Animal Magic!

The month of May was all about drawing instead of screen printing as I was working on a new series of animal designs for a commission. Naturally some of these characters managed to find their way into my screen prints. I've not printed many animals before and also set myself the challenge of trying new colour combinations. It was harder than I expected so there were quite a few failures before I finally finished this edition of  Run Rabbits Run! prints in bright green, orange and brown. 

Freshly Printed Morning Coffee

Eastern European folk art and Soviet era design are two of the main influences on my drawing and printing. The results of this obsession often get mistaken for a 1970s style which was not my original intention. However for my latest design I have been looking at vintage coffee pots and ceramics for ideas. I like their striking shapes, bold patterns and bright colours, all perfect for inspiration for screen prints. The result is a freshly printed small edition of 'Morning Coffee' screen prints in three colours. They are something cheerful and a bit retro for people who like caffeine but not mornings.

Polish Pisanki Patterns for Spring & Summer

For spring and summer 2015 I wanted to create a series of designs inspired by the patterns of Polish Pisanki eggs. Pisanki are eggs that are decorated to celebrate Easter although it was originally a Pagan tradition. There are several different types of Pisanki and they are usually associated with particular regions of Poland. Methods of decorating the eggs include scratching patterns into the shell, applying colourful paper cut motifs or painting the eggs with wax before dying them. It was these painted wax patterns which inspired my three new card designs.

Screen Printing Workshops 2015

It's only February and I've already run several screen printing workshops this year plus I have more planned for the next few months. At the moment it seems like they have taken over my life especially as there is always so much preparation involved. As well as buying extra materials and equipment I've spent alot of time experimenting with making paper stencils to screen print with. I particularly like using hand cut stencils because they force me to work in a different way from how I usually create images. There is very little drawing involved and it's much more about cutting, printing and layering different colours and shapes. With a bit of perseverance I hope to improve and develop so I can use the technique more for my own work as well as teaching.    

Russian Dolls

Something else I've been screen printing alot of lately is Russian dolls. Each doll is made of 3 screen prints so they take quite a while to print and assemble. 

Screen Printed Cards for Winter

I've added some new bird designs to my card collection for winter. They are inspired by Eastern European design particularly the work of Bulgarian graphic artist Stefan Kanchev. I've also been looking at traditional folk costumes, vintage Russian toys and children's books. The result of this is two more Russian doll cards and I hope I'll find time to do more soon!

Screen Printed Window Display

Last year the Shop at the Old Fire Station in Oxford asked for some of my screen printed decorations for Christmas and I offered to create a window display as well. I spent the first few weeks of November screen printing an entire flock of birds with lots of bronze metallic ink. I also printed orange and gold flowers and some red and gold Russian dolls. Next came several long evenings of folding, sticking, cutting and assembling the decorations ready to install. There were so many birds I was still cutting them out on the train to Oxford. After about 6 hours in the window and 50 metres of nylon thread the display was finished!