Is it summer at last?

 With such odd weather for the past week - all that rain and those high winds - I was wondering if summer is really here yet. After an early morning walk on Freshwater West beach this morning with only a few other souls about I think it might be. Gorgeous light bounced off the waves, so sharp it almost hurt your eyes to look at it. The rock pools were clear, the geology was stunning and all the different colours and textures in the stones were beautiful to see. A beautiful start to the day... and when I got home I noticed that the baby swallows had fledged from their nest in our little outbuilding. Watching them try to fly to build the strength up in their wings was wonderful. They flew over the field next door hawking for insects and this afternoon the farmer cut it for silage.Now it's left to dry for a few days before baleing up.  Definitely all the signs of summer in one day. Bring it on.

All done

 Just a quick update on the 100 bookmarks I mentioned in a recent post.

As I suspected, the weather turned cold and dull and all thoughts of cyanotypes went out of the window.  No sun meant no bookmarks and the plate I made for my other idea of the embossed bookmark  kept sticking to the damp paper and tearing it so everything that could go wrong did go wrong!
Having just bought a portable UV lightbox I could have done the cyanotypes on this but that would have taken a lifetime so I needed another idea quick or I'd have to face the embarrassment of failing to make the deadline and producing the goods. Not an outcome I wanted to consider. I never start anything I don't intend to finish.

With time running out I needed a solution. During a group session last week I made a sample drawing in ink and conte which everyone loved. I may well get it framed later but it has come to my rescue this weekend as I scanned it, heightened the colour in Photoshop and then printed it with five to a sheet on heavyweight inkjet paper. After lots of cutting and numbering etc I sent my 100 bookmarks off today and now I will wait to receive my set at a later date of everyone else's work.

I've no doubt there will be plenty for me to envy when they arrive but I am pleased with what I ultimately settled on. In truth, it is very 'me'. It is typical of my mark making. It is graphic and monochromatic and I am delighted to have produced a 100 of anything before the deadline in June.

Of course, I now have loads of sample cyanotype and embossed bookmarks that I started to make and there's a limit to how many books I have on the go at any one time..... so if anyone out there is desperate for a bookmark please let me know!

If only....

If ever there was a time I wished I could get on a train to London, it is now. Starting this Thursday is an exhibition at the Michael Hoppen Gallery of the photographs taken in 2004 of the clothes and belongings of Frida Kahlo.
After her death in 1954, her husband, Diego Rivera, locked all of her things away, stating that the room was not to be opened until 15 years after his death. When it was, all of these iconic belongings like her painted corsets, nail varnish bottles, sunglasses, shoes and even her prosthetic leg were photographed by Ishiuchi Miyako. Follow the link for an overview of some wonderful things.

Book up now.....

 I've mentioned many times that 2015 is the year I'm devoting to improving my drawing, but what I have not mentioned to date is the fact that I joined an art group at artist Bobby Britnell's Moor Hall Shropshire studio in January which meets monthly. Under Bobby's tutoring I have got back into the drawing groove and have enjoyed both the work and the ongoing evaluation from the others in the group. It's not always what you want to hear but it's good stuff and it has been invaluable for my confidence.

I know about Bobby's classes because I took a workshop there with Shelley Rhodes a couple of years ago and next week I am joining another, led by Matthew Harris. She attracts some wonderful artists to Moor Hall and seems to fit more into each 24 hour day than most of us! Alongside delivering her own classes here and abroad, writing books and making her own work, Bobby and her husband Martin have also devoted lots of time and resource to a charity they have set up called Hands Up For Uganda. Their passion and commitment to it  engenders lots of support from people and I thought there must be something practical I can do to help raise vital funds and support their endeavours.

So, on July 3rd I am delivering a book making workshop at Moor Hall from 10 - 4. Most materials are going to be provided and included in the cost because I'm intending that we'll make two book structures on the day and by providing pre-cut papers we will cut out a lot of time and be able to get on with things. We'll be making a hard cover and soft cover version of an A6 notebook using the french link twist binding, a good basic stitch that also forms the basis of other book formats.  People will be able to personalise their books with their own cover, tape and thread choices so, whilst we'll start out with the same basic white pages, the end results will still be very personal and unique.

I am happy to offer my time for free and I hope the event raises some serious funds for the charity. Money is needed to make and buy bricks for a school as well as many other things. If anyone reading this is in the area or not too far from those beautiful Welsh Marches, I'd love to think you might want to join us for the day. We advertised it at the start of last week and there are 7 people coming already. I don't know what the maximum might be but I'm happy to demonstrate from the car park if it means every seat is taken for such a good cause. Take a look at the links and check out Bobby's website for other courses. Mine might not float your boat but I bet there will be others that do. If you are interested in future things sign up for the newsletter, either about the workshops at Moor Hall or for Hands up for Uganda, and if you can make it on July 3rd get in touch with Bobby via e mail or phone and I look forward to seeing you there!

This or that or the other?

 At the start of the year I made myself a promise that this would be the year I did some new things. One of them was to  'stick my neck out' and contribute to something, so I signed up to take part in Bookmarks XIII organised by U.W.E. There are some great images of previous years to see here.

I thought the discipline of producing 100 bookmarks would be a good one and the fact that I'd get my own set of bookmarks with one of everyone else's by return seemed like win : win to me. Naturally, knowing me, I've had a hundred ideas of what to do and have yet to settle on one. With the June deadline probably closer than I'd like I have to knuckle down and commit to something. The fact that these things are going to go around the world with my name on them makes me so want to get it right.

I've prepared collagraph plates, printed them  and discounted them. I've cut up the lino and thought about relief printing...... all the time torn between what would look good and what would be the least labour intensive in order to make doing the 100 bookmarks a pleasure and not an albatross around my neck!

 I am teaching a workshop tomorrow in making the full case bound multi sectioned book that we all know and love. As part of making the case I'm going to demonstrate embossed and debossed covers and while I was making some samples I had an idea about doing the same with the bookmarks so the top picture is plain thick cartridge embossed through the printing press over a selection of cardboard letters. I quite liked it but then my eyes went to that cyanotype box again and I have swayed towards that for the bookmarks now.

I took an acetate sheet, covered it in letters and have done one sample page today. I like it. I need to sleep on it and decide if I want to pursue the type face idea or design another acetate with some other imagery. Whatever the decision I am going down the cyanotype route. I've worked out that I can print 4 at a time on an A4 sheet of watercolour paper.

So, I only need to do it 25 times in total... so not at all labour intensive !!!! It sounds simple.... after all,  I only need the sun and we've had loads of that this week.... what could go wrong? Perhaps tomorrow's forecast of rain and some unpredictable days ahead might be what could go wrong! I care not. I'm going down this route... but will I stick to the letters? It has to be decision time. The clock is ticking!

Nature's Calendar

 On the BBC Springwatch programme at Easter there was a request to look out for five things and record the dates they occur on the Nature's Calendar website, all with a view to finding out if Spring is happening earlier every year. Things like this really  make me focus so I wanted to join in. Along with the five specified items are a host of other events to record. If you're UK based it is valuable data and will continue with data for Autumn too so it's not too late to sign up.

I definitely think Spring is happening that bit earlier here. I've already noted the early return of the swallows and blackcaps to the garden and we've had our first moth trap of the year which produced a couple of moths which are not normally on the wing until mid May. Bluebells are already out and today I spotted garlic mustard and cuckoo flower in the lane at the end of the garden. It may all be down to this wonderful burst of warmth we are enjoying. I love this time of year when things almost seem to grow while you're looking at them and the note taking made me think about the breeding birds that come to Elegug Stacks, on the cliffs outside of Pembroke. I wondered how many of them were already in place so tonight we drove down after dinner to see what was happening.

 Well, this is what is happening. I've seen these cliffs crammed with many more birds than this so perhaps it is early days but the guillemots are out in force and pushing each other on and off ledges in their bids for territory or just enough space to cling on to! The noise was pretty loud and it was a beautiful warm and clear evening so you could hear them long before you could see them.

 Guillemots are birds that stay on the wing all their lives, with the only exception when they stay on land  being during the breeding season and I was surprised to read that they are an amber species. When you see such plentiful numbers it is hard to comprehend their decline over the past thirty years, during our own lifetime.

 It was a gorgeous evening and we walked a couple of miles along the cliff top seeing absolutely no-one else. As the noise of the guillemots receded there was another call I could not identify. I saw a group of four or five birds in the distance which I thought were crows but the call was all wrong. As I got closer I realised it was a small group of choughs, clearly identified by their red beaks and legs. In the hazy light I could not get a clear photo of them but we stood and watched their antics for a while before heading home. They are not a bird you see every day so it was pretty special to get a good look at them.

And then, to top off the evening, as we drove home over the bridge by the millpond to Carew Castle I saw some gorgeous reflections. That millpond was literally still and like glass so I had to pull up and take a look. I hope you're enjoying this Spring as much as I am.Take note of what's happening. Make every day count.

Viability

 Life is busy but pleasantly so. I am engrossed in lots of projects and ideas and enjoying the beautiful sunshine that Britain is having this week. After a wet start to Easter it has just got hotter and hotter and feels like we've bypassed Spring and moved straight into summer. I even saw my first Orange Tip Butterfly today, at a least a couple of weeks early, so maybe this is the portent of good weather to come?

It was the sunshine that prompted me to get up to the shed this afternoon, planning to get on with a painting project, but whilst waiting for the gesso to dry on my canvas I started to focus on the old cool box under the table. I stored some cyanotype solution in there after last summer's workshop and I started to wonder about its viability.

I mixed it at least a year ago but it has been in the dark so I thought it would be worth investigating. Naturally, the painting plan suddenly got relegated to manyana and I got the bottle of solution out of the coolbox and quickly set up a little box contraption I use to exclude the light. I coated some cartridge paper and set it to dry while I suddenly had to think of what to use in the print. I walked three feet from the door and picked the heads off some daffs and pressed them into service. As ever, my usual haphazard way of working.......

 I knew the sun was strong enough but when exposed to the light it did not go the usual dark grey colour so timing it right was difficult,  but after a hydrogen peroxide rinse I had a couple of sharp daffodil prints, picking up the folds and ridges quite well. I think these might look good as cards.

 This print of a restio shows the odd colour it went once released from the frame. I quite like the effect but went on to rinse it out and it got sharper. It is evident that the solution has lost some of its potency by the puddling on the paper above (but that could also be down to my slap dash application). The main thing is that there is still some life in the solution so long after it was made up. I find that quite exciting for future ideas.

 Of course I'm then trying to take full advantage of the hot weather while I can and had to use up all of the solution I had left, so I picked up a piece of paper that had been painted with tea and had rusty things placed on it. Now it was not a good rust print and the solution was getting decidedly weak by this point but I started to think about over printing onto rusted paper or fabric, or rusting first and then cyanotyping selectively over it. With a full strength solution and a structured plan I think some great results could be achieved.

In the coolbox I found the two solutions required to make the full solution already made up so I could mix them now and start that plan...... but I don't want to do that if this glorious weather is a bit of a blip.Better to wait until late May or June when it is more consistent. I also cyanotyped some fabric to complete the process but that did not take well so I intend to try it again with fresher stuff . It was a great afternoon just playing, with the only downside that my hands turned blue because I thought it was a weakened solution and did not put my gloves on early enough in the process. In my enthusiasm I forget the most basic of things. Still, it will wash off and fade....eventually. C'est la vie.