I'm giving away prints for free
... in return for donations to charity. Also, getting my ducks in a row
Prints for charity
That’s right! If you make a donation to a charity of your choice, you can ask me to send you an original linocut print of a Swallow.
There is so much in the news (and out of the headlines) that is simply terrible at the moment, and so many causes which deserve our support. Art can help a tiny bit. A couple of years ago I tried the #OneOfManyPostcards fundraising model pioneered by John Pedder, and it seemed to work! so I’m giving it another go.
Please don’t be shy – if you would like one of these prints, have a look on my website and fill in the form. Thank you so much to the people who’ve done it already.
A printmaker’s progress
These are the ducks – garganeys – I am getting in a row. You may remember them from my last post.
I started off with a pale grey ink, then a slightly darker grey, before a weird yellowy colour and now I think it’s coming together with this warm brown. It turned out a bit darker on the paper than I thought, but I think it’ll be fine!
Before printing the brown layer this afternoon, I had to wait three weeks to work on these. Though it’s good that the layers of ink have had so long to dry since I last worked on these prints, it’s a frustratingly slow process (mostly due to other life stuff getting in the way – see below).
In some ways I miss the days when I used water-based ink which dried in no time at all, but on the other hand it made printing super-stressful because the ink would sometime dry before it even got onto the paper! The oil-based (but easily washable) inks I’m using now make for a more relaxed, enjoyable process with less swearing.
I thought about making a video showing me using my heavy glass baren to burnish the backs of the prints, but I don’t think anyone is ready for that.
Croeso i Gymru
I enjoyed a brief break in north Wales last week. It was an opportunity to catch up with birds that are hard to track down at home. Here’s one of our key targets - a male pied flycatcher singing his heart out.
It was also great to be in some proper woodland – Cambridgeshire (where I live) is one of the least wooded areas of the UK.
We had a glorious day on Ynys Môn (Anglesey). Above are the cliffs at South Stack, near Holyhead, where we saw seabirds including puffins and choughs (below).
Here’s the Conwy estuary.
And Afon Goch winding its way down from Aber Falls. We saw a dipper here!
We can recommend the Albion Ale House in Conwy for its fine selection of beers and other beverages, and excellent conversation.
Wales is beautiful in spring, but it would be vastly improved if the biggest bird of prey you could see soaring over the hills was not “just” a buzzard (or a red kite). Maybe that will change soon…