The dragonfly pond

This is our "Dragonfly Pond" - it has a chainsaw sculpture of a dragonfly in the plants around the shallow pond; but also it is a breeding place for at least three species of dragonfly. This morning I was inspecting the area where the hens had redesigned the pond edge and was considering what needed to be done to clear some of the vegetation, when I spotted an adult dragonfly emerging from its nymphal cast. In summer we often find the empty casts on the iris leaves and sometimes see newly emerged dragonflies resting in the sunshine - but we have rarely witnessed one actually emerging. I ran back to the studio for my camera and stepped carefully on the rocks dividing the shallow pond from the deeper section, it was then I saw not just one but three dragonflies all just emerging! Their wings were still folded together above the body and the bodies looked pale and delicate.


I returned a few hours later, one of the dragonflies had opened its transparent wings which were quivering slightly and the colour of the body was darker. I think this is a female Southern Hawker dragonfly (but I'm not an expert - so please correct me if I've got that wrong).

Thank you for visiting – Cambridge Open Studios 2007 : weekend 3

The studio seems very quiet this morning - I really enjoyed meeting everyone who visited, and I always learn things from the observations about my work. A few years ago a friend from the village who is a fashion designer pointed out little shapes and repeating patterns which recur in my prints, paintings and sketches. This year another neighbour (and hen-keeping enthusiast) observed that the background pattern in the Buff Orpington Hen print was a negative image of the background pattern plate used in the mix-n-match mini-prints – I really hadn't noticed! But I'm delighted, the little framed prints make perfect companions to the Buff Orpington Hen.


I sketched two more of our Maran hens for mini-prints, drawing directly onto a small block is great fun and the block is soon cut. I'm looking forward to adding to the series. All the new prints will soon be on the Gallery page of my web site and unframed prints can be ordered by post.

Mix-n-match mini-prints - part 2

Last weekend I started work on a set of small blocks to use for trying out various inking techniques. Yesterday I printed three versions of the Maran Coucou hen block: the first version uses the hen block on its own with dark grey, pale pink and red ink applied with a sponge and small brushes. Here is the result . . .



For the second version I inked the patterned block and then masked out the area under the hen. The hen block is then printed over the pattern. The third version has a lightly printed background of mottled light grey under the pattern - this gives softer grey tones under the dark grey of the hen. And there's just time to frame some of the prints before my studio opens at 11am.

Pink and orange and yellow and red – I can grow a rainbow . . .

If you want to add some vibrant colour to your garden grow some Rainbow Chard - and it tastes good too! I couldn't resist picking some to add to a risottto last night, although they will grow a lot bigger if I wait for a few weeks. They are two vegetables in one: cut the green leaf off the central coloured stalk and chop and use like spinach; cut the stalk up and cook as you would asparagus. Combine the leaves and stalks in the same dish - a quiche, pasta, risotto - and you get the full chard experience.

Cranberry beans and red gooseberries

Yesterday was very unusual - it wasn't raining and I had time to do some gardening. Over the past month or so the heavy rain storms have transformed the well-ordered plot into a jungle of plants that have gone to seed and weeds.

I discovered that the dwarf french beans Vermont Cranberry were ready for picking. This was one of my selected vegetables from the Heritage Seed Library catalogue - nine plants grew from the ten beautiful cranberry red cream flecked beans. Why do I select a particular variety? I like unusual coloured varieties; unusual names; and vegetables with an interesting history. Vermont Cranberry is an American heirloom bean form New England, dating back to 1876. I just noticed that the HSL catalogue mentions "very attractive red flowers" but the flowers on my plants were cream!?


Now for the taste test, looks and a good story are all very well but I won't save the seed for next year if it's not worth it's place on the plate! The green beans were difficult to spot among the leaves, so I was surprised how many I picked and some looked as though they may be too mature for eating as green beans, but the cooked beans were very tender and a gorgeous emerald green colour - top marks. The catalogue claims "a unique sweet taste" and I agree, not a normal green bean flavour - more delicate and sweeter. Definitely one to save seed from. I dressed the cooked beans with a little cold-pressed rape-seed oil and chopped savoury and black pepper - delicious!



We've two varieties of gooseberry in the garden, Invicta - a green cooking gooseberry which has a slight mildew resistance; and Whinhams Industry - a red dessert gooseberry which in previous years has suffered so badly with mildew that we have considered digging it up. I chose it because the fruit was burgundy red; it has a great name; and I'd never grown dessert gooseberries before. Well this year we've had some pretty unseasonal weather which has taken it's toll of the crops (onions and potatoes especially) but the soft fruit has been magnificent - strawberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, green gooseberries, and now the red dessert gooseberries! What fantastic looking berries and they taste like gooseberry slightly sweetened with honey, like a ripe kiwi-fruit in tartness - Whinhams Industry has earned its place in the garden at last.

Mix-n-match mini-prints - part 1

Here's another good outcome of the studio tidy-up - I found lots of small off-cuts of lino and decided that I should use them for some experiments on a small scale, and they would be perfect to have as "work in progress" over the Cambridge Open Studios weekends. I usually plan a print in detail before I start cutting, with the mini-prints I would try out various techniques I'd gleaned from looking at other printmakers work.

I chose two pieces of lino and cut them to exactly the same size 10 x 13cm. On one block I cut little lens or leaf shapes - subconsciously this shape recurs over and over in my pictures, it seems to have become my signature. Between the little "leaves" I cut swirling lines like the brush marks in a sky painted by Van Gogh.


I printed the plain block in a pale grey, dabbing the ink onto the block with a sponge (it was too close to opening time on Sunday to get out the sheet of glass and roller, besides it was only a tiny block). I pressed the paper onto the block using the palm of my hand. The result was a texture like lichen on old stonework.

I inked the patterned block with pale green and positioned the block exactly over the now dry grey mottled background. This time I pressed the paper against the block with the baren - to achieve a more definite impression. And here's the result . . .


On an even smaller lino block I did a little pencil sketch of one of our Maran Cocou hens who was standing by the studio door. I don't usually sketch straight onto the block as the result will be a mirror image and I like to visualize how the finished print will look. It was fun to start cutting the 'hen' block before I had any real plans for how I'm going to use it - but there are lots of possibilities. These are the start of my mix-n-match mini-prints series.

Open to visitors – Cambridge Open Studios 2007 : weekend 2

11 o'clock Saturday morning and I was ready to display the Cambridge Open Studios' yellow flag and open my studio door to visitors. There's a school of thought that says artists taking part in "open studios" shouldn't tidy their workspace as it gives a false impression to visitors – but I like to display my work well, so I did give the studio a spring clean. Not just for visitors - I like it tidied up - the fact the studio was to be open to the public was the catalyst which made me get down to sorting things out.

So for all of you who can't get along to the open days, here is my desk where I cut the blocks and do the printing.


And this is my giant plan chest for storing paper and finished prints, on the top is my toolbox, inks. Also displayed on the plan chest are sketchbooks, working drawings and trial prints.


The pictures on the walls are two ink paintings of coleus seedlings: Variegations 1 and 2; and a selection of watercolour sketches and photographs of the Western Isles from our holiday last September - beaches on the west coast of South and North Uist, studies of colours and textures. I am pleased that they are now on display - I'm sure having them on view will inspire some new work. Tidying up is not just for the benefit of visitors - it is good for the creative process too.

Artists and their studios – Cambridge Open Studios 2007 : weekend 1

Cambridge Open Sudios 2007 is now underway - there are studios open during 4 weekends in July. As my studio isn't open until this Saturday, I took the opportunity to visit other artists' studios. As well as seeing the finished work and the all the working sketches, tools and materials, I find it fascinating to see the buildings where people have their work space. On Sunday I visited a stunning modern artists house/studio, a collection of studios in a warren like building tucked away from "tourist-Cambridge", a redundant church at the end of a shady lane off one of the city's busiest roads, a little gallery in a village high street and a wooden summer house in a garden overlooking cornfields.

My studio was once a Victorian billiard hall, a retreat for the men while the ladies chatted and drank tea. The hall is now divided into smaller rooms, and the glazed porch which overlooked the croquet lawn is now a little corridor behind by studio - I've hung the walls with digital illustrations from the series of GCSE History books I have been working on. There were so many pictures I thought this way of displaying them will show visitors the quantity and diversity of images. A check through my job-sheets confirmed there were 367 pictures which had taken 600 hours work.

Summer evenings in the garden

At last we've got some summer weather, warm enough to eat dinner outside in the garden and afterwards to spend some time tidying up the tangled vegetation after the recent storms. The hens are allowed to venture through the green gate in the wall and spend the evening in the vegetable garden and under the fruit trees. There aren't any young seedlings to peck and there are plenty of slugs and bugs to eat. They are in hen-heaven!



Ruby has discovered blackcurrants and picked lots for her supper! She also discovered the patch of sorrel and called the others to join her - they shredded the leaves in a frenzy of pecking. Blackcurrants and sorrel converted into eggs!



The french beans and courgettes will soon be ready to pick. These beans are a dwarf french bean from the Heritage Seed Library called Vermont Cranberry from New England. The dried beans were beautiful - cranberry red with cream flecks. I'll sample some of the green beans soon to see if they are a good variety to save seed from for a larger crop next year.



I grow the Green Bush courgettes on little mounds of soil surrounded with large stones, this makes it easy to water the plant in dry weather (not something I've had to do lately!) The leaves are splashed with silver patterns which shine in the sun. I'll have to keep a check on those little courgettes - in a week they'll be marrows!

The studio assistants

Cats are the perfect artist's pet. They don't demand attention or walkies and they are perfect for lightening the mood when deadlines and artist's block are making the studio atmosphere tense. My studio assistants are Chester and Chloe, brother and sister and like chalk and cheese in character.



Chester is a gorgeous ginger boy with amber eyes and the most whiskery whiskers I've ever seen on a cat. The observant among you will have noticed that Chester's tail is not all that a cat's tail should be, and thereby hangs a tale...
A month ago Chester had some territorial disputes with a neighbourhood cat and the result was some very nasty bites on his tail, the vet was consulted and in order to save his tail the end was amputated. His uniquely sculpted tail is pretty stylish I think!



His brindled sister Chloe is more of a gardener's assistant, but she does make an appearance in the studio now and again... to announce that it is raining and to demonstrate how wet her paws are, or to remind me that it's time for supper!

Peas from purple pods

Last night I picked some of the Purple Podded Peas - the pods were plump and had a beautiful texture like expensive Italian leather. Inside the peas were tightly packed in a neat row, as the pod is split the peas remain on alternate sides of the pod - neat! I cooked the shelled peas with some pasta to go with a tomato and lamb sauce, they had a soft sweet flavour. The young purple pods picked as mange tout may look cool but to be honest they are a tad stringy (not a good attribute for a mange tout), as mature peas these definitely make the grade. I'll pick a few more to cook, but I'll make sure I save lots to dry to plant next year.

Making an impression

The paper is positioned carefully over the inked block, making sure the block will print precisely over the painted backgound. I then use a baren to rub the surface of the paper against the inked block, this is done with a firm pressure but carefully so the paper remains exactly in position.



... And then it's time to peel the paper off the block - it one confident movement so there is no smudging. I make a note of the order the prints are made so I can keep them in the same order when writing the edition numbers on them, and leave them to dry.

The stickiness of the ink

I apply the ink to the cut lino block with a roller - the ink is rolled onto a sheet of glass to load the roller and to judge its stickiness. This is so hard to describe in words, but I judge whether the stickiness is just right by the sound that the roller makes as it rolls across the inked glass; and the friction between roller and the glass.

The ink is then rolled evenly on the block. Too dry and it won't cover the surface evenly and will be patchy when transferred to the paper; too wet and it will ooze into the carved lines on the block and squash out when pessed onto the paper making the lines unclear.

Spring green

For the "Garden" series of linocuts I am printing the block onto hand-painted backgrounds. I use a wide flat brush and acrylyc paints mixed with an iridescent medium, which gives the paint a pearly sheen. I mix various shades of green and use the brush to blend them on the paper - all the backgrounds are slightly different.

Watching me watching you

Just outside our kitchen window is a large patio table - the hens have decided that this is the perfect place to sit and watch me prepare dinner (for us, not them!). But they know that soon someone will go out to get them some mixed corn for supper.

Art on show in Newmarket

This morning I was in Newmarket delivering some of my limited edition prints for displays promoting Cambridge Open Studios 2007. Newmarket is a lovely market town and well worth a visit whether you like horseracing or not; it has a unique character - there aren't many places with special horse lanes on the footpaths! The "Memories of Japan" print series will be on display in Scribbles - the lovely pottery painting shop in Park Lane. A selection of unframed prints as well as framed "Pasque Flower" prints are displayed in the Tourist Information shop at Palace House - the beautifully restored 17th house that was the Newmarket home of horseracing-mad King Charles II.

Cutting the block

I'm in the process of cutting the block for the new linocut "Spring Garden". I based the design on the sketch shown on the June 5th posting, working over a scan of the sketch using Photoshop. The design was then transferred to the lino block - a mirror image of the final print. Now I am cutting away the areas I don't want to ink. There's only one chance to get this right, mistakes will have to be adapted, so it takes concentration. It's very calming and methodical, the pleasure is in using particular cutting tools to make just the right sort of cut in the block - you get to know exactly which tool to use to suit the mark you want to make. The original sketch takes on a new character, becuase the lines are now made of cut marks they have a uniformity. The next stage, inking and printing the block, will add a further dimension - the texture of the ink pressed onto the paper. More of that later...

The Village Fete

The grand tradition of the Village Fete, in a country with changeable and increasingly extreme weather, must seem bizaare to anyone living in a country with guaranteed summer sunshine. But with true grit and faith (and a borrowed marquee and giant gazebo) we knew it would be alright on the day. With an hour to go to opening the heavens opened and accompanied by thunder and lightning the road outside the Fete venue disappeared under muddy water!



Undeterred the Fete opened on time, the sun came out and we all had a grand time: cream teas, bottle stall, bowls, hoopla, brass bands - all the usual Village Fete stuff that happens every Saturday afternoon in villages up and down the country. We had mud too, but not on the scale of Glastonbury. Our Plant Stall looked fantastic and made £167 for the local church. Of course you have to buy things as well as sell them - so I've come home with lots of plants including an orchid and a tree peony seedling.

Cambridge Open Studios 2007 - Launch Exhibition

Lots of shiny cars accompany the artwork on display at this year's Open Studios Launch Exhibition. It's at the very stylish Jaguar Showroom (opposite Cambridge Airport) and is open all this weekend. So if you're near Cambridge and you need a wet-weather plan, please go along to see a selection of work by artists taking part in Cambridge Open Studios 2007. Visitors will also be able to watch demonstrations by artists on Saturday 23 June:
11 am - 12 noon Elisa Quevedo (textile artist)
Claire McGinley (painter)
2 - 3 pm Geoff Thwaites (glass engraver)
Mishtu Austin (batik painter)

The plot thickens

After last nights storms, this morning seems especially bright and clear - maybe the heavy rain has cleaned the air. No damage in the vegetable plot, just everything refreshed and growing vigorously. Runner beans about to climb up the giant "Bean Arch", courgettes in circles on stones, mange touts, mixed Italian salad leaves, florence fennel, edible chrysanthemums, lettuces, borage, vines, potatoes, artichokes, cardoons: a cornucopia of vegetables.

The artichokes looked particularly statuesque in the early morning sunlight. These are the best I've grown and I'm looking forward to sampling them tonight.

Picking Purple Podded Peas

Tonight I picked pods from the Purple Podded Peas and also from the Reuzensuiker mangetout - they looked almost too good to cook. But cooked quickly in a pan with bacon and mushrooms with a big spoonful of creme fraiche they made a great pasta sauce - and the purple pods stayed purple!

A river runs through it

Last night we walked along the River Cam just to the north of Cambridge to watch the May Bumps. For those of you not familiar with this annual Cambridge river ritual, these are kind of tag boat races. On the other side of town the river flows out through Granchester Meadows, and this was the inspiration for a large sketch from memory of all the things I'd seen on a hot Sunday afternoon punting on the river. This print is based on part of the sketch - ducks among the water-lilies.

Variations

Early this morning I took photos of the different pea plants in the garden. The flowers above are (from right to left) Purple Podded; Reuzensuiker; Carouby de Mausanne. Beautiful flowers with subtle vein patterning and delicate petals - worth growing for these alone - but with the bonus of delicious pods to follow. (If you click on the photo you'll get an enlarged version.)


Here they are - little Purple Podded Peas. They need to get a little bigger, then they can be added to a stir fry and hopefully they will keep some of their beautiful colour.


And a surprise - a Golden Podded Pea which self-sowed from last year and has appeared among the broad beans. This was another vegetable from the Heritage Seed Library, it didn't do well last year and I decided not to save the seed - but it's back! so I'll save some seeds for next year.

Cambridge Open Studios 2007 - pick up the guide!

This year's Open Studio guides are here and being distributed all round the county and beyond. Find an artist whose work you like and plan your visit; look on the map and find nearby studios and find some surprises.

My studio is number 139 and is open on 14th/15th and 21st/22nd July. If you can't get hold of the guide look on the Cambridge Open Studios website (link on the right).

Strawberries + roses = summer

These are not just strawberries - they are freshly picked strawberries from my own garden; long pointy Gariguette with a sharp clean flavour and round, plump, sweet Cambridge Favourite.


The roses are magnificent this year - huge, luscious, lip-stick coloured, heavily scented roses. The oriental poppies are equally vivid, their colours made more dramatic by the black velvet centres. Big blowsey flowers seem to back in fashion - I love the clashing loudness of the intense pinks and reds.


And high above the roses the Purple Podded Peas are flowering - beautiful two-tone purple butterfly-like flowers. As pretty as sweet-peas but with the added bonus of edible purple pods to follow.

Count-down to Cambridge Open Studios 2007

This is the sketch for one of my new linocut prints "Spring Garden" - a typical scene in my vegetable garden on a late spring evening. The "Winter Garden" print is the image I chose to be next to my entry in the Cambridge Open Studios 2007 Guide. If you live in and around Cambridge you'll soon see the distinctive long, narrow, yellow guide books listing all the studios and exhibitions that will take place. It also has the contact details and an example of their work of about 250 artists working in all types of media, so it's a great book for browsing through.
The first date in my diary is the Launch Exhibition on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June at the Jaguar Showroom, Marshalls, Newmarket Road, Cambridge. This is a chance to see a selection of work from the artists taking part this year and perhaps make a list of the studios you really want to visit to see more.
My own studio will be open on 14th & 15th July and 21st & 22nd July as well as seeing all the paraphernalia that an artist accumulates, there will be limited edition prints (framed and unframed) and cards for sale. Click on the Cambridge Open Studios link on the right to find more information about all events and location maps.

Rays of sunshine after the storms

Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius) or Oyster Plant is one of those veg that is interesting to grow but a bit of a disappointment - the edible roots have a delicate flavour but are not that interesting and I think they are fiddly to prepare. But what most cook books don't mention is that the flower buds are delicious in stir fries, the flowers are beautiful and the seed heads are amazing giant "dandelion clocks". So now I have self-seeded plants all around the garden and I don't bother about harvesting the roots.


Another odd veg that I love to grow is the Tree Onion. Instead of flowers, little tiny onion bulbs develop on the top of the main stalk and sometimes they in turn have tiny bulblets on the top too. The result is a wild green sculpture (the little onion bulbs can be broken off and scattered in salads - they have quite a kick!)


And here are the Purple Podded Peas, this year they have pride of place in the rose bed climbing up new metal obelisks. They are looking really healthy and I'm looking forward to the mauve and purple flowers and then the purple pods.