Lessons in Lino Print

My first steps into two-colour lino printing ... as my friends populate the next generation, I thought printing would be the perfect way to welcome their little ones into the world. Aiming to finish for the arrival of the Brixton Penny, little did I realise that a) she'd arrive early, and b) I needed to allow for well over half to be well below gift-standard.

Here are a few things that may, just possibly go wrong in your second lino layer ... take a deep breath ... second layer not quite lined up with the first; too much ink; too little ink, the tile somehow moves under the press; oil mysteriously appears on the tile (okay, not mysteriously, from your fingers) and causes a resist; the chiselled-away (white) areas turn out no longer to be chiselled-away enough ... to name but a few!

Easter Illustrators

Glorious sunny Easter weekend, and off we all go exploring ... My adventures took me walking from Faversham to Whitstable, where en route I found a pub full of prints by Emily Smith Polyblank ... fresh and fun and full of the textures of wood ...
And meanwhile, my parents were ambling around the New Forest when they found Susan Steggall and thought of me. A lady with a great deal of paper patience, methinks, since it's all made from collage...

After the Freud Museum

Holidays at Orleans House again! This time, on the theme of 'Tomorrow's World', we dreamed up objects of the future. Here is Alexander's shin pad which communicated to the referee whether a player was fowled, and Rhiannon's banana phone - use it and then eat it. Genius! Then, inspired by Susan Hiller's After the Freud Museum, created our own 'Museum of the Future'.

The Collector of Rhymes

Today, as I continued to find my way around my new role at Bishopsgate Institute and consequently begin to sink into the fascinating world of the East End, I was mesmerised by the discovery of Dan Jones, a vibrant local painter (and local legend, I would guess) who collects Children’s Rhymes from around the world. I think I would like to meet this man! Check out the interactive singing playground he created for the Museum of Childhood.

The Baby

I thought, since we might be spending some fair time cooing over the baby, now she's arrived, that maybe I'd dedicate a sketchbook to her and practise my baby portraits while she sleeps. Here she is, Penny at 5 days old.

Brian Wildsmith

I finally visited the Illustration Cupboard a few weeks ago, saw lots of 'old friends' and found a new one. Somehow Brian Wildsmith has escaped me until now, though of course now I've 'met' him I see him everywhere. But I'm full of admiration for his glorious pages of colour and texture, and for his lively animal worlds, and his fascination with birds of all shapes and sizes.

Penguins and Peacocks

A bird in a box ... I'm not sure why the idea caught my fancy, but it did, and so my glorious teams of 10-15s have plugged away at their own explorations of this theme this term. I could have shared several, they are all so uniquely impressive, but here are Zoltan's penguin and Amber's peacock. Watch this space (for a goodly while) to see my own birds in boxes...

Pregnant

The joyful privelege of drawing from life. My very pregnant friend, inspired by a painting by Lucian Freud, invited me to spend an evening sketching her. Any opportunity to practise ... especially with such an unusual model!