New ideas and new prints

Its been a busy couple of weeks for me. Half term meant that i couldn't go into the studio but that didn't stop me creating and i managed to do 3 lino cuts at home ready to take in on Tuesday just gone.
I could only do half a day on Tuesday as i needed to go home and feed our puppy. We have a 17 week old Dachshund puppy called Jedi. He is pretty awesome. We've never had dogs in our family so this is a new thing for us. Jedi has settled into our family really quickly and the kiddos absolutely love him.
I do think that i am the favourite though since i feed him and spend the most time with him.
I have even painted him and gave the painting to my husband.
This is Jedi -

 And the water colour i did.

My husband really loves it and has hung it in the hallway already!.

I had a bit of a nightmare on Tuesday as someone had been messing around with the press that i was going to use so i didn't get half the things i wanted to do done. So my final Humming bird i printed on my lunch break on Thursday. I didn't even manage to take many pictures as i had little time. But here is one of my final prints.

What i loved about doing the Humming bird was that all the prints are different. I really love the effect and they all look like they have movement in them which is what i wanted to achieve.

On Tuesday i did manage to do some relief printing using a barren and some thin Japanese paper which felt lovely and didn't need soaking.

 Above is my Poppy pod print.

 At home i managed to start wrapping my Tree prints ready to sell.

 Then this was one of my new designs that i did in half term. It is so far my favourite.
Dandelion Clocks

 I used my own Hawthorn inks which i got as a gift for Valentines. I printed this is Paynes grey with a touch of Burnt Umber.

The print came out really well. I am very happy with it. I just can't wait to do some more of it when i get a bit more time.
I will be wrapping some of these up this weekend to sell. 

Final prints and Thistles

Fourth week \\ T r e e B a r k //
Second week \\ H u m m i n g B i r d //
First week \\ T h i s t l e //

Back in the studio this week and i actually couldn't wait. It was nice to get away from all the poorly sicks in the house. Husband has a cold. 7 year old son has a cough and even the puppy has a cold!. I am keeping the germs at bay. I thought i might have had to sacrifice my day. My precious 'me time' and stay at home with my boy but husband said he would look after him.

I had kept my ink from the precious weeks and added some darker shades to it for my last reduction print.

 It ended up a richer dark brown which was exactly what i wanted.

 Inking up my lino

Here were a couple drying in the rack. The one in the middle i printed upside down. I still like the effect.
Never throw away any pieces of art that you think it a mistake or wrong. You can always use them. Or maybe someone might want to buy it because they like it.

 Here is one o my final prints. I have a crease in it which will smooth out later when dry.
I love the fact all the different colours compliment each other and give a different dimension to the bark.

Second week \\ H u m m i n g B i r d //

I wanted to go for some darker since last week i want for crazy bright colours. I wanted to have the bright colours just pop through.

 Here is my first test on some newsprint. Loving the graduation on the inks.

 Each print i did turned out slightly differently.

 Here is my print on top of the screen print that i did a last week. Its all about Humming birds.
Love the effect.

 A few of my prints below. Looking forward to seeing these develop the next time I'm in the studio. After half term.

 I think i will do just one more reduction cut on this. I think too many would spoil it.

First lino print \\ T h i s t l e //

The was another image that God has been talking to me about. I love that it is so beautiful but grows in harsh terrain and can survive harsh weather. 

This is going to be a reduction.

My idea is that it is first thing in the morning and the sunlight is catching the Thistle. As i do the reduction the ink will become richer in colour. The first one i did today is the lightest colours. 

 My lino cut

 The colours that i chose. The purple will get much more vibrant and purple.

 A few drying on the rack.

 My first reduction print. Really excited to see this progress.

Humming bird Lino Reduction Part 1

So i was planning to go into the studio and do my 4th reduction on my bark but after a week it was still tacky and not completely dry so i had to change my plan. So i started on my humming bird.

 I started cutting out my basic shape.

 I wanted to start with some really bright colours then next week start toning them down.

 Mixing my ink

 For my Humming bird i am trying out a graduation reduction. Should be an interesting result.

 Inked up and ready to go.

 I had to make an extra registration sheet as my paper was a bit larger and i wanted to be able to line it up next week. Here it i on my press that i was using.

 I used some really lovely paper which i decided not to wet first. The finish was nice but not quite what i wanted.

So i decided to put the rest of my paper in the water bath for 10 minutes. 

 The result was much richer and fuller. Just what i did want.

 I have been saving up tea bags and stuck the emptied tea bags onto a piece of thicker card to experiment. This will be a mixed medium print and i may do some stitching into it too. We will see. I think it is really interesting.

 This is one of my final first prints. Im really happy with the result. I also cut the lino outwards and put some lighter paint on it as i wanted to look like it was shining.

As well as doing these. I also made up 2 silk screens. One with my humming bird design on it and the other with some words about the humming bird.
I am planning to print my humming bird over the top of the written word. I will do this next week when i have some more time.

 Job 12:7 and 9 says: ‘Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee … who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?’