Well here it is, mostly finished! I came back from town today to find that Warren, our builder, had kindly helped dearest husband to move my etching press from its exile in the garden store back to its rightful place in the studio. I gave it a celebratory spray with a restorative rust remover (fortunately the rollers are fine but everything else has been affected by the moist, salt-laden sea air) and will clean it off tomorrow.
I have not one but two tables (Ikea in the UK from years back: trestles with a laminated beech wood top, so strong and height-adjustable) around which I can walk and work, AND carpet, AND my lovely chair to sit on (Sara sighs a happy sigh! ).
Observant printmakers may have noticed the mezzotint plate lurking on one of the tables... yes folks, it's printmaking for masochists, but there's nothing equal to the velvety blackness of a well-rocked mezzotint plate or the subtlety of the shadows it produces and I wanted to try thunder clouds and lightning and it seemed a good idea at the time! 4 hours in and my biceps are swelling... Luckily my trusty mini hi-fi system is still working after 10 years and a lot of time in a box so I am listening to Philip Pullman's quartet The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North , The Tiger in the Well and The Tin Princess which must be at least 30 hours of listening so I've got a fair way to go before I'm bored.
It's wonderful to get stuck into some work! On the to-do list at the moment: getting to grips with the secret Belgian binding and the making of a new line of sketchbooks, of which more anon; a commission for darling daughter's school; Italian prints; finishing the St Mark's Square horse collagraph; and some monotypes. Did I also mention that I've got a big show next year and some work for BookArtObject to do? I'm going to have fun.
8 comments:
Looks lovely Sara! How exciting! And at least you've got an efficient set up to help you get ALL THAT WORK done!
I'm really looking forward to seeing the mezzotint develop - I've never seen one being done before, only the final result.
There will be no stopping you now. I'm really looking forward to seeing that horse collagraph materialise. Lesley
phworrrrrr!
(I'd write more but you've tired me out just imagining it all!)
Congratulations on getting in, setting up and launching yourself straight back into work. And what a workload! Studio looks just fabulous.
looks beautiful hope you many many hours days weeks of happy making.
Sara it looks fantastic. You lucky girl.
Looking fabulous - and just about ripe for a mess to be made in it, and for every surface to be covered in works in progress! Enjoy making friends with your new space.
Such a great space. How lovely to have a real live studio.
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