Friday I’m in love… with printmaking

I have a new hobby. One I’m not exactly great at
(which is a bit of an understatement) but one
which I love all the same… printmaking.

This studio is currently one of my favourite places.
A little haven of niceness.

I may have a creative job
(I’m an advertising copywriter by day)
but it’s to looming and multiple deadlines…
so it comes with a fair amount of stress.

{Ok, so it’s not like being a doctor
or running a nuclear facility…
but the way my stomach gets tied
in knots sometimes you’d think it was!}

So this place… and doing something where it’s ok to fail…
well, that’s pretty relaxing to me.

See that horses sign?
It’s for clothes horses from when
it was a public wash house…
not actual horses as I first thought!

The very first print I made was a collagraph –
basically a collage you then put ink on to.

It has to be said I enjoyed making my little collage
and then didn’t really like the resultant print!

Therapeutic all the same!

I also tried wood cutting… which is bloody hard!
{And even harder if you insanely decide you
want to carve circles into a piece of wood!!}

I did a little homage to my Polaroid 1000…
which came out not too bad I think.

The thing I liked best of all (weirdly) was dry point…
where you etch into metal the design you want to print.

Above is my first attempt…
a sort of 60s-esque New York-ish skyline.

I’m planning to do a much better version of this now
that my teacher has revealed I don’t have to do it all free hand…
but then I kind of like that I did it all that way.

 And next? Well, I think I’ll do a proper screen printing course…
and maybe finally make my ‘create no nuisance’ print.

******

So what about you all? Is there something you love to do
that you’re not great at?  I think the nice thing about
having a hobby you’re bad at is that, well,
maybe one day you’ll be good at it.

Or that’s what I tell myself!