linen and paper

Lino block prints. Experimenting on linen and paper.

The cards are in the shop. And so is the linen tea towel.

The end of summer has found me eating too many fresh figs with blue cheese. I guess things could be a whole lot worse!

three

The succulent blossom design is back.....
This time I've printed it a bit differently with 3 succulent blossom motifs to one block so it's quicker. These were block printed on natural linen and will eventually become tea towels.

test run

A test run of the succulent design block printed on a natural linen/cotton blend. Pics are in B&W but I did use black ink. I still have to work on removing some of those textural bits that pop up with lino printing although I kind of like what it adds here. When I see a whole lot of the succulent images together in black like this it reminds of how the Australian bush can look after a fire. Have to go rest now as still not feeling super great and it's very hot today. No fires though as far as I know.

succulent design in progress

The one good thing about having a 36 degree day is that you don't have to sit on your lino to warm it up and make it soft before cutting. In this heat is cuts like butter. I've been feeling a bit off colour but decided to start cutting this design today anyway. It's a pen and ink drawing based on some photos I've taken of succulent flowers. When I'm feeling up to it I plan on printing it onto some fabric. Somehow I don't think that's going to be tomorrow - it's forecast to be 37 degrees. A bit to warm for printing even when you're feeling 100%.

Intricate

For Illustration Friday: intricate. Lino print with digital colour.

Life feels a bit like this at times: intricate, complicated, entangled, complex, confusing, convoluted, meandering..... Nothing like nature to let you know that we're all intricately connected though.

circling in red

I've been printing with my lino block winter trees again and I must admit it's been fun experimenting. The winter light is quite poor today so that explains why this photo is a bit dark. But it's fitting really, don't you think, with a winter tree image?

Something interesting from the International Printing Center New York (IPCNY). They're calling for new prints for their Autumn show (that's autumn in the northern hemisphere of course). All the details about the kind of prints allowed and deadlines are here. I feel quite happy to say I even know where the IPCNY is as I searched it out in Chelsea last month when I was visiting New York. It's located in the back of an amazing rabbit warren of a building in the art gallery precinct. It's not easy to find but I did get the sense that they're doing really nice things for artists on a really low/non-existent budget.

And if you're in Melbourne this weekend come along to the Melbourne Design Market and Projekta 57. They're going to be a great events.

march of the red dragonflies

Thanks to the lino cut magic of Sandra Krumins I've been inspired to finally finish cutting my dragonfly lino block and do some printing.
I started off with a whole lot of blue ones (somehow the colour blue just fits with dragonflies in my mind) but then moved onto some other colours including this slightly dirty red colour. I like the translucency of the print above which I was able to create by deliberately not inking the blocks up to heavily. This lot have been done of paper but my next step will be to print them on fabric. However, I do have a one-of-a-kind paper print available in the shop in case you're in the mood for purchasing.