Rockcliffe Print

After alot of hmming and haing and gnashing of teeth I have decided to do a new print.

Two summers ago I completely fell in love with Dumfries and Galloway. Previously all my Scottish explorations had featured the highlands but armed with a campervan and a yearning not to bitten alive by midgies we ventured south west. What D&G lacks in majestic mountainage it more than makes up with pastoral loveliness, Enid Byltonesque coastline and unspoilt forestry.

In the very bleak mid winter I have not felt the printing love. Once the excitment christmas is over I generally fall into a bit of a slump. There isn't much to inspire in a Scottish dreich February. So in a bid to cheer myself up I decided to do a print based on Rockcliffe, a lovely stretch of coastline owned by the National Trust.

Screen Printing

2010 was the year of relief printing and I have found it very satisfying as a creative process. But you know I found myself towards the end of the year just needing some .... lines... detail... something. As a result I enrolled on a screen printing course at the Edinburgh Printmakers. It was a weekend course and pretty intense.

You can see the result. There are 4 layers in all. Each layer was created on an acetate and then developed onto an emulsion layer on the screen. I wish I had more of a grasp of the technique before the course as I would have done more preparation. As it was I worked from photo taken this summer in Glenmore.










The views of scots pines in the Rothiemurchus estate have been haunting me all summer and I had been working on a linocut print. The resulting screen print is fairly rough and ready but I like it. Now I really want to get printing. I plan to combine relief and screen printing.

January Lull

It has hard to get back into things in January. School holidays seemed to go on forever. I have, however, found lots of things to get excited about from my sofa. Here is the new Angie Lewin book which I bought for myself when Christmas present hints fell on deaf ears and I borrowed the Francis Walker from my lovely friends Pip and Euan.

Both are v. inspirational. Angie Lewin seems to find pattern and beauty everywhere. Next time my daughter runs up to me on the beach with a dog eared feather and some stones I must remember to look properly and not gingerly put them in my pocket and discreetly throw away.

Francis Walker's work is fabulously evocative of Scotland, I shall be digging out my watercolours and my waterproofs to have a go at some seascapes.