Valley College.
http://www.scotlandscolleges.ac.uk/business-week/business-week/business-to-college-awards-2011.html
This is very poignant for me in that I began Further Education with the College in 2002 when my youngest started nursery. Little did I know that it would lead to 5 fantastic years at Art School. When I set up on my own, Forth Valley College were there yet again with a funded course to help folks like me make a go of it in the Creative Industries. I cannot thank them enough!