I realised just how long it's been since I updated my site and my blog. Bad me!!
Well it's been an interesting few years - the last couple in particular. Covid arrived and the idiot man-child in No. 10 decided to ignore it for ages so went around shaking peoples' hands and pretending all was ok. Gotta keep those right wing loonies happy. Lockdown was inevitable and it was hard for so many people. As a freelancer I was used to wfh. I was informed by nurse, doctor and in writing  that I was a "vulnerable person" so had to shield. That made life harder for quite a while. We Zoomed and FaceTimed though and family did drive-by visits, dropping  bags of goodies (beer) onto my doorstep before retreating to the pavement from where we chatted for as long as the weather permitted. 

I baked banana bread but didn't start my own sourdough. I pottered in the garden and was ecstatic to be able to go and queue at a garden centre when they finally opened - socially distanced of course and masked up.

Unlike so many people who found myriad things to do, my creativity disappeared completely. So I didn't learn another language or even try to improve my lousy french. I did watch lots of bad movies and tv series, none of which I can remember. Later I ran some workshops for Ravensbourne students via Zoom. It was like teaching into the void with students muting both video and mics. 

The "will we won't we" have Christmas came and went - shielders like me zoomed some more. Of course we all had to lock down again immediately afterwards and so it went on. Hard times for so many people, although not for everyone as we now know (are you filling out your. police form with crayon Boris?). 

I decided my creativity wasn't going to suddenly reappear unless I did something different so I enrolled in some courses - zoom courses to start with and then the real thing, in person (masks on). I've made a few prints, did some drawing and painting and am trying to get to grips with watercolour now.  I thoroughly enjoyed the zoom sessions Debbie Hinks ran throughout lockdown. It'd been such an age since I'd done any life drawing. 

I gave up the allotment after a bit of health scare which turned out to be nothing too serious and in August 2021 my lovely moggy, Daisy, got ill and had to be put to sleep. I miss her while Maisie (her sister) doesn't miss her at all . 

So now it's 2022 and Spring is almost here. So is Covid but apparently we'll all be able to rip off our masks, stop any notion of social distancing and play "Let's pretend it's all disappeared now."   I'm following up on the watercolour course and deciding whether or not I can cope with negative painting (I can't). Other exciting things could be on the horizon but more of that some other time. 

I have a thing about old wooden doors so, while clamped to a heater in my workroom last week trying to ignore the miserable grey skies and cold, I thought of hot sunny days in Palma last year and did this wood engraving. It's based on a sketch I did of the chunky wooden courtyard door at my sister's house. 

Reworking a block is never easy as I work using a magnifying glass (dodgy eyes) so the marks I make tend to be very close together. Opening them up can just result in a mess. With this in mind I tentatively reworked the block to lighten up areas and printed again. It works better now. When viewed from any distance there just wasn't enough definition on the original print and it all looked too dark. I'm finally happy with the print and even happier that I didn't ruin it!

Last summer I trundled up quite a steep hill to look at Racton Ruin in West Sussex. It was a hot day, I was wearing flip flops (silly me) and I did wonder whether it was worth it for a few photos.
The folly was originally built for the 2nd Earl of Halifax, either as a summerhouse or as a place where he could watch his merchant ships docking at Emsworth. Today the crumbling brickwork has lost the flint stones which covered it, the four floors inside the 80 foot tower have gone and it's now covered in graffiti.  I made it to the top of the hill eventually and got my photos and ultimately my wood engraving print.

I used this drawing I did of a sunflower bursting into life up at my allotment. I'd wanted to try and do a wood engraving based around this and last week I finally got up the nerve to try it out. 

I know it's best to work on a darkend block but I started off by drawing on the block and inking it up. I made a few cuts but then realised I should darken it up with ink if I was going to be able to see the marks I was making so I applied a thin coating of watered down black ink and crossed my fingers that the drawing would stay visible. Luckily it did. 

As always I was nervous of taking away too much wood  so I made a first proof print which was too dark. I painted over areas to show where I'd want to lighten areas and made more cuts before printing again. 

The additional cuts to the block did enhance some of the  highlights and I got two or three reasonable prints on Hosho japanese paper. But now I've put the block aside for a while. I still think the image is too dark but I want to give myself time to work out how I can lighten some areas to give the print more definition without ruining the whole thing! 

​This week I've cut and printed a small lino block. It was a welcome change to work on something larger than a wood engraving block and not to have to use a magnifying glass to see what I'm doing. 
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Seeing strong winds whip up the leaves on the ground in the garden, along with pots and the odd bit of garden furniture,  I made a few rough sketches before I started this small wood engraving on a one day course at bip-Art in Brighton in late September. I wanted to explore how to express movement, in this case the wind, in a wood engraving. It was much harder than I imagined! 
I didn't manage to finish the block on the day but finally got around to it recently.

There might not be any snow here but I could at least imagine a bit of frolicking in some for my annual xmas card. 
Merry Xmas!
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​In September I was  excited to find an old nipping press on Ebay at a reasonable price, in relatively good order and fairly close to here so I could collect it.

Then it sat in the boot of my car for several weeks before I got the help of someone stronger than me to carry it into the house! (Thanks Ian.)
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It needed a bit of TLC and WD40 to clean off some rust on the base and top plate but an hour or so with some wire wood, fine wet & dry and a little elbow grease and it ready to go.

As I'd almost finished a new wood engraving this week it was good time to test out the press.

My sketch for the Stedham print.
I'd taken photos on the drive up to collect the press and used one of them for the idea for a new wood engraving. 

There's clearly a little more work to do on the block but overall I'm happy with the result and with the nipping press!

I'd made a few first prints from this block, cleaned it off and left it to dry. A rare shaft of sunlight fell on it and it split down the middle! 

Nothing I can do about it so I've abandoned it for now.  I did curse... it had taken ages to do!