Lino Love...

I have had a busy week with work and a million other things

 the flu included... we are officially the house of snot I tell you

even poor Barry was almost buried in the great kleenex avalanche of 2016

  which means I am squeezing in some lino play where and when I can

 I started filming my new upcoming online class last week 

 and am slowly but surely building it up and it is such a pleasure doing it and immersing  myself in all things relief printing after so many years away from it

 but I keep getting distracted

 for example I am loving the idea of putting down panels of colour behind lino prints

any way to infuse colour into them is a good thing

and I really want to print some using coloured inks... and so many other things 

it is like my brain is on fast forward and all my thoughts are sounding like they are in chipmunk voices 

 In fact I am generally in love with the whole process really

I want to play with some hand colouring as well

not to mention some two piece blocks

and some reduction prints

the mind is boggling like crazy

it is a bit weird how our creative brains fixate on things at times

but it is a nice break away from illustration work

and some watercolour commissions

though the more I do it the more obsessed I have been becoming 

These two blocks are my latest project

and happily they are all drawn up and ready to carve

in fact I even got some carving done this afternoon

and I am really impatient to get to them over the weekend

 and of course there is printing an edition of this one in the work queue

so I can get it into the online store

and  then I want to do a similar one that I can hand colour

so many prints and so many idea and so little time

Happy painting all...xx

Buchi Mama...

 Did I buy the tea above because the packaging was awesome?

 Of course I did. It was just what I needed to brighten the place up 

  and get me all inspired and keep feeding my lino printing obsession.

  Those seed pod designs inside are all sorts of wonderful 

 and make me think of a good friend's love of all things pod related

 so put that together with the designs that look like they were printed and it is just awesome.

 As an added bonus the tea is lovely. I love it when it works out like that.

 Nothing worse than having something wrapped up in gorgeous packaging 

 and whatever is inside tastes like a trucker's armpit...or ear wax...  

 I hate earwax... it is just gross and weird

There were lots of wonderful non ear waxy things this week though...

Phants had to endure a train ride that saw a baby/ devil child

lightly, and creepily stroke the back of her neck the whole 30 minute trip

she is still shuddering at the mere mention of it a few days later

and of course leading to all sorts of shenanigans while we put ninja skills to use

 and touch the back of her neck at every opportunity

it has been fantastic fun all round really so thanks you creepy devil baby for giving me a new fun weapon in my tormenting Phants arsenal

I also got to see a bloke's car getting glad wrapped

or saran wrap, cling, plastic, or sandwich wrap or whatever other bloody names it has

it was inspired... the entire car was being completely covered and snuggly wrapped in an entire roll of the stuff by a young guy outside a construction site as I walked to the post office. He was laughing like a madman as he circled the car and obviously having a great time doing it

and as a bonus I got to see the bloke who owned the car come out and promptly turn purple and start losing it as I made my way back from said post office

made my whole afternoon

I have also been busy drinking copious amounts of Buchi kombucha

while I await the arrival of my very own scoby/mother from that very company

when it arrives I can start making my own 

and save me from bankrupting us buying the stuff

I can't tell you how excited I am at the thought of having my own baby scoby

I have already started thinking of names for the scoby/mother

I am wavering between Buchi Mama or maybe Alice

I considered Scoby Doo but that just seemed too obvious

I only have a few days before it arrives to work out a name though

so the pressure is on

mugs from Mitchell powell, Mixed Media Monkey and Brigitte

I also got a few more cuppa paintings done

some illustration work sorted and out of the way

plus I started filming for my upcoming lino printing class

which launches in mid May

of course I got a bit distracted along the way with that filming

and made a video about all  the different types of lino I have tried in the last few weeks

It is below if you want to have a squizz

So all round a fab week

I am off to consult a names list to find a suitable one for buchi scoby

of course if you happen to have a good one in mind let me know

Beryl perhaps...or maybe Felicia...?

happy painting all... xx

A Fiddle-y Week...

 The title is not a typo

 and no my already non existent punctuation skills have not deteriorated further

  this lino print is of a fiddle leaf philodendron

  I tried to do the whole clever title which I am not too sure I pulled it off
 but lame arse  titles are a bit of a trademark with me by now I would think

  I love these plants an inordinate amount

  the leaves are like great green shiny plates

 and they seem to be scarily hardy, and cat proof

 despite Barry attempting to have a bit of a climb yesterday

 Happily it was intact, as was Barry 

 which is a good thing as I swear the guy at the nursery blanches with horror every time I  come waltzing in looking for something else to kill

 I garden the same way I do most other things

  which means with no organisation and by the seat of my pants

 so it is inevitable that a few won't make it

 but these babies have been thriving... at the moment

so immortalising them before they cark it is a bit of an insurance policy

 and proof that at one time they actually looked amazing

So I started with a sketch

which I loved...a lot

and thought I would do it as a lino print

not sure it is the most obvious idea

because we don't all look at a complicated leaf structure and see a lino print 

but all's well and all that and it was great fun 

so that means it was a success all over the place if I do say so myself

I am carefully limiting myself to some lino while work jobs are drying and things

to save myself from going down my normal obsessive rabbit hole

which would see the family not being fed

 or perhaps their meals being turned into subjects

which has certainly happened on more than one occasion

and perhaps we would find clothes piling up

which I might just try to write off as an installation

or another possible subject

I have tried using that one before though and they didn't fall for it

so in the interests of family harmony I am showing uncharacteristic restraint

 It is funny how you just can't kill old habits off in some things

when I was teaching lino printing in my past life as a high school art teacher

I always got the students to draw in the black and white 

so that they could see clearly what to carve

and now I can't seem to shake the habit myself

but it does save a bit of brain ache along the way

and I admit that I love how this turned out so I see many more in my future

I have even started drawing up a plan for an online class

I am loving teaching Delicious Paint and think this would be a fun subject for another one

Mugs from Katja, Mo, Donna and Sandra

 Finally this week I am sharing the latest Cuppa paintings

I am loving the new ones people are sending in

and hope many more come my way... 

the pile is still looking healthy but I am loving it so much and madly painting away
which means I am having the mild anxiety of worrying that I might run out of them
it's not going to happen any time soon
but even still... always room for more!

happy painting all...xx

A Cuppa Video...

mug from Sue C

  This week  has flown by in a whirlwind of work and play

 there was maybe a bit of a chocolate hangover due to easter celebrations

 well maybe not from chocolate as I ate a shockingly small amount... for me anyway

 but more it was all a bit busy and frantic

 and my brain seemed to be stuck in fast forward for the last four days

 but happily I have managed to get a few new cuppa paintings done in amongst the  illustrations stuff, easter break stuff, getting used to being owned by a cat stuff

 and all sorts of other weird little jobs, plus some lino cutting stuff... that was very fun stuff

 except for when Sinus crept up on me and scared the bejeepers out of me

 how I didn't lose a hand, or take out the shelf in front of me I have no clue

 I know I aged about twenty years... he is creepily ninja quiet when he wants to be

 so there has been all sorts of bits and pieces 

 that have been systematically making me into a crazy woman all week

Mugs from Linda K and Cindy A

In between the madness there was three moments of calm

these three are awesome

plus I had a few new ones sent which freshens up the pile of inspiration

and I even got in and made a video that flips through and shows most of the ones that I have done which is just below

it was kind of cool seeing them all in a big pile and flipping them all into frame

details on how you can be part of it are up above... 

 happy painting all...xx