Woodblock Wednesday - advanced class

First class of the advanced course - it turned out to be the last class "till further notice". But the sun was shining and we few were working hard, carving and printing a simple design for hanshita.

The agenda

No time to soak boards - we wet them with the water brush (mizubaki)

The design was traced onto the block with carbon paper, carved, and
tried out as a rubbing. The area in the body is an island, not for printing

A pink flamingo?

 Now for the hanshita - using a print, glued onto the wood, as the basis for carving the next block.

Nori, straight from the tube, used as glue

Flat of hand roughs up the surface

Print goes face down and is quickly and firmly rubbed on

When it's dried a bit, start at a corner and peel off the top layers of the paper

A pencil rubber helps start the peeling

It can get a bit messy - and careful not to remove the printed layer

 Usually the key block is much more complex and the subsequent blocks will have different parts of the image to be carved. But in this case, how can the block be developed? By adding something - Ripples of water? A landscape background? The printed bird will show where not to carve.

More calligraphic birds by Hokusai

 While the books were out, I took a few photos for future reference.

Drawing Tuesday - Brunei Gallery

Four exhibitions were on offer - downstairs, a history of road-building in India/Pakistan, which included this intriguing image -

Upstairs, a miner's drawings and writings about coal mining in Japan in the 1920s; in the back room, Hatha Yoga; and in the main room, Ancient Vessels, related to eating and drinking in China through the ages.

 I gathered a few of those vessels and objects -

It was adding the writing to the page that made it "work" - not just filling the (unconsidered) blank spaces, but adding contrast of size and mark, and using one colour for unification. As someone said in discussion, you also get to decide exactly where to add the writing and that changes the whole page.

Outside the gallery, Jo found some architectural subjects -

Najlaa collected patterned fabrics from the drawings of the miners and villagers -

Joyce compiled some yoga poses -

 Extracurricular activities

Joyce has been drawing 100 people in one week - main sources, sport on telly and the grandchildren -

Najlaa wondered if anyone might know why her embroidery machine was misbehaving -

... a job for the repairperson, we decided.

Drawing Tuesday - RAF Museum

Only two of us showed up at the RAF Museum - and I only got as far as the coffee shop!

Aiming to draw the plane...

... but the chairs were easier to see

Top, with  (shaky)left hand; bottom, more control and
subtlety is possible with right hand

 Jo used her time well -

"Canberra PR3. London to New Zealand air race, 1953"

More than planes is on display

Studio Saturday - what's on my plate

Apart from the woodblock printing, I have a few other projects on the go.

1. Making a well-fitting shirt or two for my tall, slim, long-armed son. It's still at the research stage -

2. Compiling a folder of healthy, delicious, quick, easy recipes - this is tomato sauce with harissa, feta, parsley -

3. Coffee mornings around the neighbourhood, alone or in company, incorporating a good walk if possible -

4. A new series of dipped pots, working title "The Lost Princesses" -

5. Using up some lovely old wool jumpers which unfortunately were enjoyed by moths - these slashed pillows made out of jumpers and shirts look like just the thing for "using them up"; I'm thinking of those rectangular cushions that are so useful in the small of the back in the car -

6. Most important, though - the ongoing project of "playing with Freya", who is One Year Old in just one week!

Woodblock Wednesday - unexpected colours

Earlier in the week I had a go at printing The Jugs, to see whether the registration was all that bad. Hmm, it's not all that good, but it'll do for now -

 The one without the background -

 And both, with their intended colour swatches, which don't always turn out as planned!

Blocks for the outline, and the background. I probably won't use the beaky-shapes at all, too much fuss....

Printing on the workbench in my home studio -

At class today, I wanted to try a non-blue colour and the first step was to try to remove the blue - printing without inking gives "ghost prints" -

 Even so, the "rose madder" became more purple than I wanted -

 So, why not overprint and make it really purple? -

 Another, without key block and with a paler background (but still quite purple) -

All today's prints -

 ... with the watercolour swatches, for the record -

 The block -

 A quick look at what everyone is working on -

And how nice of Elizabeth to bring in some "irritable cough tea" to help drive away the last vestiges of my irritating cough -

Mullein, mallow, coltsfoot, comfrey - 1 tsp in
boiling water; take 3x a day

Drawing Tuesday - British Museum

(I was unable to attend so Sue took photos and did the writeup on her blog, http://suesharples.blogspot.com/2020/02/british-museum-25th-february-sketching.html. I've copied and pasted the post, so if any images etc are missing, please go to the original site.)


The Islamic Gallery was the meeting point for myself, Janet Knechtel & Judith.

Carole went to the Hellenistic Crafts, Joyce was upstairs in Room 90 for 'Living with Art', 'Picasso to Celmins'.

Here are pictures of our work:
Carole's 2 studies:

A 'shrine' 350 BC from tomb @ Olbia, Crimea, & Aphrodite & Eros terracotta 300 BC.




















Joyce's page 1:
Matisse 'Bending Head & Fishbowl' 1929, Joan Miro 'Figure in the Sun' 1936-9



Joyce page 2:
Left: Brice Marden Zen studies for cold mountain 1991 & Right: Victor Passmore 1948



My choice was a Ceremonial Axe with interesting shadows. Omdurman Sudan 1800-1900
& an Egyptian wooden comb 900/1100
   

Janet K sketched a lovely detail with an ibex Iran 1450-75 from a ceramic piece in the Islamic gallery.



Judith 's study was of a decorated shield in sheet bronze, 400 -300 BC from  
River Witham near Lincoln.

Lastly, an extra-mural - Joyce showed her interpretation of 'A Fairy' 

- one of a '30 day sketch' subject! 

susan.sharples@btconnect.com

A new project perhaps

While ill recently I found it very soothing to read this book, which has been on my shelves for some 15 years, waiting for good intentions to fly into a window of opportunity. It was first published in 1993 and oh my, hasn't sewing technology changed in the past quarter century! The internet, rotary cutters, and a myriad of small things. But the basic principles endure, and this book sets them out clearly and in detail.

It wasn't just escapist reading, or harking back to my teenage years when I devoured books/information on garment making. I made some complicated garments back then, in quantity and at speed, squeezing them out of remnants for myself, or "sewing for money" for my mother's friends and even for teachers at my school - in fact it all started with a hem needing to be taken up, for which I was paid $1.00. It was amazing to earn money by doing something I so enjoyed. (To think that decades later I would fall into a serious job that did the same - what a fortunate life!)

My mother had wanted to be a dressmaker but her father deemed that no, she was to do secretarial training. Fortunately she was a person of resource and could - and did - turn her skills to a variety of jobs - bus conductor and pharmacy assistant for a start, and then anything that came along in her new life in Canada. I often think of that autocratic father, and how that decision made her life so different. Perhaps she was a bit jealous of me being able to do what she hadn't, or perhaps she was eager to encourage me. Perhaps a bit of both.

Now, the project - my son's wedding shirt was tailored to fit him - long arms, slim body. The idea is to use it as a pattern for subsequent shirts, half a dozen casual classics that will last for years. But first I need to brush up on a few skills and get a few tips on fitting and finishes.

Next, making a prototype from some of the acres of fabric that's on hand. Then comes the joy of finding lovely fabric -  recently when I was buying a bit of sinamay (to resume a previous project, the dipped pots), I noted in passing that shirting comes 150cm wide and costs £18 a metre. Probably online is a good source, but I really like the idea of an expedition to a fabric store with my son. He's no slouch when it comes to sewing (and printing) teeshirts and sweatshirts, and took to my serger like a duck to water, but doesn't have much time for such frippery at the moment.

Three spring clouds, Stroud Green Road