Grasshoppers in the Long Grass

The grasshoppers are  bouncing around in the long grass by the reservoir. How lovely to see them and hear them.
I have been trying to make a couple of new binding structures and had decided to use some earlier lino cuts of grasshoppers. I found a poem by ee cummings which paired up very nicely.

However, the binding structure didn't work very well and so I resorted to a "simple" concertina form.
Juts for a bit of extra practice though I did make an aperture in the cover.

The grasshoppers are playing with letters which spell "B O I N G"... the e e cumming's poem also plays with text. 

Neat poem! :) 

Reflection ...

If nothing else, lockdown has certainly given us time to reflect..... in between cleaning behind the fridge and rearranging our book shelves. Looking back at previous artwork can be helpful when your sense of creativity has deserted you, sometimes reminding you of incomplete work or providing you with new, improved ideas because previous work will never be good enough.

I've been looking back at some graphite drawings I did last Christmas which were successfully made into cards and it's encouraged me to start working on some more, seasonally appropriate studies ...... watch this space!

Inquisitive barn owl....

Not so inquisitive barn owl . Graphite and watercolour.

Long horn cow in colder times, although after the May heatwave it doesn’t seem all that warm now!

The hedgerows are full of birds and blossom and wonderful creepy crawlies at the moment so perhaps now is the time to be keeping a visual record of them,  but with all the leaf cover in the wood it’s hard to catch sight of visiting (and resident) mammals.  Perhaps it also has something to do with an overactive spaniel puppy who careers around noisily and an older and wiser lurcher who prefers lying in the shade! Graphite  drawings have a wonderful directness to them that  colour can sometimes take away from so perhaps time for reflection hasn’t been wasted if it kick starts that  next project....

Fledglings and puppies......

Over the last few weeks  most of us have had more time to absorb the sights and sounds of nature, even if we haven't got a garden to enjoy. With the reduction in traffic noise, just  walking along the pavements in a town can reveal new wonders such as the sound of birdsong or the sight of fledglings demanding to be fed by hard working parent birds.

Fledgling blackbird with parent ( watercolour)

It's also a time when the ' half year birds' are swirling around our heads, swallows,swifts and many others make their way back to nest and nurture their babies in a (slightly) more amenable climate!

Swallow in graphite and watercolour

In our household it's been a challenging time as our cocker spaniel puppy has very different ideas about tried and tested gardening and laundry methods..... she prefers the more spontaneous approach, particularly when it comes to digging holes and collecting socks! Patience has been sorely tested but even so, she has inspired me to get working on a watercolour portrait which is still a work in progress.........

We'll see how it goes...

Hopefully not the same way as that green sock!

Birds and Bees

Something has to cheer us up right now!  With inspiration a bit lacking and trying to make work in a vacuum Sue and I have decided to make some new posts on this our slightly neglected blog.

Luckily the natural world continues in blissful ignorance of the trails and tribulation of its human cohabitees.
Birds are singing, nesting and fighting, wild mason bees are enthusiastically filling up my bee house and flowers are springing up everywhere after some rain.

So to start here are some happy birds from my Trees book and a lone bee from the Bee Charm Booklet which I have been working on here. 

Small woodcuts from the flyleaves and title pages. 

And a bee drying in the sun:) 

Autumn Sketches

We are taking a break, I am back at college and Sue off to warmer climes for a while. Meanwhile in September I tried to make one 30 minute sketch a day. They had to be in colour and A4. That’s quite a task for me but its been great, getting ideas down quickly and simplifying things is always a good exercise!
Here are a few favourites: leaves, bugs, elderberries, blackberries, the grebes, starlings, last plums, jam The last one, below, is the huge supermoon with the flock of passing geese. The sound of their cries is the essence of autumn to me.










See more and the inspiration behind them over on my blog www.pencilandleaf.blogspot.com
Back with new work, new inspiration, and new thoughts in the New Year!

Something a little more exotic......

For various reasons, Val and I are taking a break from the blog for a while and  I'll be turning my attention to some slightly more exotic creatures  for a few weeks. I got myself into the mood by doing a print with watercolour  of a toucan and a macaw.

When we look at how our wildlife has evolved, we can  learn a lot about our [and their] environment  .....the colour of their feathers/fur/shells and the shape and size of their beaks/bodies etc., As in plant forms, it seems to me that there are few design features in the wildlife of the world that don't make us wonder at their perfection and  make us thrilled to be able to observe them. 

 

 

Print and watercolour 20cm x 20 cms

 

I'm looking forward to studying these exotic cousins of  our more sartorially 'subdued'  species of birds but  it seems to me that the more colourful the plumage, [perhaps this applies to more than birds!] the less beautiful the song.  Walking home from the wood  recently in the dusk, I couldn't help  feel thrilled to hear the melodious song of a robin perched high on  a tree at the side of the road - that takes some beating, but I'm sure our blackbird is up for it.......   

 

More Bees..

This time I have been working on an image of a bee playing a pipe. It’s a trial both for a bit of reduction lino practise and a possible visual for a poster which will include a poem.

It took rather a long time to get this far. I am not sure reduction linos are for me. I find them a bit limiting and have ended up actually preferring the black and white. But its all good practise.The character of the bee was important and that is always a challenge especially in lino. One tiny slip of the cutter and everything changes.  It’s an all purpose bee of no particular species. Not quite as stylised as I wanted, so may try another version.

First reductions and colour trials

Four not-too-bad prints. There are 4 colours plus white in the most complex print.

But I love the simplification and choppy marks of lino and woodcut. These sort of marks would be hard to achieve in any other medium. The happy accidents and unforeseen marks are particularly rewarding.

Final black and white print and the plate.

Brooding rooks

More rooks but this time I've changed the process a little and also used the carborundum and p.v.a. mix more as a drawing tool. Each print is different depending on the way the ink has been removed from the plate and the range is quite surprising.

The first print was quite minimal in terms of the ink  that was picked up as the block went through the press

 

The following prints varied and you can see more tonal difference due to the texture of the surface and the amount of ink that has remained on the different surfaces of the plate

I particularly liked this print which is much darker and I think  the texture of the feathers around the neck works well.

Collographs are fascinating things, the possibilities are endless!!

Stalking like a Rook

Sylvia Plath's poem 'Winter Landscape, With Rooks ' is a difficult poem to read because of the deep  sadness and despondency it evokes and yet the words

                                               feathered dark in thought, I stalk like a rook,

                                               brooding as the winter night comes on.'

 

sound wonderful to me. It almost conjures up a picture of someone growing feathers as they stalk along the hedgerows hunched up against the cold as the thin winter sun goes down. 

Perhaps my imagination is getting the better of me as the recent  weather turns from very hot to cold in the space of 24 hours, and a hint of autumn is in the early morning air. The combine harvesters are working all night if they can before the rain stops them but the blackberries and sloes are plumping up nicely because of it. I think the wood will provide plenty of berries for human and avian foragers alike this year.

I printed the rook by press rather than by hand and thought the results were interesting, as their is no clear outline around the carborundum, making the rook blend softly into the background

 

 30cm x 15cm Monoprint

 

Each print will be different because of the way it is inked up on the plate, areas of light and dark can be manipulated by hand with careful ink application and removal 

 

 

30cm x 15cm Monoprint with pen and ink

 

 

 

Monoprint with pen and ink

 

You can already see the difference with these three prints and that's something which makes the whole process very demanding but also very interesting, not to mention time consuming........

Birds in the Bird Cherry

The Bird Cherry tree is dripping with red fruit.

 

The blackbirds love them. So do the wasps. I have picked some to cook with quite a bit of sugar, then to freeze, to bring a little August sunshine to the dark days of Winter.

These are some print trials for “August” in my “Bird Cherry Year” project. At this time of year the greens are dark and saturated but so far I have lightened the green to get the cherries to print. I may add some highlights on the cherries but they are not very shiny. Its more of a a sheen, along with the dusky bloom of these cherry/plums.

Many more trials to come. So far these are just tests, printed with cheap water-based inks. The better quality inks will look quite different.  I think it will be well into November before I can consider printing them all as a set.

Blackbirds and Birdcherries

Some (late) Spring Bees

In between things I am continuing with recording what happens to the Bird Cherry this year in print. The idea is to be able to make a small book. Rather than rely on photos I am waiting until things happen to the tree so I can make some observations from life.

In the Spring with the first blossoms came the bees. I have had the plate cut for ages and only now got round to printing some trials. I combine the plates so it’s a slow and uncertain process. here are the first ones.

This one is the nearest to what I need.. I wont be able to print the set until much later in the year. So plenty of variations to come.

Rook in carborundum

It seems like I've been hooked by a rook and can't get the image out of my mind. Somehow rooks always remind me of winter when I hear them caw to each other and yet they're with us all year round, fussing and defending their nests in Spring and keeping a watchful eye out for easy food at any time. Now the Jubilee wood is growing up, we often see them there, especially in the established trees which form part of the hedge boundary.

After trying out the carborundum on my swallow prints it occurred to me that it would be perfect for the dark sooty rooks. My first attempts have been hand printed as I like the uniqueness of monoprints which change with every print depending on the way the block has been inked up.

    

Monoprint, mixed media including carborundum and pen and ink drawing

 

 

Mixed media monoprint

 

 

Already the variations are coming out and I want  to experiment more with colour added by hand using watercolour and/or  coloured pencils, but I will also be printing this block in the press to see how it changes the image.

 

'Pretty swallow once again.......'

Our recent  weather must be confusing all of our avian summer visitors but even when the wind is blowing and the  rain is falling, it's still warm enough for the swallows to enjoy their snacks on the wing.

The pond in the wood is a great place for them to get water and we've often watched them diving down to skim across the surface and drink as they fly.......a wonderful spectacle and it's often caught our dog, Poppy, by surprise. She hadn't realised how fast  swallows can fly but allows them to use the pond because she's definitely not a water dog and avoids anything larger than a puddle if she can!

 

.        Pencil and wash sketch in Jubilee Wood diary

 

John Clare, the wonderful romantic poet [1793-1864] who later in life had such a sense of despair and isolation  lived near here at  Helpston in his early years. I often turn to his poems for inspiration as they are full of fascinating observations and  'visual' words. If you haven't discovered him yet, he's well worth a read. 

 

 

Pencil and wash sketch in Jubilee  Wood diary 

 

I decided to look at the subject using a different medium this time and wanted to try a collagraph. It seemed sensible to keep the design as simple as possible as I was using carborundum for gradients of tone  and it isn't the easiest thing to use. It works by the carborundum being stuck on to the plate using a liquid glue and then the plate being sealed well with a suitable gloss finish such as varnish.

 

 

Collagraph 34cm x24cm

 

I'm interested in the texture you can produce just by the technique you use when wiping off the inks and the ink also settles into the carborundum leaving a very dark tonal area.

 

 

Collagraph Plate with carborundum

 

The beauty of collographs is that everyone is different according to the way it's been inked up and you can, of course, add anything you like to them in terms of drawing on top or adding colour. I think they can be an exciting way of freeing yourself up from some of the rigours of other types of print making and really encourage you to experiment. That's what I intend to keep on doing........

Small Owl Dancing with Bees

Yesterday we had a morning in Cambridge, first the Botanical Garden and then the Fitzwilliam Museum to see the Turner Watercolours and the other exhibition of watercolours which trace the development of the watercolour. Both were fascinating. But also walking through the ceramics gallery there were two lovely owls. One a huge Martin Brothers owl and the other a gorgeous smaller slipware jug.

I made a couple of quick sketches because it just so happens that I have been making a small experimental print of an owl. It started out as just a regular if stylised owl, but it seemed to need a bit of action so I changed the drawing to make it dance… and then it seemed to also need some companions so I gave it some bees.

There were brown/yellow and  blue/dk blue prints. The image is 6 x4.

Small Owl Dancing with Dees.

What was most interesting about the slip ware owl was the dot/dash decoration of the slip. The simplification is very design-y. So is my owl. I may try a print of the slipware owl too. but in some ways it seems like cheating because the “design” element has already been done…. unless I could bring something new to it….

All prints are just more experiments in combining plates, improving my cutting and trying to get the registration right. I am getting better, slowly …..

Mole: Deceased

Last week Chris saw a dead mole when we were out on a cycle. Poor mole.. but an opportunity this time to get a closer look at those feet.

It was not in very good shape, a bit chewed, very smelly and with circling flies but I did bring it home for some quick sketches and photos.

The front feet are extraordinary, huge and paddle shaped with long pointed claws. The skin is leathery and deeply scored. I have a lot of respect for the moles who attempt the heavy clay soil around here.

I sketched the rather handsome hovering iridescent green bottle fly too. Its all part of the cycle after all.

Mole is now buried under the apple tree in a box. I am hoping the flies, bugs and microbes will work well in this warm weather and in a few months time I might have a relatively clean skull!