Liz’s journal

I’m Liz Akerele and I live and work in Cardiff, Wales.

I have always loved anything creative, I didn’t have the best of times growing up so I think I used the art I created to escape and make a different world for myself as a child. Everything got better when I got older and moved from “The Potteries” to complete a ceramics degree here in Cardiff. 

I worked hard, but reality hit after I completed my degree, there was no way for a person from my background to further my career within ceramics. 

 I went into full time work to pay off my uni debts and to continue to support myself. I had to leave ceramics behind, but not my sketchbooks. I developed the plans I had for ceramic pieces into abstract paintings with a texture and language that’s unique to me.

I've stayed in Wales because it’s a beautiful place to live and the Welsh are friendly people. The LGBTQ+ community here is fantastic; I felt safe enough to come out as gay and finally be myself. These are all the reasons why I find myself still here now.

Today I still work full time and in a job I enjoy, but I also paint commissions under the name AbstractAkerele to provide me with that creative outlet. I favour working with acrylic paint on canvas but I also like to experiment with different media. I illustrated a children's book which was published in 2018 and I recently branched out into selling photographic prints of my artworks. I don't know how to describe my work, only that it is bright, bold and unique.

With this opportunity from Printhaus I want to firstly increase my confidence in my own work and who I am as an artist. I am my own worst critic and I often talk myself out of new works. 

The chance to work in a beautiful print workshop environment with mentors and other artists is really the most exciting aspect of all of this. Learning the printing process will be so amazing and a game changer.

Technical 

On 10th January 2023 I attended the Printhaus studios for the first time as part of my mentorship.

I was very anxious with huge feelings of impostor syndrome and nervous energy. I had already been taken through the printing process as part of my interview. I provided the team with an image of one of my original art works which they copied onto acetate and used light sensitive paint to transfer onto screen ready to print. The results were amazing.

(The sheer amount of variety of prints created from one original image.)

For my 1st day I worked one to one with Jude and painted directly on the acetate using the black rotring ink and methylated spirits.

I used the light box in the workshop to clearly see my designs and mark making.

I am not going to lie; I'm finding this process very hard. For decades I have worked a certain way, with acrylics and paint brushes. My work has been tight and regimented, done for the purpose of a commission or a an illustration. I was told to have a play around with the ink and mark making. I feel i am deconstructing my work now and developing something new which will accommodate the new media that I am using.

I took the process home to my kitchen table and even purchased my one mini light box.

Once I finally got into it, the process has been fun. I look forward to transferring these designs to prints and seeing what gets picked up and printed. It's liberating not knowing what the end result will be.

17/03/2023 

During my last one to one with Jude she advised how to book workshop time in the calendar and that I had the freedom to attend when I wanted to.

I booked in a few hours on this day to just to some mark resist stuff in the workshop, to get to know the workspace and everyone on the team.

I worked with the light box and created a another page of designs to experiment with.I used household objects again but mainly the scalpel to scratch out designs and thoughts. 

It was a fun afternoon.

I met some other Printhaus members and I found my first time there a very warm, peaceful and focused space to work in. Everyone was lovely, approachable and SO creative.

19/03/2023

I attended the Sunday sessions meeting. With an open day fast approaching on the 22nd of April, the meeting was arranged to decide what prints and paints the public will be using on the day.

I got to see the creativity of the other Printhaus members up close by viewing the designs they had submitted for public use.

I also got to practice with the equipment we will be directing the public to use.

I have to admit, I am nervous about helping the public to make their own prints. 

I think it's due to the fact I feel like I don't know exactly what I'm doing yet.

24/03/2023

Today was my one to one.

There was a lot to take in this time but after this day I felt my knowledge increased.

Within a few hours Jude walked me through the whole process of prepping 3 screens and even printing with one of them.

I had 3 designs to convert onto screens.

I took loads of notes and I also took my time.

The hardest part I find is  securing the tape inside the screens. It's so infuriating, gets stuck to my fingers, to itself and gets so crumpled.

Other than the hell that is that sticky tape, It's a fascinating process. Using the light sensitive paint, scraping the excess off  and then exposing it to my design using the vacuum table. Every part of this process has an affect on my designs for better or worse.

My favourite design at the moment is Galaxy Cat. It came out well except for a patch on her shoulder- it's an image I need to revisit to even it out.

26/03/2023

Today I spent the afternoon in the workshop just working on my screen printing technique. I had a right mess around with everything, using newsprint paper to work out the right pressure and amount of ink etc. I printed loads of copies, so many I lost count.

I also was able to see what marks translated well through the screen onto the paper. After today I really feel that my technique has improved. I had the knowledge to clean down everything and use everything properly and unaided.

03/04/2023

I booked in a workshop session in the morning to print out my second design and again it was totally experimental and made up scratches and marks on the film. I am really liking working with the mark resist film, I have to say, there is just so much you can do with the ink and the methylated spirits. 

With this design I made some attempts at scraping and scratching out a kind of chameleon design.

I also had a great 1:1 with Jude, where I learnt how to remove designs from a screen ready for re-use. I also got a photoshop tutorial using the application to manipulate and print charcoal rubbings ready for collage work.

7/04/2023

Absolute blinder of a day that started off a bit crap. Galaxy Cat printing day!  My mark resist experiments turned into a striking design and a mini project to produce some prints for sale during the open day on 22nd April.

The day started off crap because the design and colouring I had in my mind wasn't what came out in the end.

I'm really excited to get them all wrapped up now and ready for sale. I think the situation felt a bit poop to begin with because I was stuck in my head with this one design and not looking at the bigger picture.

The fact is in just a few short weeks I have put together a design using the mark resist paper, transferred it onto a screen I prepped, then made prints suitable for sale. 

Back in March I wouldn't have been able to do any of that.

10/04/2023

I spent a few hours packing up my prints for sale. It was so nice to be in the workshop with other artists. Everytime I come to Printhaus I feel like I meet someone new and very talented. I'm always so excited to ask to see what they are working on and see that creative buzz in their eye when they talk about what they are doing. It's great to be part of the Printhaus community. It's another positive reason for being a Printhaus intern; instead of being locked away underpricing my work and working in solitude I'm here bouncing ideas off other artists and learning to work in a whole new genre.

16/04/2023

I attended the Sunday session to discuss the Printhaus open day and my role on that day. I'm not going to lie I'm super nervous!!

As mentioned a few weeks ago I will be helping the general public to screen print their own posters and I'm still so new to the skill myself. I've got the afternoon slot, in the middle of a busy reception area to demonstrate and guide anyone who wants to have a go at printing. 

I know I will be spending the next few days working about the worst case scenarios.

21/04/2023

I helped out for an hour this evening moving equipment down from the studio ready for  the Open Day.

I had total withdrawal symptoms at the thought  of leaving Printhaus after just an hour so I cleaned  a screen down and tidied up a little.

22/04/2023

What an amazing day! 

Yes I made a mess at times but I kept talking and helping total strangers make their own posters. I really really enjoyed the day and working alongside some truly awesome people. There is nothing I would change. The demos in the studios went like clockwork, and we had queues outside the door for tote bag, riso and poster printing.

I would've liked  more black people to have taken part in this. I'm not sure what it's down to but I saw no one who looked like me taking part in this free open day. There are probably a host of reasons for this that I can't really explore in a blog but we have the print festival in June next which covers 2 days so there will be even more opportunities for everyone from everywhere to have a go.

15/05/2023

Yes, I know it's been ages since I've written this but ended up having blumming covid!  It was a strong bout of it as well which left me laid up for weeks and unable to attend the workshop.  

The Printhaus open day was brilliant, providing an introduction to screen printing to the general public was a real personal achievement for me and I really want to do more of it.

So an opportunity came along that I could not refuse. Under Jude’s direction we guided a handful of young adults, their parents and the group leader through the t-shirt printing process. 

For the 1st time ever I got to talk and walk through the screen print making process within the workshop to an audience. It was nerve racking! I thought I had covid again because I was sweating so much to begin with.

But I think I settled into it. The group brought with them a film maker to document the session and I was asked to speak to them after.

The afternoon was really rewarding, I think I definitely need to improve on my workshop presentation skills though as I got a bit messy (again) whilst printing the shirts but Jude reined it all back in.

The group were a fantastic, culturally and racially diverse collection of people who, with us, had one to one guidance through a process that isn't readily available to everyone who haven't got the spare cash to do it.  The Printhaus is a community space which offers printing opportunities to all.  I really felt that this workshop illustrated this aspect  perfectly and I loved being a part of it and hope to be part of more.

In other news I sold two prints of Galaxy Cat on the open day. I'm still doing collage work and look forward to using them create more prints.

02/06/2023

Had my one to one with Jude today after receiving my homework to make a collage out of the rubbings we took around the workshop.

It was all very very alien to me. I did and re-did the collage. I added to the textures using news print and photocopying napkins. I was embarrassed by the result as it felt so unpolished. Jude advised it was all part of the process.

I transferred the collages on to acetate. After chucking countless collage attempts I set myself a goal to at least  complete two collages.

(collage 1 on the left) Collage one  was made to look like a set of houses and landscape. (Collage 2 on the right) Collage two was made to be reminiscent of my very early line drawn characters.

The images were then changed into screens for printing and I was  advised experiment with only 2 colours and by ''blocking out' certain areas of the print generated to change the overall narrative of each print produced.

In prep for the printed festival I also got the chance to decorate the dungarees I would be wearing during festival whilst helping out.

Lft: As you can see the dungarees started off a bit bland. Middle: Using heat and some funky machines I added these transfers. Rgt: They turned out lush, such a great idea.

As well as dungarees for the printed festival I was asked to produce a design for the 'have a go' tote bags. Even though I've have produced so many commissions over the last 20 years, this task filled me with dread. How would I know what design would translate better on a tote bag? Without the bold colors of my usual acrylic paints how could I draw people into the design? 

After a few days of procrastination I followed my usual design process. 

Starting with source material!

I then sketched out a design which I hoped would incorporate all aspects of print and stay on brand with the symbols that have been running through the printed festival advertising.

10&11/06/2023

What a weekend! It was really hard work as it was boiling and there were so many people attending and so much to do but it was super rewarding.

I was manning the free have go area.

There was a  treasure hunt, face painting and collaborative poster.

It was brilliant to be able to provide free activities for families and individuals so they didn't feel obligated to spend and could still attend.

I got to meet a lot of printers and learn about their working methods and inspirations. It's brilliant to be part of the art community.

The whole weekend involved the workshop banding together and supporting the festival. It was what I was looking for and what I mentioned in my original application about being part of an art community. No-one is "up themselves" there is no art snobbery here and everyone is in it together to support the community and create great things.

I got to attend a talk by YukFun and it was fab and really made me think that I need to pursue my ideas and keep working.

After all my procrastination and doubting the tote bags sold very well. I don't know how many sold but I will find out.

12/06/2023

I was absolutely shattered after the festival but it was so nice to come in today.

So, I'm still experimenting with collage and screen prints and I'm still not sure what the heck I'm doing as I've always been used to painting on canvas alone like a little hermit in my spare room.

The Brief for this experiment is easy.

1. Make a collage out of your rubbings.

2. Turn that into a screen print.

3. Experiment with the resulting prints by blocking out shapes to highlight others within the print.

4. Only use 2 colours to do this.

I spent the afternoon printing and concentrated on the collage that had the boldest design using an amazing pink colour. The afternoon didn't feel very personally productive though as it turned out I slopped on too much UV paint on my screens and the ripples within the paint affected my prints as well as took way to long to dry out when I first applied it.

However I didn't really understand what I'd really done till about 10 prints in.

I ended up scrapping both screenprints; using UV paint remover to break down the designs from the screens to enable further use of the screens.

I did get to visit Nigel Draper(The Amplifier Press) in his studio space and hear about his work and his printers. For me learning about what he did was an example of how important it is to hold on to the history of printing.

There is something fantastic about using old printers to create new art; marrying the old with the new.

15/06/2023

It's been a good week so far. I had taken off a few annual leave days from my day job and was able to visit Printhaus workshops during the day.

I went back to my experiments, I felt a bit low about the whole thing to start with today. I just felt that what I was doing didn't look good and that  I had already had a non productive day the last day I was in.

I started printing the design in layers blocking out parts of the print to highlight them. Instead of paper I used masking tape to block the desired areas. I got lost in the technique and stopped thinking about the end result.

Do you know what? The prints turned out alright in the end. I really enjoyed the layering of the colours and the ability to change the viewpoint within the image by blocking off the different areas.

16/06/2023

Today was my one to one with Jude. We looked over the prints I made together and I mentioned there was one print in particular that had a technique that I wanted to replicate and use for a project.

So today in my one to one I worked on a project brief and design.

Clifton Project brief

Background

Inspired by the recent experiments and the contrast that I found from layering two paints and blocking off others are techniques I really want to expand and use for this project.

To do

Use this  technique as a foundation to produce a series of street scenes of Clifton Street in Splott Cardiff. Points of interest includes the police station, fruit stalls and tesco etc. There will be no portrayal of realism but more a portrayal of the diversity of shops on the street all added together in a jigsaw of textures and images. 3 x A3 images to be produced.

Why

The street is so interesting, I lived on various streets in Splott for years and always loved this little street and the changes it is constantly going through. 

I want to portray this in my own way.

23/06/2023

Today was my first  research day. 

I cycled round Clifton street taking pictures. Even though I had the brief and an idea, I still have no clue on what the final work will look like and how to go about putting it together to depict what I want to with only the use of texture and two colours.

However, here's a small selection of the pictures I took.

I am looking at the texture and feel of this street. Basically what makes a place feel like a place with just texture alone.

30/06/2023

I went back to an early morning Clifton street and took rubbings. At this point I feel that even though I'm not sure of my new media as,  I'm used to acrylic paint on canvas, I should stick to the brief and work the way I worked before with the previous collages. It's just very hard not to complicate things.

As well as rubbings I spent spare evenings sketching out shop fronts and references.

Textures, rubbings and shop fronts:

07/07/2023

So,I have sketchbook growing with images and plans but still no final designs.

I have a lot of self doubt at this point.

What am I doing? Who am I doing it for? What's my goal? What's the big deal? What's the meaning of it all blah, blah, blah. 

I haven't a clue but I have a look at my brief again and the history of Clifton street. I blumming love old pictures of streets I know now, its looking at these and reading the brief that lifts my spirits:

14/07/2023

I've given myself a talking to and come out of the rabbit hole of self doubt.

I enjoy the process of creating something and maybe I'm finding it harder this time because for years I have worked to a clients' specific briefs when I've created works for them. I've moaned for years  to be in this position and make my own works, yet when I have the opportunity now I shy away from it.

I've set up a craft table in my front room, collected everything together, set out an A3 paper and just started.

Research:

21/07/2023

I finally returned to the workshop with my images and, just like before, I scanned my rubbings and photographed textures then printed them in various sizes to be able to use them for collage work.

Then I worked out a pencil plan of my design. However,  what I have found now is there are too many images to fit on one A3 size so there needs to be a series of designs to encompass all the images I have researched.

I'm at a point today where I have a design and I am filling it with collage and pen to be able to make a screen print from it. 

Maybe I shouldn't have been so thorough but I do now have so much sketchbook research I can make number designs using what I have learned.

Will I be happy with the end result? 

I really don't know but I am happy and get fulfillment from the process I am working with. I just wish I could work a little faster.

Maybe once I have these images I can cut  them out, and make new designs with them using different  configurations etc?

26/07/2023- 03/08/2023

I did some camping and walking in St David's and my tent pole got splintered in the bad weather but the dog enjoyed it.

04/08/2023

Time really flies! 

This Friday brought everything together; my research, sketches and the collage work into one new design.

For the first time it's work I'm doing for myself and not as a commission or illustration so it was hard to really work how I wanted it to look and the overall feel as I always worked to another person's brief. This is how I got on.

Hours of pen work and paper cutting building up a story of houses and shops from Clifton. I wish at this point I could draw faster.

11/08/2023

I gave myself a deadline of today to finish this design as I really want to get back to the workshop and use the time that has been given to me through this mentorship. The design has ended up like this. 

As always, I'm not sure about it but not like always. I'm very excited to see how it turns out after printing it.

13/08/2023

OMG I am so terrible at photoshop and working on apple and everything!

I came into the workshop expecting to have my design banged out on acetate ready for transfer to the screen in a few seconds but instead I fiddled around on photoshop for hours.

But it was amazing how I could get rid of accidental pen marks with just a click of a mouse. So I had a mess around, it was all trial and error to be honest. I wasnt sure what gradient I needed to use?? How dark /light everything needed to be to transfer to the screen?? And what marks would transfer well to the screen and what marks wouldn't ???

Sitting here working like this is great though. I couldn't dream of having the facilities to do this at home and off my own back. To be able to sketch out a design,  transfer it on to photoshop and onto an acetate film ready for the screen and do that at my own pace and have use of all this is just brilliant.

SO! After enough messing around, I  have this….2 films with the same design, one lighter than the other.

16/08/2023

Finally got both the designs onto screens.

The whole process is really exciting.

With the lighter design is messed around a bit with the design onto the screen, using  the jet wash to do some weathering of the design. I'm hoping that will come out well once printed.

19/08/2023

PRINT DAY!!

I go to work on printing today and the very first thing I found was that the design I printed to the film was NOT A3. It was a little over that. However the screens are already done now so it thought I should at least go through the process and see what the prints come out like at this size.

Next week I will make the design smaller  for sure.

For most of the day I just printed, alternating screens to see which one worked better and alternating between 2 colours; pink and violet.

This is one of the screens with the pink and just look at the mess! The violet was a thin paint so I feel it bled a bit too much but the design is intricat and there were many times it do not full transfer to the paper.

I many used scrap paper to print on to at first to work out what worked best.

Next week I want to mix my own colours maybe? I want to have a feel of vintage - 1970s maybe? So oranges, greens etc?

I love the way it's come out with the violet. 

I keep looking at the design and want to add more. Such as double yellow lines, different shop fronts etc.

The next part of the brief is to block out  certain parts of the design. So that's what I'm doing next week.

22/08/2023

I am having so much fun with this design.

Tonight I used a dark blue ink to print out the CS design. The consistency of the ink was better and I was able to get some clear prints on to a nice paper.

28/08/2023

Today I spent a few bank holiday hours trying out different colours on this print.

I practiced on the newsprint paper, using pink, purple and a dark blue. 

It worked out later that I was using the wrong type of ink whilst practicing! I was using fabric paint!

I also had photoshop knightmares trying to scale down my design. I got there in the end and printed out a design that sits well on A3 and therefore a more commercial option for sale.

01/09/2023

Today was great. It gave me a chance to show Jude what I've been up as well as prepping a new screen with a smaller design.

To add to the brief for this project Jude suggested that instead of the bog standard print of my design, instead look at the textures I have collected and make a new design out of them.

Jude also gave me some pointers on photoshop and paint use. It's nice to check in with Jude to work out my direction on a regular basis.

03/09/2023

New prints done today with scaled down design, the proper paint and nice paper!

I can see this design on tote hags and t-shirts. Something I wouldn't have thought of before but I am tired of the print now and doing some more stuff in the background.

07/09/2023

This evening I was invited to  the Amplified press. It's an amazing workspace managed by Nigel Draper. The studio is full of unique letter presses dating back from the 1850s and beyond.

Nigel gave me a tutorial through the basics of using each of these machines and the type of items that can be produced. 

It was fascinating! There are everyday phrases we use which have all originated from using these machines. Such sayings like "to come a cropper" and "to watch your Ps and Qs" are directly associated from letter press.

It was an amazing tutorial and I would recommend anyone interested to book in to learn more as well as create with Amplifier press.

Nigel guided me through setting up and pressing lettering into a book cover.

Every step to get the result you need in letter press takes time and careful planning. Everything has to be worked out carefully, from spacing, to pressure, to full stops, all this before you even produce a print.

It's the same with screen printing with a less manual effort maybe. Letter press is such a skill and it's steeped in history.

I'm really looking forward to being able to use this media in future works but I can't work out how to integrate it just yet.

08/09/2023

I was lucky enough to be assisting in a printing workshop this evening.

The Printhaus is a workshop open to everyone and regularly works with schemes and trusts to provide fun unique evenings for those who need it but may not to be able to usually attend.

It was my second time working with the single parent wellbeing group where a team of parents and children get the time and space to work creatively together.

This time we worked on tote bag printing, from cutting out the templates to screen printing the designs on to the bag.

It was a great evening and so much fun to be working with such a lovely group of people again.

I feel like I have to pinch myself sometimes because I'm currently helping out with print workshops, getting to experiment with my own work and still working full time as well.

I feel really lucky to be in such a position this year.

I really do believe art is the best therapy and should be accessible for all. With these types of workshops the Printhaus is making art accessible. It's such fun for me guiding others through the print process and watching them shake off the worries of their day to bond over a creative task.

11/09/2023

There's nothing much to report for today. 

I just did a few more prints experimenting with the consistency and colour of the paint used. It was fun to have the time to practice before having a week off on holiday.

22/09/2023 & 23/09/2023

More time in the workshop over these 2 days, mainly working on a few more prints. To be honest I didn't produce much and I found that it was hard to get my original design to sit well and work within the silk screen and I couldn't understand as to why. The project that I put so much thought into and prep, to me, has become difficult. Balancing work and creativity time is difficult. I end up comparing the amount of work I've produced to others workshop members and being negative on myself.

29/09/2023

Almost as if she was psychic and she could sense my doubts, Jude asked if I wanted to put in a design for the have a go poster stall on the Autumn open day.

So in the background I spent my evenings this week with a fine liner pen on paper thinking about what design would work well with screen print and what images portrays autumn and the change in seasons the best as well as looking at the textures that make up Clifton street.

This was the final image I submitted and it was the tonic I needed to think about the Clifton St project with fresh eyes.

Also, because of this design and subsequently using photoshop to prep it for the poster stall, Jude showed me the right way to flatten and darken the image to make it right for screenprinting. 

I realised why the screens I had previously produced did not work properly. I hadn't prepped the image in the right way on photoshop.

01/10/2023

The last few days have been a hive of activity. I made new templates for the Clifton street design, this time properly darkened and at 300dpi and in A4.

I went back to Clifton St in the early hours of the morning and spent an hour taking photos of close up images of Clifton street.

I printed these off to use as collage material.

02/10/2023

Had my 121 with Jude today but all I had was a rough design and a load of close up images. I didn't feel happy with progression. 

I couldn't see a way forward and felt very negative. But guess what? With a fresh perspective provided by Jude I can now see that the photos I took are the way forward and to concentrate on them.

We looked through books for the last part of my 121 looking at examples. The feeling of finding a different direction is amazing,  it's like unlocking a door or something.

There was a small detail which I photographed the last time around Clifton Street. I've blown it up and I'm going to experiment with it.

04/10/2023

I love working late night at the Printhaus, day work done working from home, dog walked and a night cycle over to the workshop for a few hours of screen prep.

I did 2 screens, one with the experimental image from Clifton Street and the other featuring an A4 image of Clifton Street. My thoughts are that the more manageable cheaper A4 size may be more appealing to buyers. 

Using my newly gained knowledge about grayscale and dpi being applied to screen prints  hoping the prints will come out more defined.

08/10/2023

I was wrong, yet again slightly deflated with my experimental print. The detail I expected did not come out in the print. I can't work it out as to why so I will need to ask the experts. 

But I did get sneak peek at my "Equifox" design all set up ready for the open day. It looked so lush. It's reminds me now of so many designs that I've done that have stayed in drawers, forgotten in sketchbooks  and even in the bin.

If it wasn't for Printhaus this image would never have got seen, its lush for it to be used on the have a go poster stall. 

What's better is feeling a part of the Printhaus community too, looking back on my application these are the things that I was looking for. I've met some amazing artists and just asking about their work, influences and experiences has been brilliant. Being a part of all this is hard to put into words.

So the experimental print, not so good,but the Equifox print in gold paint on coloured paper, amazing. 

The pint sized print of Clifton Street came out well too. I applied the dpi and darkening so the collage parts could be seen more clearly this time around also for some reason there was less mess.

15/10/2023

Hallelujah! I spoke to the experts aka Jude and Tom and learnt about dithering on photoshop and applying pixels. Messing around with both the pixels, dpi/ lpi and dithering provides the detail when printing from photo images. So much information, and so much to think about but it's so fascinating.

With Judes help I was able to put together a test sheet of the same image but with a range of different lpi so I can work out which print works best.

I don't think I've shown a picture of this before. It's the screen treated with the light sensitive emulsion paint. I've taped the design to it and laid it gentle inside the light booth ready to be flooded with light. One it's been exposed to the light the image will be fixed to the screen.

As a side note I did a little Clifton street drawing which I did some prints of too..

17/10/2023

Yet another amazing evening at Printhaus.

I mentioned to Jude in my 121 that I fancied a go at lino printing and the following week got a text offering me a lino printing class to attend. 

Headed up by Aidan Saunders, the brilliant artist, lecturer and print wagon owner. It was 2.5 hours of learning and practice that didn't feel like either, it just felt like fun. 

As always I went headlong into the session with a complicated design that took ages to carve out. I got hand cramp, cut my finger, and did a bit of swearing under my breath, but I loved the results. It was the perfect way to end a busy working day and I would recommend the class for anyone to try out.

The results were fab…

I based it on a painting I did over a decade ago.

And then tried to carve two of the characters into the lino.

I think with much more practice I can get the designs much tighter but it all takes time.

21/10/2023

It was the Autumn Printhaus open day and I was on the have a go poster print stall for the morning shift giving the public the chance to print their own posters. I was blown away by the autumn designs that the Printhaus posse had put forward. I had a walk around after my shift just marvelling at the things we had all designed and how brilliant it all was. 

I really enjoyed talking to people about how we do it all and seeing faces light with every successful print. It was a great day and I was lucky to have the opportunity to show off the Printhaus and all the members can do there and also how accessible it is for anyone else to have a go too.