Missed...

the shooting stars, but found the camera. I remembered this morning why it was in the bedroom; I'd gone up to photograph a particularly interesting bruise on my leg...yes, there is a good reason, no, I'm not suing.

So, now I have the photos of the work I did on Saturday. The first one shows the screen itself, and part of the resultant print; the second shows a print in its entirety, plus glimpses of another two. I'm having fun with this. I learned to screenprint many years ago, but it's only now that I begin to feel really confident about it. Who knows what will turn up next...I might even make some prints on paper!

What I did discover about this particular technique is that you get a lot of mileage from the thickened dye dried onto the screen. So much so, that I've made another small set of prints, this time using yellow dye, but without cleaning the screen, so that in fact, I have an interesting mottled effect of yellows, greens, browns and reds. That's batching at the moment, outside in the sunshine. I'm going to have an early lunch, get rid of the backache that is the result of printing on a low table (it's a pasting table, not very stable, so I can't raise it on anything), and then either paint or sew...the small red lutradur piece is ready for stitch; indeed, it's under the needle as we speak. It's just that I'm not up there to actually do the stitching. But lunch first, for sure.

As The Song Says...

you don't know what you got til you lose it. I miss my camera. I want to show you what I've been up to for the past couple of days. It started with painting up silkscreens with thickened dye as per the Breakdown Printing book Then, it continued into painting up some cloth to put behind lutradur. Then I started to print with the thickened dye. It's been a busy couple of days. But I can't, as the cloth is batching and can't be put on the scanner...so you'll just have to wait until I get my new camera, which I've ordered and should arrive next week.

Yesterday, I had to take the car into the garage, and thought I'd go sit with some paintings; CAN (Contemporary Art Norwich) is on at the moment, and there's lots to choose from. When it came down to it, though, the weather was just too good for sitting inside, and I just didn't want to, so I skived. I went off to Waterstones the Bookseller and bought a copy of 'Old MacDonald Had A Farm' to go with the kiddiequilt I made for my friends' new baby, and a couple of other things (as you do...), had a cup of coffee and then headed out into the sun. I sat and basked for a while, reading the book I'd brought with me, and then started to draw. Until someone came and borrowed my pen, and then I just basked some more... and had ideas...and basked... and got my pen back...and basked...you get the drift! And there's a page of my sketchbook, just to prove that I did do the occasional sketch...

More painting today, I think, but on board and canvas, rather than cloth. All the windows in the upstairs studio are open, and I think I'll go find the big box fan. It's another beautiful day, but I can't really be bothered lugging all my kit down two flights of stairs and out into the garden, so I'll happily work inside, with views across the fields, cool drinks and the occasional phone call, doubtless... I can't think of a better way of spending time.