The PRINTING bug !

Hi Everyone
It's a lovely morning - the sun is shining and I'm breakfasting on the deck. Absolutely calming - I can hear a trickle going on from a water feature and the birds are singing.

The Make Art Monday word for this week is DREAM - quite a co incidence when you hear of my news. My piece this week will be based on a print I created on Saturday. I had the most wonderful experience (almost a DREAM) at a local art centre on Saturday. My lovely husband bought me a print course for my last birthday (way back in March) and it happened on Saturday. I was very excited about the course but also a little apprehensive I didnt quite know what to expect ? Ive dabbled with various printing techniques since my school days but this was proper press printing ! - way out of my comfort zone.
Wow ! I had a great time. The class was small (only 4 students in total) so we got lots of teacher time. I learned loads of things which has given me even more ideas and inspiration. The other folks on the course were great too and the whole day was a lovely gift. Here is one of the pieces I created :






I crammed lots of techniques into the one piece in about 8-10 print layers using different colours each time. The designs I produced lack any kind of structure or balance and I found myself very frustrated at times but I will remember the day for a long time as a really successful day. I'm already planning to do another printing course.
However, my gift didn't stop there ! - on returning home, gushing about my lovely day, a small A4 printing press (sort of) was presented. It was the central roller bit and needed a platform/table (completed on Sunday) as well as a few more bits to make it work as a printing press but I'm convinced it will do the job. I also need about £150 worth of inks, paper, rollers, plates etc. but I'm super excited about this. I can't wait to get going and experiment. What a fantastic few days. I'm still buzzing.

Back to reality, I have some volunteer work planned for today and my house needs a clean. We have very little fresh food in the house and a laundry room full of washing. All this is not getting to me and Ive an extra spring in my step. I can doing anything and everything today.

On a practical note, I need to make some earrings too - a new commission for posting on Wed. - the printing will need to wait for another few days.

Thanks for reading.