Not Enough Hands

Well as many of you know, I rent a little studio, and at this time of year it becomes encased in ice, and I have to chip my way in, and then a friend or family member has to chip me and the dog out again at the end of the day. The sub zero temperature has not helped my injured fingers (my fingers aren't great at the best of times) and it took me all day (and more than a little pain) yesterday to engrave this image, for the first page of my book:-

When I was printing it, I realised I had completely missed out Bea's other hand. A Freudian slip, perhaps. So all in all, a failed day, hand-wise.

I can't decide whether or not to brave the journey to uni today. Maybe I will chip my way into my studio and see which body parts I can leave off my characters this time.

Tenth time lucky!

I waited at the bus stop for half an hour intending to go to Brighton to do some shopping and drawing, and when the bus finally came, the driver wouldn't let anyone on because it was too full. Oh, how I laughed! Anyway, I went to my studio but it was too cold to work up there (ice on the inside of the window), so I packed a case of stuff and did this lino print at home. It took ten attempts to get anywhere near a decent print (I use a spoon as I don't have a press) and my hand is like a stiff claw now.

Other news, we went to see Where The Wild Things Are yesterday. I'd heard lots of posh people on Radio 4 saying it was boring, and long, and not at all like the book, so I wasn't expecting to enjoy it...but I actually loved it! I don't know what all the complaining is about! I loved Max, I loved the Wild Things, I loved the soundtrack, I loved the direction. I liked the interpretation of the book - admittedly it's more suitable for older kids and adults who had the book as kids. But it was great. Gorgeous to look at and weird and just like being a child. What's not to like? (Well I suppose I didn't like the thimble of ice cream for a fiver.)

Etching

So I'd asked for the next available week off work (I usually work Fridays and Saturdays), so I could spend two whole days drawing and maybe catch up a bit. My boss said this week would be OK. It just didn't work out though...a whole lot of Friday 13th style problems plus the torrential rain meant that I just went to BIP and did this etching , and then went home exhausted after no sleep the previous night. Better luck tomorrow I hope.

Anyway it's hard and soft ground on steel with some aquatint. Next week I'm having an induction to etching at uni which will be great (and save me a fortune too) - they use ferric chloride though which I don't have any experience of - BIP uses nitric acid.

Time

I never seem to have enough time. Every second is accounted for. I've been asked to work extra days next week and it's part of my job to do this, so the little time I have a) to draw and b) to spend some of half term with Charlie, has been cruelly snatched away. Feel REALLY fed up. Don't know how other people fit everything in, and I am worried about my project. Couldn't get out to draw yesterday for various reasons, so I took a small part of one of the scribbles I did in Churchill Square the other week...

...and made this rather crude linocut from it which I cut last night and have just printed now before going to work. Not too pleased with it, but I've done something, anyway!

I did it with a spoon which after all the cutting is really hard on my hands - I have arthritis in them anyway. That's why I don't do as much lino printing as I would like!

As if things couldn't get any worse I've got to go to the Jobcentre this morning. They have asked for proof of my income for the ooh, about 16 millionth time, and because of the postal strikes I am taking my payslips into our local branch in person instead of sending them to Southampton. I wonder if they will accept this? Oh, I can hardly wait to find out!

Under a Burnished Moon

I had two failures at printing today - I ruined a plate I've been working on for ages, and also I had taken a piece of zinc home to try drypoint on (for those who don't know, drypoint is where you scratch directly onto the metal instead of through a ground followed by biting the lines with acid). The drypoint really hurt my hands (I have trouble with my joints anyway) and then when I came to print it today, the pressure was too light and it didn't come out very well. You don't get many prints off a drypoint anyway because the burr wears away (and it's the burr that gives a lovely soft line). So I gave up on it. The print above was almost a failure too - originally I'd done the moon using chine colle, but the blue ink made it a horrible muddy colour - I was about to go home but then decided to try burnishing it instead, and I think it worked out OK.

Luckily I have much more patience with creative things than I used to when I was little. In fact I have loads more patience with creative things than with absolutely any other aspect of life. Put a slow-moving queue in front of me and I am foaming at the mouth within seconds!

No Willpower

It's been a stressful, busy and tiring few weeks, with family problems, a new job and the Open House all jostling for time and attention. I woke up this morning feeling really drained and achey!

Today is my usual printing day, and my first thought was to give it a miss this week and try and chill out a bit instead. But then I thought, "Well, it won't hurt to just pop in and collect my work." Then I thought, "It would be silly to just go and collect my work without taking a few prints off of my new plate." Then I thought, "If I don't prepare a new plate I'll have nothing to work on next time."

So I ended up staying about 3 hours, printing this and adding chine colle, and buying three new pieces of steel...


...my name is Liza and I'm an etchoholic.

Disasters narrowly missed and retching on the bus

Well I start my new job today so wish me luck! I have to admit I haven't got off to the greatest of starts - as I was on the bus to Brighton yesterday for a merry printing session, I got a phone call asking where I was - I was supposed to start yesterday! I felt sick with awfulness (in fact, I actually retched). But checking back, I found that they had typed the wrong date on my letter. I hadn't noticed the day at all.

After changing buses, I discovered that everyone in the local area had seemingly decided not to wash for 3 weeks and then join me for the rest of my journey. Pleasant. Retching on the bus twice in a day - that must be a first.

The lovely, odour-free people at BIP cheered me up as usual. Remember my Manatee print? My first ever etching? Well I thought I'd add aquatint to it last week and I thought it was a disaster - the plate went rusty within seconds of coming out of the acid. But I cleaned it off with Brasso and it turned out really well...
In fact I'd like to make a story around these two.

Anyway I should be dressing in my smart yet casual clothes. Bye!

I ruined the plate of the sketch I did yesterday. But here's another one - it's hard ground, then soft ground and aquatint on steel.

Drowned my sorrows (well, had two glasses of wine!) with my good friend Sandie yesterday evening. Then cried and went to bed with Slumdog Millionaire. (The book, unfortunately, not a real one, or I wouldn't be in this situation in the first place!)

Feeling Blue

Well, I've been turned down for the funding I applied for. I got a letter this morning.

Here's the sketch I did for my new etching plate...I think it sums up the way I am feeling. I think I'll make it really dark and moody - put an aquatint on and use a lot of lines too.

My only hope now is a career development loan. I just hope they aren't means tested, because if they are I'm sunk...

Even More Printing

Here's another chine colle tree from my printing class...this time it's on zinc. Next week is my last week...sniff...but I've got a few hours owing to me because of the time we had snow. Then I can join, and use the studios on an open access basis. I've already bought myself some stopping-out varnish to show my commitment! I started work on a new plate which I really like so far so hopefully I'll be able to post the results next week. Hope to post some new doll pictures soon too, when I can afford batteries for my camera!

Ooh, and Brad got me this today in Dave's Comics...I just couldn't leave the shop without it! And I then had to be manhandled past Pen to Paper (and the Bead Shop, and the Oxfam Bookshop)!

More Printing...and Nostalgia

Sorry for the long absence - I seem to have been so busy lately, yet not accomplishing very much! Anyway, here is my Red Riding Hood plate with a second colour plate printed on top. I didn't manage to register it very well but it was a good exercise to learn how to do it. You have to make two plates exactly the same size, do a proof of the black one and from that proof, offset a printed image onto the second plate, from which you stop out all the stuff you don't want to be in colour.

Anyway just off to scrub a bathroom now...what joy. Oh and I am listening to Lastfm at the moment - a recent discovery. You put in a band or genre you like and it creates a little radio station for you. This morning I have been listening to "Blondie" radio...oh my goodness it gave me gems from the past I'd forgotten all about! For instance, now it's playing "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads - I haven't heard that track for years! And "Happy House" by Siouxsie and the Banshees! And hearing the B52s "Rock Lobster" made me feel so nostalgic I felt physically sick. Sigh...where have the years gone?! I want to wear all black again and be cool and rebellious! (Instead of wearing black to hide bulges and stains).

Have a great day everyone! (Ooh - it's playing 11.59 now!)

(Later: It's playing "Another Nail For My Heart" by Squeeze...I feel "past"sick again and I have to turn it off...)

Prints and stress

I've somehow gone down with shingles around my right eye, two days before The Interview. I feel really low, not to mention thoroughly pissed off. Thank goodness for my printing class, where I did these...



The tree is etching and aquatint on zinc, with chine colle. The red riding hood at the bottom is just a proof - next week I am going to make a colour plate for the girl's coat so that it prints red. So far on this plate, it is etching and aquatint. On steel. It's still damp, so sorry about the wibblywobbliness of the paper.


I have recklessly signed up for another 6 weeks of printing. I'd leave too much unfinished business if I just stopped now. I can't afford it, but I am telling myself it's an investment....

Illustration Friday - Climbing

Come up and see my etchings? Well, etching, to be precise- my very first one ever! I thought it fitted into the IF theme too as she is climbing aboard a cuddly Manatee.

This is just etching onto steel, which gives a mid tone to everything. This week I started a very simple tree design on zinc, which is whiter, and I am aquatinting it in a couple of tones and then want to do chine colle on it.

The design of this etching sums up how I feel about printing. I love it, but it's just too massive a subject to grasp! It's just fab. Even though my hand are sore and my lungs are raw, it's worth it.

Illustration Friday - Contained

Here is my effort for this week's IF topic. I received a set of Russian nesting dolls for Christmas when I was about four and it was one of the best presents I ever had! I got so much pleasure from them over the years...even the woody smell of them made me happy. When I had my first son I let him play with them and later found him chewing enthusiastically on something. When I asked what it was, he opened his mouth to reveal the very smallest doll! I'd had them for about thirty years. It survived, but now looks like a scrap of driftwood. Since then I have been bought two more sets of Matryoshka dolls, both gifts from my mum. I feel a collection coming on...

Anyway it's a lino print, cut at home last night - not, sadly, at my studio which currently has no power or water. In fact, when I went there on Saturday, a large and rather pretty icicle was coming out of the tap! Hopefully it will be sorted out soon...it really will...

Testing!

After many weeks of angst and stress I now have a new computer. Just wanted to test out putting an image on here with it.



Mmm...seemed to work OK! (By the way this is just a monoprint I did the other day. Remember the charity collector I sketched a few months back? I turned her into an angel for a bit of fun.)

Just waiting for my lovely friend Sandie to arrive for a day of painting. Happy Sunday everyone.

Cinderella, dressed in yella!