Studio blog: Inktober 2025 days 15 to 21
It’s been a quieter week, this week, with a lot more sketches drawn at home and just one trip out after dropping off workshop materials. You can read more about this year’s project here.
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Studio blog: Inktober 2025 days 8 to 14
Week two of Inktober 2025. You can read more about the project in my earlier blog post. This week’s sketches include the views after three workshops, plus views around the house and garden and whilst out visiting.
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Student showcase: Sketch and stroll at Breathing Space
Last Thursday I was back at Breathing Space in Witton Gilbert to run a ‘sketch and stroll’ workshop. The workshop was designed specifically for beginners and for those who say they ‘can’t draw’! Thankfully, although it was a bit breezy, the weather did behave itself and we even had some sunshine. We started off with a few…
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Studio blog: Inktober 2025 days 1 to 7
I am currently taking part in the annual Inktober challenge, where participants are encouraged to create a sketch using ink every day during October. There are ‘official’ prompts given out by the organisers if you are stuck for ideas, but, as usual, I have decided to go my own way and concentrate on what I would…
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Student showcase: metal embossed hearts at the Land of Oak and Iron Heritage Centre
Ten incredible metal embossed hearts were made on my workshop at the Land of Oak and Iron Heritage Centre on Saturday. Once we’d gone over the tools and materials and had made a practice piece, everyone designed their own hearts and then got embossing. Plenty of colour was added at the end and you can…
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Student showcase: private Celtic knotwork workshops
Over the last few weeks I’ve taught two private workshops on Celtic knotwork drawing. One class was for a lady who had already completed a beginner’s class with me and who wanted to learn some more skills, and the other for two ladies who were complete beginners. Both classes created beautiful results, with lots of…
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Student showcase: introduction to lino printing workshop
From complete beginners to fabulous lino printers in just one day. I had a great day teaching a mum and daughter how to carve and print lino in my studio today. They came for a private workshop to celebrate a birthday. We started right from the very beginning, going over tools and materials, then…
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Student showcase: autumn leaves chine collé lino prints in Annfield Plain
I spent another lovely afternoon with a local art group, taking them on their next step in their lino printing journey. Earlier in the year I showed them how to do simple lino printing and some gradient printing, and today we moved on to chine collé lino printing, using collage to create colour. Lots of…
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Student showcase: autumnal lino printed tote bags at Breathing Space
I had a great day back at Breathing Space in Witton Gilbert yesterday, showing everyone how to make lino printed tote bags. Everyone carved out their own lino block and then we got printing with fabric inks. Using sponges to apply the inks to the lino blocks rather than a brayer, meant that variegated, autumnal…
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How to do chine collé lino printing without a press
If you’ve already done some simple one colour lino printing, and would now like to experiment with adding more colour, why not try the chine collé technique? It’s really simple to do and can easily be done without a press. In this less-than-3-minute video, I show you how. Let me know how you get on!
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Studio blog: plein air workshop in Durham with Toby Sketch Loose
I had a fabulous day out in Durham a couple of weeks ago, plein air / urban sketching on a workshop run by artist Toby Haseler, aka Toby Sketch Loose, and a lovely group of fellow sketchers. I always love to learn from other artists, and when I found out Toby was coming up to Durham…
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Finished artwork: autumnal sycamore leaves – chine collé lino prints
A series of autumnal lino prints of a sycamore leaf found in my garden. They are printed using the chine collé technique, where collage paper is used to create the background colour. I also created the collage papers using a mono printing technique. It’s a really lovely technique for adding colour to lino printing, and…
