experiments with lino!

Ok so Ive been an absent blogger for a week or so! sorry! I have been very busy and also a bit lost...the blues turned a bit black for a few days but Ive managed to shake off that feeling for now!

Ive been playing with lino with some success but mainly fustration! trying to much at once as usual! Ive attempted 3 and 4 color prints wanting that slightly off registration look and playing with more graphical designs! my enemy has been color agian!!! I have been working with tiny old tubes of ink trying to stretch it to far....money alway the issue I cant afford to buy new inks and want to achieve to much from the little I have!!!
Apart from struggling with the colors I cant seem to print them clean! and I dont like that! Im working with out a press just using a barren to rub the backs...works much better when you have enough ink to go around!!!

Ive come to a stand still with it due to frustration! Im hoping to raise some money soon so I can buy inks and better paper and really have a proper go ! Im desperate to use screen printing and work on fabric but again cash will not allow at the present!!! for now I think ill work on some designs and have a load of ideas and motifs ready to go for when I can!!!

(Still trying to decide about a new shop/venture will post more on this very soon- I need advise...)

also a new interview in the pipe line so watch this space xxx

monumental shift

Thanks loads for all the supportive and interested comments to the last few posts! its always very much appreciated.

From tiny moths to the massive landscape my mind has made a monumental shift over the last few weeks! perhaps I feel hindered by the imminent threat of having to bring more money into the house now smallest has started school, but also related to his school start.... let me explain more - we have sent him to an amazing school in the countryside just  a little outside of Lancaster in the beautiful village of Quernmore, the drive which only takes 6 minutes each morning and afternoon is just stunningly beautiful and cant help but leave you feeling more connected to and routed in the landscape.

Quernmore primary school & church

view  towards Littledale in the Forest of Bowland

The stunning images have inspired me, the lines and shapes of the hills and walls lend them self’s so very well to lino cuts I have been working on some ideas for a series of prints, both of the huge landscape and the small detail within- seed heads, brambles and roots all such a wealth of design ideas.

Drawing photo

Inspired by a sort of 50s paired down graphic style Im trying to produce a series of images so I can sell/show individually or as a set.

Im working small (manageable and I have lots of small bits of lino) Im attempting 3 and 4 color!! We will see how it turns out.

On a similar note Im also thinking about opening a new etsy/folksy shop to sell more of the crafty stuff I make? I just cant seem to sit my two practices next to each other well so maybe its time to separate completely- almost think about it as my day job! Many little bit have been and are being created that I don’t share here, I cant work out how to work it yet???? As usual Im over thinking it !!!!

Pip pip for now xxx

New card prints in my shops

Feeling guilty today for not bringing any money into the house at the moment, its not really necessary but it always helps doesnt it! I have no plans to go back to work just yet but needed to spend the day producing sellable art just to appiese the guilt gods!
I made a load of cards out of the lino cuts I made earlier last year, Just printing simply in black on white card, I think they look OK, I hope someone else does and buys a few.

I also printed up the guilty pleasure I made for a friend last year, hoping that some twilight fans like linocuts too!!

Ive put them all in both my ETSY and FOLKSY shops check them out and pass it on if you know anyone who might be interested.

 On another note I've may have had a break through on the painting front, started layering up the canvases with some background bits and plan to paint over it with the compositions I had come up with, starting on a non blank canvas seems like a good plan.......