Lovely Poppies

I just noticed that my last post was my 100th one. If I'd realised before I would have made more of an effort.

Well once again life's been extremely hectic. Just taken part in a show with my dance school, which was crazy, fun, exhausting and a little bit sad for reasons I won't bore you with!


Had an hour at my studio this morning and did this with my new Ecoline inks...

I like using them - need more practice though. This woman has been filed away in my mind for a few days now. I saw her on the bus and I felt sorry for her - she looked really frail and kind of lonely. But then the bus went past a field with some patches of poppies in. Her face absolutely lit up and she said to herself, "Oh, lovely poppies!"

It was lovely to see - and it made me think, why should I have felt sorry for her and assumed she was unhappy just because she's old, when she clearly takes pleasure from the simple things in life...something we should all do I reckon.

Nightmares and studio antics

Hello! I woke up in a funny mood today because last night my mind decided to treat me to a good old-fashioned horror film style nightmare. It involved trying to escape from a large building where scary home movies of spooky children were projected in weird places. I saw a living dead type woman with concrete blocks for a head who was begging me to help her (and I did - by breathing on her gravestone and bringing her back to life, of course!) It was very strange. Loads and loads of my dreams, even the not so scary ones are set in this huge building - a complex and claustrophobic place, sometimes without any windows. Come on, location guys - find me some new sets, I don't like this building!


Anyway this morning, determined not to get involved in any of that housework malarkey, I went to my studio early. As a sort of warm-up, I made this for myself, a cuff bracelet thingy, using some nice old groovy material and buttons I had. Then I did some burnishing on the etching plate I started at BIP yesterday - hope to show you that in in a couple of weeks, as BIP is closed next week. (What will I do!?)

Thought for the day...whatever happened to earwigs? I haven't seen one for years! I think they must have been a 1970s fad like Spangles, Shaker Makers and cheesecloth.

Things I Wanted To Post Here But Couldn't

1. A drawing of the old lady I saw on the bus whose face lit up when she saw poppies in a field.

2. A photo of me finishing Race For Life.

3. My "this week" drawing.

4. A photo of me standing in the doorway of my new cottage with nice garden, granny annexe (mum installed) and studio.


Here are my excuses:-

1. I didn't have time to finish the drawing. It's still in my head though.

2. My friend hasn't sent it to me yet. Come on, Hayley!

3. I can't decide between the cat's wee and the 19 disco tops. (Now that's a sentence I never thought I'd say.)

4. I made it up. (Sigh!)

I'm etching today, hurrah! Hang the expense, that's what I say. The trick, I've realised, is not to check the bank balance first - it takes all the pleasure out of it.

Despite this recklessness, I have been trying to be more organised in my life and sort out problems as they occur rather than letting them get worse and worse until I just crumple to the floor crying. (Believe me this isn't an exaggeration). So, I've got my friendly computer expert coming round tonight to sort out the mess I made trying to install virus protection on the computer. And later in the week I've got someone coming to clear my gutters and replace a roof tile. (I book tradesmen! I care about roof tiles! I must be....an adult?! Oh no, I never thought that would happen!)

More sketches

Just sketches this time I'm afraid which I suppose is better than nothing!

These were done at the station going to London, and on the train on the way back. Romeo (my cat) I sketched the other day, but he happens to be on the same page so makes a sneaky appearance. I was disappointed that the man on the bottom of the top page got off before I could draw him. He was shaped like a skittle.

I really like to draw on the way back from London - there's more opportunity, as a lot of people are asleep or at least not alert. I like to observe business people, the sort that drink wine on the train , which the man at the bottom of the bottom page was doing. Their lives are so utterly alien to me and although I get fed up (to say the least) with not having any money, I wouldn't want their lifestyle at all. This man had a nice Hull accent and looked a bit like a more groomed Albert Einstein.

I don't know why but the sketches don't enlarge when you click and they aren't very clear so I feel a failure.

Victoria Station was closed for a few hours because it flooded yesterday - there were massive thunderstorms - so it was a bit of a nightmare getting home and I'm tired. I would like to do nothing today except read and maybe draw - but I have loads of cleaning to do - loads - before my family catch disease from the filth and have to wear fancy dress costumes to the hospital because there are no clean clothes.

Phew...

...I've been so-o-o busy lately what with rehearsals for our dance show, family stuff, and just about everything else you can think of. I'm off to London today to see a special little girl who has a birthday today!

I rustled this up this morning just in case the one I sent to Cbeebies isn't shown!

Thanks to everyone who sponsored me for Race For Life, which I did complete on Sunday (I have the sunburn and medal to prove it!) I raised £125 altogether. A photo will be on here soon when my friend emails it to me, and I promise I will send a little something to everyone kind enough to sponsor me.

When you dance, there's a magic that must be love!

When I was young I was a punk at heart - I loved Blondie, the Stranglers, the Damned, etc. My dad was a security guard at a university, and sometimes they would share out unclaimed lost property. My dad brought home a cassette player, and in it was the cassette of "Off The Wall". I played it, expecting not to like it...and instantly fell in love with it. I think I wore it away in the end! I remained loyal to punk of course - but I think Off The Wall was one of the best albums ever made and I still love every second of it.

So to the person from Sussex University whose cassette player I ended up with in around 1979 - I am sorry, but thank you - and to Michael Jackson of course - for brightening my life.

Sigh...

No printing today for several reasons (mainly financial).

I was just going to some drawing, as I have an unexpected hour to myself. But just as I got my stuff out, my neighbours started a rousing chorus of that Basshunter (or whatever it is) dance tune "All I Ever Wanted". It's getting faster and louder and I can just tell that they are jumping up and down, possibly punching the air. I bet they move onto Shania Twain soon, and when they do I shall be overwhelmingly gloomy.

It's been a crap week so far - and it's only Tuesday.

Illustration Friday - "Unfold"

Pull back a leaf, crack open a nut, and see what story unfolds...

I came across this in my garden today. (OK, OK...I came across it after I'd made it from cloth and mounted it in the nut shell!)

This Week

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!

Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name...

And today I did - I visited my old place of work, Bags of Books in Lewes and had a spectacular lunch with my friend Karen. Very delicious it was too, and great to catch up on all the gossip.

It's the first time I've been to Lewes since I left Oxfam a couple of months back, and it was a weird experience. The "poshness" and wealth of it all used to get on my nerves a little bit when I worked there I must admit (all those precocious kids with names like Cordelia and Noah) - but after some time away it did make a refreshing change to see busy shops full of polite, sober people with money! (I know this sound bitter and horrible and I'm sorry. But we've had a few really bad customer-related experiences at work this week.)

On the way home I settled down to do some sketching at the station, very pleased with myself that I had remembered my sketchbook...only to find I had no pen or pencil. So here's a quick sketch I did of Brad watching telly last night instead.

Treats!

So Monday was my birthday and I had a lovely day! I got fab presents from my loved ones, as usual. Here I am wearing some of them (the presents that is not the loved ones!), ready to be taken out to lunch at the floating Chinese restaurant on Brighton Marina (yummy & gorgeous!).

I even got some garden furniture - and it's actually been sunny enough to use it!

Well the treats don't seem to have stopped yet - today I went to see the American Scene - Prints from Hopper to Pollock exhibition at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. It was fantastic, and so inspirational. I'd thoroughly recommend it to anyone in the area. It is a fiver to get in, but if you can prove you live in Brighton or Hove with a household bill, you get in half price. (Sadly Newhaven doesn't count!) I managed to stop myself buying the accompanying book - although I haven't ruled out going back yet!

I had the gallery to myself when I arrived - until a crowd of about twenty older ladies came in. They wandered around randomly instead of following the exhibits in order. They read labels and didn't bother looking at the work. They tutted and huffed and sniffed at everything. They compared the prints (loudly) to art done by their friends and family. When one of them saw this beautiful, moving lithograph (The Prisoner by Julius Bloch), she said, "You wouldn't want that hanging in your lounge, would you?"

Erm, yes actually, annoying old lady! I don't know, the older generation eh...

Just settling down now to enjoy my other treat, which arrived today, Gowanus Dogs by Jonathan Frost. It's a children's picture book illustrated entirely in etchings. Looks beautiful. Hurrah!

This Week

This really happened, and I thought I'd do a little cartoon for a change. Might make it a weekly thing - unless nothing happens to me of course!

Illustration Friday - "Cracked"

For the "cracked" theme I thought I would do a little illustration from "Bluebeard", where the girl is given an egg by her new husband and has to keep it perfect. But afterwards, I re-read the story and realised it's not an egg she is given at all, but a key. I'm cracking up I tell you!

It's just gouache and ink on a bit of brown paper.

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.

Open House

Here are a few images from the Open House! You can click to enlarge all but the top two - I don't know why!

A 1920's Toy Theatre.

A fab automaton made by John Alden. It's called "Square Dance"!

Part of John's collection of wooden toys made by Yootha Rose.

My Curly Locks doll.

John's fabulous dolls house, created by him and his late partner. A real labour of love!

A lovely pendant of Karen Rayner's,

and just a small part of her work.

Here's my corner.

A Happy Event...any time now!

It's that time again...when the Peregrine Falcons nest on top of the Brighton tower block. This year the webcam is up and running as usual, so you can check and see if the eggs have hatched yet here!

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!

Studying People

It's the Brighton Festival at the moment and as I mentioned in my last post I'm taking part in an Open House. I'm in the house of the lovely John Alden, who doesn't seem to have a website (I must ask him why not!) but who makes the most fab automata and miniatures and is also a hive of information about toys, and art and craft. Also at the house, showing her scrumptious enamelled silver and copper jewellery is Karen Rayner, a Bishopstone artist who has a studio near mine and is very talented. We have had quite a few visitors so far but unfortunately not many seem to have brought their wallets with them....


Anyway after leaving John's house today I had a coffee in Sainsburys cafe and did a little bit of sketching. I've noticed when I'm out sketching that the vast majority of people seem to look very stressed and miserable. The woman on the right side was doing a crossword and she really didn't seem to be enjoying it at all, she was holding her head in her hands at one point - I was getting quite concerned. I was disappointed that the woman at the bottom didn't stay long enough for me to draw her. I like drawing larger people.

These I did a few days ago - the left was on a train, the bottom right was at a bus stop.

Drawing standing up is difficult!

I've thought of something positive about the theft of Brad's car. It means I get more trains and buses, which means I sketch more. (I'm sure that's no consolation to Brad!)