That time of year

Another year flashing by & I realise that I have not posted anything here since February 2016. Winter is slowly creeping up and I have at last got back to printing. The kick-start to printing was a 2-week artist residency in Norfolk with no computer, car, or internet access. Just me and a small Furnival etching press in a peaceful spot with a 45 minute walk to the nearest bus stop. I decided that collecting objects (leaves, plants, rubbish, abandoned stuff, flotsam & jetsam from the coast etc.) would provide my printing matter. This print was made using a piece of 'found' wood from Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire and the tree element is a piece of 'something' (not sure what material it is) found on a Norfolk walk with added branches cut from card and printed over the initial wood printing. I like the way the different wood textures describe their own tree forms. I have blind embossed metal letterpress (not easily visible here) onto the bottom of the print: That time of year. Print currently part of 'Out of the Woods' exhibition by members of the Gloucestershire Printmaking Cooperative at Westonbirt Arboretum.

Hand & Heart

Rings & hands & hearts & what I only just realised is the Boy's Brigade emblem. I like the way the right-hand edge curves of the wooden ampersand bend protectively round the ring and trade mark symbol. The old image blocks come from the archive of Large & Sons who were printers and stationers in Byker, Newcastle. The elements all turn around ideas of truth, commitment & promises. In need of reassurance, maybe?

Dum spiro spero

I heard somebody on the radio the other day make reference to this motto dum spiro, spero: while I breathe, I hope, or while there's life, there's hope. The concise elegance of the latin and the rhyme, rhythm and poetry within these three words got me thinking & printing. My first version included the word 'hope' but I removed it, preferring to leave space for the word 'breathe' alone.
With very little wooden furniture, making do with odd pieces of wood and magnets works fine to lock the wooden type on the press bed.

'Bare ruined choirs'

Gloucestershire walking with Walking the Land on Friday January 8th, starting from the Weighbridge Inn and going up in the mud to Hazel Wood and on to Avening.

Seasons Greetings

Printed at the Gloucestershire Printmaking Cooperative near Stroud, Gloucestershire.

No L in sight

First cards printed on my Adana 8x5. Maybe the 'No Joy' reading betrays my true feelings about the big business that is Xmas. Difficult to get an even print with the wooden type. Rough & ready umlaut cut from a rubber. Getting an even pressure across the print by adjusting the screws on the back is tricky: you can see here that the pressure fades off from right to left. The clinking sound of the inking disc as it moves round is quite festive!

A is for Autumn...

... C is for Colour and O is for Ode.
The first line of To Autumn by Keats was rolling round my head when I made these prints:

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

They will both be exhibited at a show entitled 'Seasons' opening on December 1st at The Old Passage in Arlingham, Gloucestershire.