paintings prints and stuff

I managed to get into the print workshop, made a new linocut and printed one print from the collagraph plates - disaster! - didn't use enough pressure and forgot to add the felt blanket (I was using the hydraulic press) so the print didn't work very well, but well enough to see how it will work. It will be a few days maybe before I can get in to print again :( The blanket is essential as it's an intaglio print and it needs to pick up the ink from the fine lines on the plate. Detail shown above The lino plate above has since been cut and is ready to print when I can get in to do it. It's a relief print and will be much quicker to ink up and print than the collagraph. I may do one lino print as a relief, before inking up, then I'll then have a contoured image with no colour. I may also experiment with printing it as an intaglio lino, where I ink up the background and surface and use a layer of sponge in the press, to force the paper into the cut away spaces to pi...

these are the collagraph plates I have ready to print. They are created using mount card, Where lines are cut with a craft knife it will print like drypoint lines, where the top layer is peeled off will print dark, where it is left alone will print a soft medium tone and for lights, pva is used as a resist, It is then varnished with straw-hat-varnish (shellac), which is meths based and won't dissolve when printing ink is applied. I now need to get to the print workshop to use the printing presses and facilities to experiment with printing them :) I haven't done any intaglio printing for ages and I'm looking forward to it. the trees are all done separately so no 2 prints will be the same, I can arrange them differently, change spacing and numbers and of course use different colours and colour mixes.

at last the Harlequin paintings are finished. I handed them in this morning and the private view is later in the week. Lots of people had done interesting work based on clowns, Laurel and Hardy etc but I'd wanted to stay quite abstract on this one. I handed it in this morning and the private view is later this week. Harlequin: Gold 30x40 inches on gallery wrap canvas Harlequin: Blues 24x30 inches on gallery wrap canvas There should have been a third - but I hated it! it is destined for the bin and I'll re-cover the stretcher for another painting. It was such a disaster it isn't even fit for painting over! Now I can get into the print workshop and print some collagraph plates that I've had done for ages and do some more landscapes.