This morning I was cutting little dots into the lino sea foam while listening to live radio coverage of the Thai cave rescue. News updates while printing said that some of the boys were out of the cave.
I was working in an attic room under an open skylight. The ink was weird in the heat, the paper kept blowing around in the breeze. I had intended to rub a bit of yellow ink into the centre of the sun, like an intaglio. Maybe next time.
Too many times over the last few decades. Here’s the usual pattern:
Somebody needs a poster design. It must have certain images and text. There is one typeface that must be used. You’re allowed to arrange these elements creatively. When it’s finished it must be submitted to somebody else for approval. Basically they only need relevant dates, times and venue added to some pictures.
They aren’t sure which dates, they’ll let you know soon. Somebody else asks in a group chat if the poster is ready yet. You say it only needs the date information then it’ll be finished.
Somebody asks when will the poster be finished. You remind them that you need the info to finish it. They say they’ll get back to you.
Somebody else’s husband has offered to help as you’re taking too long. You send them the artwork. They ask somebody to ask you to send them the artwork. You remind them that you’ve already sent it and it could have been completed if you’d had the dates to add. Somebody else asks for the artwork. Three times. She claims not to have received it but strangely the resulting poster has an identical layout to the one you made.
Somebody else gets lots of praise for the poster after her husband has added the dates and times.
Pastel, tinted graphite and carbon, 102 X 70cm
Lino block (68 x 45cm) while being cut; then inked with linseed oil ink and printed onto linen. It needs more pressure, but the prints on japanese paper were ok.
Nearly 40 years ago I was asked to make a painting of an owl with a recently caught mouse. I’m not keen on animals, neither for eating nor for painting. Maybe that’s why I have delayed this picture for so long, I don’t like painting.
Anyway, this is how far it’s gone. Tinted graphite pencils on paper, 27 x 38cm.
Today I was cutting the little circles above the moons and below ‘rhaid deall’. All going well, it took most of an Archive Hour on the radio. Then, of course, there’s always a critic who has to sniff around the entire block.
I knit while thinking about the next drawing, print or plot twist. A photograph of some cabled hats has adjusted their colours. In the real world the dark green is similar to ivy leaves, and the wool doesn’t look as worn. The purple is less bright. As for the other one, I experimented with the cabling, which was much easier than following a pattern. Where was I ..? It’s not that pale, sort of sage. When I complain about the lack of green in the wool shop there’s a lot of discussion of shades of snot and phlegm…
berry daines 