I made a number of prints through the etching press so one could be picked out. As you can see, the cow parsley printed really sensitively and the stems have this linear quality that is really lovely.

My buried in my head idea is to provide opportunities to create visual recordings through the printmaking process. Like…..what would a printed portrait of a ‘place’ look like…….a

We find ourselves in the glorious grips of a snow storm. I love love snow, frost, hoarfrost……all of it. Everything looks clean & bright…..blanketed, twinkling & a sense of peace descends along with it. So, I had a bit of a play with some new prints…….some nice things started to happen…..mainly I was having fun!

I thought it would be nice to do a blog post about my printmaking press, affectionately known as ‘Bette’! Yes, taken from that force of nature that was the actress Bette Davis, because I always think of her as strong and tough as nails…..her screen presence anyway!

Joyous New Year wishes fellow readers…….here we find ourselves in the clutches of yet another lockdown scenario…….a time to look for joy in simple pleasures.

Anyway folks, once safely installed we set to the fun decorating bit, Christmas music played and my son and I had a lot of fun with paper snowflakes, physalis leaves, which also look great over the lights as they act as tiny lanterns!

Well, the online class was a great success - the ladies were festooned in a magical array of festive outfits & accessories! We had turkey headwear and reindeer antlers along with a rather fetching ‘sprout’ sweatshirt! Spirits were high & everyone was ready to jolly in the 1st of December.

Today I am sharing some prep for a practical workshop I will host on December 1st with my fabulous group of printmaking students, the group who would ordinarily have rolled up at my door every Tuesday morning, armed with good cheer (whatever the season) and ready to roll with the lino and pull with the squeegee!

This week I thought I would share a step by step guide to creating your own textural mono-prints from both natural, as well as made resources…….still plenty of leaves around before they get too wet!

So, yes, safe to say that autumn and winter are my months….I don’t sigh as the days draw in and we pull the clocks back and leap into darker mornings….

I know how vital it is to have good quality photographs of work and process for using on the website as well as publishing via other means, like Open Studio marketing material and memberships etc.

I absolutely L O V E autumn, fresher days, scarves, maybe gloves, bright days, colours completely in focus and then there are the trees and all of that fabulous shedding. For me its dreamy, eyes on the ground collecting things that may work for prints, in truth most of the time its a case of, oooohh that could make a print!

Collagraphy comes from the word ‘collage’ and basically its a printing block that utilises basic materials to create a textured surface from which you can ink up to create a set of prints. It is great fun to do and very often the print block at the end becomes a unique work in its own right.

For so many of us, the lockdown brought with it sweeping changes that really forced us to develop new strategies to cope with different working and living demands and eventualities.

I was delighted to become a new member of ‘People of Print’ in the summer and this month an article was published about my work and process.