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!)

Another Doll

It has been absolutely lovely Spring weather...I hope it stays like this for the weekend when the Brighton Festival begins. I'm going to be in an Open House in the Newhaven Art Trail. (I'm in the Badgers Hill Workshop.)

I've made a couple of new dolls to show at the Open House...here's the Earth one from the elements series I've been doing...

You can see some of my prints on my studio wall in the background - and my offer letter from uni!

Here are the pictures I took while I was making the doll. Unfortunately my camera battery ran out around the time I made the dress, but here are the early stages. Making a pattern...

Sewing the pieces together on my trusty Bernina (born the same year as me!) ...

Stuffing the head and covering with stocking material.

This part was done a couple of weeks ago - note that I'm wearing gloves because it's so cold in my studio!

I'm so-o-o tired...I have got far too much to do. I'm just going to staple a few peg doll packs together and then I will be collapsing in front of the tv.

Elements Doll

Just a couple of quick snaps of a doll I have been working on. There's an Earth one as well, which I haven't photographed yet.

Went to BIP yesterday to do some printing, and prepared a couple of plates to work on next week. That's all really!

G-Whizz it's party time!

Here are some pics of the "G" themed fancy dress party we went to last night. There were geeks, Gangsters,Gays,Greeks and Gladiators,

Gypsies & Gerrard,

Grotbags,
And of course the birthday boy...

GARIBALDI!

There were loads of great costumes I didn't get good pictures of...Jenny came as the Galaxy, and Kate Ginger spice, there was a Gold digger, a genie... even a Gynaecologist! It was great fun.

Looking forward to a day of artiness today with my friends Sandie and Kate. Have a great Sunday everyone! (By the way, it really is Sunday, despite it saying it's Saturday on the date of this post...don't quite know what's going on there....)

Two New Books!

Well, for those of you on the edge of your seats waiting to know which film we went to see...neither. Charlie chose 17 Again, but when we arrived at horrible Cineworld, there was a sign up saying they had a problem with the projector on that screen so it would be out of focus. So Charlie's next choice was Race To Witch Mountain, which was like ET but with two very bland teenagers in place of the cute alien. And it starred ex-wrestler The Rock. I voluntarily watched a film starring The Rock. We enjoyed ourselves anyway!

While I was waiting for Charlie to meet me in Brighton I happened to wander into Dave's Comics again. In fact I happened to stay in there for at least half an hour. I think I am turning into a nerd - and I like it! I eventually bought this...

...and genuinely wept with laughter when I read it later in the evening. And, a few days ago I ordered this...

...expecting a slim volume - and it's a really lavish hardback full of fantastic ETCHINGS! Of course I shan't allow myself to look at it properly until conditions are perfect (no children around, coffee to hand, lamp on, quiet music on in background). But it looks gorgeous and I can't wait to get stuck in. Yay!

In other news we are going to a friend's 40th birthday party on Saturday and have to go dressed as something beginning with G. Charlie is being a gangster, and possibly Joe too. I'd planned to be a goth, but I am now leaning towards a geek.