woodcuts

Gluing prints to blocks...

Here a 4 woodcut prints.

In different configurations...

Getting cold out now...it's gloves & hats season!

Love Autumn

Enjoying my lowered studio table...after gluing my etchings to the off cut table legs that I mentioned in my previous post...I started looking at other stuff I could cover with my prints.

I found these wooden blocks whilst op shopping last week and now in the process of covering all 12.



These prints are mixtures of aluminium etching, collagraph and etched lino.
Yes, etched lino, it's a process where you etch lino with caustic soda (yuk), I don't play with caustic soda anymore!!!

PS, Love Autumn...

Til Next Time
Jo

Seb's growing...

Our little puppy is now a big puppy! 20kg+ and growing!!!

Seb has fitted in so well and we are seriously in loooove with this fella!

Love is in the air...we had a wedding in the family (my son's) recently. Months of preparation resulted in one mighty fine shin dig!!! We had a fantastic day!

Now I'm back in the studio...just sticking bits of print onto stuff! I had my studio table legs cut down 100ml and I really liked the cypress pine blocks left over. Not only did they smell nice, they have a lovely texture to them. I wanted to use them somehow. So I've glued etchings to them.
I've only got 4 blocks and now want more!

Here's more pic of Sebastian...

Til next time
Jo

Seb

This is our beautiful baby boy Sebastian...I know...gorgeous!

I was pretty excited when the Jess's (son and girlfriend) told us they were bringing home a new family member. Seb is a Bernese Mountain dog and will be a big dog...very big!
We are a big dog family...our last girl Sascha, a pure breed Rottweiler lived to 14 years old and weighed 50+ kg, we buried her in the garden more than 16 years ago!!!

With the size of Sebastian's paws, I think he will be bigger than Sascha :)


I'm still working my way through a photography course that I'm doing and still enjoying the journey.

More trees...This exercise was about learning to understand a digital camera histogram ( a very useful tool when you know how it works)...I needed to take a series of shots at what I thought was the correct exposure, then I needed to under expose and over expose the same scene and write about what happens to the Histogram reading.


A few posts back I mentioned how I would like a wood router for Xmas...well I got a pearl pendant instead...I'm not complaining...I just love my pearl.

Well anyway, my father called me last week and said, "Jo, I was reading your blog post and you mentioned a router...did you get one?" I said no and he said he had 2 and was happy to give me one :) Now all I have to get are some blades and I'll be on my way carving more wooden panels.

I've already carved my way through 6 large panels of wood...using a dremel and carving tools.

Above is a detail of an embossing of one of those panels.
An embossing, for those of you that don't know, is a an impression taken by placing damp printmaking paper onto a clean dry plate (in this case my carved wooden plate) and then run through an etching press.  I love the elegance of embossing...simple and beautiful.

I also wanted to show you some collagraph plates I made late last year...

The above and below are of  skeletal leaves I collected on my walks.
They are larger than my hand and were pretty dry, crumbly and curled up when I got them home.
I sprayed them with a little warm water and they instantly softened to the point where I could very gently unfurl and glue them down to my plate with soft gel medium. Once dry, I shellaced the plates. They are now ready to print

Heres another close up, I've sealed this plate with a gloss medium.
I have a whole series of these leaf plates...but not much enthusiasm to print them!!!

Til next time...

Jo

January 2013

We are having a great Summer...and I've been out and about with my camera allot!

I've started a photography course (because my life just isn't full already... haha) 

I'm learning so much...and loving using my camera in full manual mode. 

Above is a photo of  the beautiful East Beach at Port Fairy.  We go there every year with my family.

The above morning sky looks so dramatic...but it actually cleared to a blue sky within an hour or so!

So now I'm using my camera in full manual mode...I'm on a constant lookout for light...beautiful light!

I think the above images are clickable...not sure (I've got a new computer that I'm still learning how to drive)

Not much going on in my studio...it's been a bit of a slow start for me this new year! 

I have booked into a 2 day workshop at the Baldessin Press in March, to hopefully kick start something!

I do have a photographic project I have been kicking around in my head though!

Hopefully I'll have some pics and a story to tell  next time I post.

Til then

Jo