Collared doves work in progress

I love the look of the chalky white against the soft grey lino and always pause at this stage in the lino cutting and debate whether to carry on or just leave it as it is. I'll aim to match that soft grey (perhaps a shade or two lighter) in ink when it comes to printing. I might add a smudge of buttery yellow too. I've steered clear of yellow in the past but I rather liked it in Betty's Hen no.3 so i'm emboldened to try again, albeit much softer this time.

wet sunday

We took a trip over to Brimham Rocks near Harrogate with a lengthy walk in mind but after an hour of persistant rain we took a short cut back to the rocks and had a scramble around & picnic. By then it had dried up and the sun came out so we looked a bit daft wandering around in our full wet weather gear. Especially with mouths and hands stained deep blue from bilberry picking & eating. If any one knows an idiot-proof recipe for dyeing fabric with these berries i'd love to know :)

Despite (or perhaps because of ) the wetness, nature was in full force. We watched a pair of hares chasing each round and round a field for at least five minutes. And we heard two calling to each other from fields on either side of the road, one watching over their offspring. Lapwings fledgings are incredibly beautiful! Skylarks trilled overhead accompanied by the occassional baleful mew of the curlews. But the best bit was the sheep whose baa sounded like a long belch. 

The scramble round the rocks reminded me that I had intended to do a companion piece for my Crow and Anvil linoprint, something to think about this week.   

Art Market aftermath

Phew! After a frantic few weeks of mounting and framing, pricing and packaging in preparation for the Art Market, i am kicking back a bit and looking forward to some printing. I had a good day with lots of lovely conversations about nature, landscape and technique with a reasonable dollop of sales. I was really heartened that several were to repeat customers who had bought from me at last November's Art Market. My only regret was not having enough time to visit all the other stalls, my "helpers" when they arrived were dripping wet from their bike ride to Penistone and frankly i didn't trust these two drowned rats with my precious stall.      

Find me ...

under this banner

on Sunday 12th June (10am-4pm)

at the

at Holmfirth indoor market, HD9 3JH

(click here for directions)

half term

So I haven't yet finished preparations for my stall at the Art Market on the 12th.I  didn't really expect to what with half term and OH at conference in Mexico (how unfair is that!). But I did manage to stumble across the white cotton tape I was after for this little project. Small things make me happy :) Right back to the mount cutter, so much to do, so little time.