Flagging ...... in more ways than one!

 I've been preparing lots of samples for my next bookmaking workshop on Friday. We're going to cover off flag books and all the variations that are open to experimentation. It provides me with the perfect post title as 'flagging' has been an apt description of my appetite for blogging in recent months.

I still love following the blogs of people I've always followed and I will always comment if I can think of something to say that doesn't make me sound too dull witted but, I took a look at my statistics recently and noticed that year on year, I have posted less and less. I don't know why that is because I'm still doing lots of things and finding many things I find fascinating but I think  I've lost sight of why I started a blog in the first place.  I don't think I'll do anything drastic like stop altogether but I am rethinking what I'll post about in future and how often. With my infrequent attempts I'm surprised anyone is still out in the ether following - but thank you if you are!

The year has started in 'busy, busy' mode with lots happening. After a lifetime of dreading going near water in a bathing suit, I am finally learning to swim properly and actually did a few glides under the surface on my own yesterday. I'm a long way from swimming the channel but it feels pretty good to conquer some of those long held demons. There's lots of decorating going on here too and even though I'd prefer to have a different sort of paintbrush in my hand it feels good to be making changes in the house as well. Despite the horrendous weather I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a better Spring and Summer ahead so there are lots of orders for seeds going in the post and lots of garden changes in the pipeline too. I feel very 'in control' of the direction of life and enormously energised by the New Year.

 The group of ladies that have been with me for all four of the book making workshops to date have all contributed to a group book idea. I have made this origami pocket book and they have each contributed a decorated tag to slot inside each pocket. The idea is that everyone who has produced a tag will get their name in the hat on Friday, and somebody will be lucky enough to take home a sample of everyone's work in a book format. They have been a fabulous bunch of people to work with and there are more workshops planned at this venue, plus ideas afoot for running some printing/mark making classes too which will translate into work for artist books. I'm hoping 2014 will be a very creative year for all concerned.

I'm still playing with ideas for Friday including double sided accordions with lots and lots of flags as well working out how to nestle one flag inside another when using circular or different page frames. It's such a wonderful structure that I feel certain the group will come up with some great ideas of their own which I hope to share in a later post. I've been playing with flag books that will make a single image when opened flat and repetitive images that, if changed slightly on each set of flags alter the perception of the image. It involves a bit of maths and only works with certain images, mainly those involving movement or action. Similarly, I've been playing with materials, currently making a book from pieces of chopped up inkjet transparencies encased in laminated plastic. The imagery isn't quite working on that one yet, but it makes a fabulous clacking sound when opened quickly. Somehow that seems to give me a lot of pleasure! Lots still to do and handout notes to write. Onwards and upwards.

Merry Christmas

The Man Who Planted Trees from MrGreatShortFilms on Vimeo.

I came across this beautiful version of the Jean Giono story only a few months ago and decided to save it as a special post one day. Even though it is not seasonal it is a wonderful story and a perfect gift. Enjoy everyone. See you in 2014!

I've started...... so I'll finish

 My books workshop was good fun last week and I did take some photos but when I looked at them they were pretty blurred and useless. I need to take them through the day rather than run round like a mad thing at the end of the workshop I think. There is another in two weeks time and THIS TIME I will do better. I think it has a lot to do with this time of year. All of a sudden everything cranks up a gear and I seem to be in headless chicken mode.... or maybe it's more about my inability to say no to something or restrain myself from starting one thing before finishing another?

Firstly, I agreed to co-ordinate a project for my old employers, the National Trust, just on a voluntary basis, but the time commitment and workload is more detailed than expected and I'm not so great at detail any more. Plus I also joined the hundred or so people who took a piece of barkcloth to decorate for the charity Hands Up for Uganda. Run with passion and commitment by textile artist Bobby Britnell, the charity is being partnered by Star- Child Shoes to turn this barkcloth from Uganda into baby boots ready for exhibition next year. I gave a piece each to my two friends Vickie and Joan as a sort of mini autumn challenge. They've delivered theirs back to me so guess who was dragging her feet? On Monday I finally bit the bullet and printed on mine before stitching on it yesterday. After lots of ideas I used two hand carved eraser stamps for the hands and painted on the stripes before machine stitching the circular motifs.  I have limited ability in machine embroidery but what I do know has been learned from a dvd by the lovely Gina. I did the stitching in ordinary cotton  and the back looks much worse than the front. It really does not bear close scrutiny but at least I have finished.... I think ..... (Please Gina, do not enlarge this photo for a closer look....I beg you...)

 I also promised my friend's daughter that I'd do a craft fair with her next week. The idea was to sell some of my books but then I saw all these origami ideas on different blogs and thought I'd make some Christmas decorations. That was a mistake. Not only was it time consuming, it was obsessive! I couldn't stop folding and creasing, using up mountains of old music. I found the tutorial for these here if you want to have a go.

 I also made these five pointed origami stars using some free gift wrap from a magazine but it's only patterned on one side so the reverse is white in the centre and I wasn't happy with that until I realised they'd make a quick Christmas card, something I've not given any thought to this year unusually. Finally, I've been playing around in Photoshop to make some tags for the craft event and the demented dogs and cats below are what I am printing out later. I'm not sure whether they're the product of an overactive imagination or a sign that I'm running close to the edge..... I think it could be the latter......

Books workshop

 My second books workshop is this Friday and I've been making lots of samples for it in an attempt to decide my itinerary. The trouble with me is that one thing always leads to another.... leads to another... etc etc and I suddenly have a list of structures to make that's as long as your arm and requires adding a few hours to the workshop. Remembering the pace of the first workshop and knowing I have the same people attending has helped sort the 'to do' list out and we are going to be focussed on basic accordion structures with a few variants and a few ideas how they can be used. I may make the pocket books seen above but these samples are still works in progress as I refine the way to pull it together so it's more than likely that I'll keep it straightforward (famous last words) and encourage them to think about scale and content. I've made these tiny books as tree ornaments for Christmas instead of cards for some of my friends and they have Jingle Bells printed inside. A simple accordion idea just to give them some ideas. I'm also going to focus on simple decoration like collage and papercutting and making pockets etc but who knows? I have a box full of samples aside from those shown so anything could happen!

In a future workshop I'm thinking of concentrating on books with pockets, folds and hideaways so I made a small sample using a childrens encyclopaedia from the charity shop. It is a lot of faffing about making the envelopes by hand and getting the stitching done before sticking them together but it would take all day and that would mean my lesson plan would be straightforward and would save me spending hours making more of those samples that keep distracting me. I think I'll see how they get on with Friday's tasks before I decide and this time I will remember to take the camera and take photos of their work. I forgot last time and they made some lovely things so my next post will hopefully be the chance to show off their efforts this week.

When the sea calls

 We have had some glorious end of year sunlight this weekend. Sharp, bright and crisp has been the order of the day. Temperatures down, gloves needed, sun low in the sky. I just had to see the sea so we went to St Govan's Head , site of the tiny chapel (hidden by shadow in my photo) built in the 14th century. The chapel is built in a fissure in the rocks where the hermit St Govan lived and died in the 6th century. There are stone steps down to it and no matter how many times you do it, the number is never the same going back up as it is going down. All of the headland is now in MOD hands for training so it is only open at certain times. It is popular with rock climbers and there are pegs along the cliff edge for them to tie to but I noticed lots of erosion and did not venture too near the edge! The colour of the sea was mesmerising. It was a stunning blue and I could have stared at it for ages but it was too cold to linger. Brisk walking to increase the blood flow was required! A walk to blow the cobwebs away and enjoy the tail end of autumn.

Red is the colour of autumn

 I've seen some beautiful blog posts about the striking autumn colours this year. Our colour has come late here in the far west and I only really noticed the intensity of it this weekend. During some local woodland  walks in the past few days I was struck by the amount of fungi I saw, particularly bracket fungus, so I went out into the garden to see if I could find any here and suddenly realised what was under my own nose! Some trees have nearly shed all of their leaves, whilst others are hanging in there. We have lots of birch and maple trees all shedding their bark and tall grasses with architectural seedheads which look wonderful against the light but the overwhelming colour out there is red. In truth, most of it is generated by a beautiful Acer  Osakazuki which we've had for about 15 years. It just glows and almost hurts the eyes when you look at it in some light.

All my foraging around did not find any fungi so I shall have to go further afield to look for more of that, but I did find some oak galls attached to a trio of leaves. It was lying intact on the ground and is now on the table ready to draw. The dry autumn has been wonderful but it might be coming to an end....we've had a bit of snow this morning, turning from hail to slush, and it is definitely a few degrees colder. I hope this is not the start of 'Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter....'

Silk Aquatint workshop

A few weeks ago my chum Sue started some posts on her blog about the silk aquatint  process she was teaching her weekly printmaking group. It looked wonderful, especially as it seemed to produce striking tonal differences. My voice was one amongst many that wanted a workshop and quite by chance Sue re-arranged a date in her busy calendar and offered one this past weekend. I needed no second bidding to get my name down and all my expectations about the scope of this technique were fulfilled. Now, I never go to a workshop with a desire to bring home a masterpiece. I need to concentrate on watching, absorbing, understanding and practicing the process from start to finish and after the workshop I love the next step of thinking how I can use it or push it a bit.So, I made my first two plates just as tonal exercises just to see how many layers I needed on each plate to wipe white and this first plate will inform all the subsequent ones so well.

After reading Sue's continuing blog posts I thought I could work out the process so I  made a couple of sample plates which did not print well and this tonal plate above suddenly taught me why they had failed. Even if I'd made no other plates, this one alone would have been worth going to the workshop for.... but friend or not, Sue has a plan for her workshops and she makes sure you get the most from them so resting on your laurels is a no-no. We were encouraged to try lots of mediums to create tones but my favourite one is the rich velvety one achieved by leaving the silk uncoated. A close up view of my photos show how juicy and wet those prints still are. I think they'll need a few weeks to dry off completely!

 Here's the plate alongside the resulting print. It was drizzled with glues and paints and has some inking issues but, alongside the three small ones below, will inform where I go next with this process.

 Some workshops can be an awkward mix but there were five of us and we just gelled so well, making it a great environment to learn in. Some of us were experienced and one was a beginner to printmaking but we all had a fabulous time. The others kindly said I could show their images here :

 Sally - inspired by the Chinese Lanterns in the garden at Hampen

 Corinna adding chine colle to one of her plates

 Sally No 2 using viscosity inking to highlight her imagery

 And finally, Liz, who produced for me, the print of the weekend. By accident Liz stuck some card to her plate the wrong side up. Instead of a shiny, wipe free surface she had the rougher texture uppermost so needed to salvage it with glues. Her initial print was lovely but when she tried viscosity inking over it, it was even better. Look at that beautiful plate. For me, a work of art in it's own right. When this is dry and framed it will be stunning... and all from a mistake! That's the serendipity of printmaking for you. No wonder I love it so.