Still playing

As I promised myself I would, I kept on playing and fiddled and faddled which I must say, appears to be a very good use of time.

This included taking the time to watch the light and the shadow play on some of the studio displays.

Snow Falling in Daylight (L), Silence (with Susan Bowers, R) and The Library of Lost Words (front).

A Subversive Stitch (L), Too Many Poppies (R),  Dark is Hard, and some wee notebooks with embossed poppies on the covers

Pebbles and a paper cast of a large nib by my friend Lesley.

Back to playing - I took the Profound Change part of the Solnit quote and tested out some new wood type for the first time. Now to combine with the Becalmed part...

I decided I wanted to practise different printmaking things  - things I have never tried or things that I don't do well, or things I just don't fully understand (now that catalogue could keep me busy for a lifetime...).

So I tried to cut a greyboard collagraph plate.  Note to self - why choose so many thing things to cut? Why not a large simple square or something???

Still. I fell in love as I went along and saw the marks emerging.

By this stage I was wondering - do I keep making a printing plate of it or just have it as it is? Pondering.

And then because we have some lovely large wood type, and because I love ampersands, I wanted to play with them a bit and printed up some brown paper wrapping paper.

All drying around the feet of the Lightning Jobber...

And finally some snow pea tendrils attaching themselves to some hot pink nylon against a rusty piece of bracing. Fabulous fun in the garden too.

I feel refreshed, enlivened and lighter for a week of letting myself simply be, exploring some ideas and trying this and that.  I feel happy to head back and do some serious work, make some more product and have some more play.