Saturday January 4th 2014

The main reason for this post is to let you know that this Saturday, January 4th, some friends and I will be at the ArtVanGo studios playing with collagraphs on a Major-George Printing Press, a Lino Press, Big Shot and my newest Thermofax machine - an A3 one.

And why? Because apart from the Thermofax the other things haven't been used as yet and I want someone to give me a kick start and in some cases, show me how to use them properly.

We'll be there from when the shop opens at 9.30 and it would be great if you also wanted to come along even if it's only for ten minutes or a couple of hours. You can watch what is going on, join in the chat and you would be more than welcome to have a go if you feel inclined. And then of course there is the shop to browse in - need I say more. What could be better on a cold, wet and windy Saturday? Do hope to see you there.

I went to Harrogate again this year and was on the Artists in Action stand for two days then demonstrating on the ArtVanGo for the other two. It was, as usual, brilliant. I was demonstrating my most favourite technique of all times. I have been doing this for some time and still never tire of it. I love it.

It's a technique from 'Exploring Creative Surfaces' where I use Xpandaprint through a Thermofax Screen on to Spunbond (Lutradur/FibreDK). Just lately I have been using images of fish and bird skeletons.

This was my space on day one at Artists in Action:

 And during the course of the two days it filled up like this with the pieces I was producing.

The process starts off like this with Xpandaprint pushed through the Thermofax screen:

 I then heat it with the heat tool, to expand the Xpandaprint and melt back the Spunbond.

 And this is what you are left with.

 This one has been coloured in my usual colours - think I prefer the white version.

 If you use a Thermofax Screen for different mediums it needs to be washed immediately after use or the medium, especially Xpandaprint, will dry on the screen, blocking the holes and ruining the design. Instead of just putting it straight into a tray of water I have been laying it on different surfaces to get rid of the excess Xpandaprint before washing. This one is on water colour paper. I have heated the paste with a heat gun.

And have been experimenting with different finishes on top of the Xpandaprinted design.

 Wash of Paynes Grey Fluid Acrylic.

 Rubbed over with black Markal Paintstik.

Coloured with Procion Dye Indigo Navy on the back and Walnut Ink on the front then sprinkled with sea salt. It's the John Lennon negative in case you didn't realise. :)

Have also been playing with the screens themselves.
This one is a clear Markal Paintstik rubbed directly through the screen and then covered with Quink Ink.

And this one is a black Caran D'Ache water soluble crayon rubbed through the screen.

Have you noticed the sketch pad? Isn't it fabulous? It's Khadi paper and is about 50 x 20 cms. I treated myself to two of them. (From ArtVanGo of course)
I also printed this Rhino on to Lutradur.

And used the excess on water colour paper and gave it a wash with Brusho powders.

I have also used some of my finished pieces to make printing plates with to play with on Saturday. Will show next time how they turned out.

It's been almost three months since I last posted and I really miss blogging (how many times have I said that?).I posted a grand total of 7 blogs in 2013 as opposed to 106 when I first started in 2007! For 2014 I am going to try and make sure I blog at least once a week. Let's see how long I can keep it up for!

Happy New Year to you all.
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