Postcard prints for charity

I am participating in the Instagram #oneofmanypostcard project which was initiated by printmaker @johnpedder.  Artists offer small pieces of art for free and, when it arrives, the recipient then donates what they think it is worth, or an amount they can afford, to a good cause of their choice - no need to declare to whom or how much.

I believe this initiative has been running for a couple of years or more, but I have only recently found out about it.  My contribution is 6 collaged lino prints which are mounted on watercolour postcards.

Drawing Attention

I haven't posted anything recently as it has been Christmas card production time.  I started off with a collage idea, but then thought a lino print would be better - another re-think and the lino print was cut up and added to a smaller collage.  All will be revealed nearer the day!

Meanwhile, the latest issue of the Urban Sketchers e-zine has just been sent out.

Another quirky postcard collage

I have started to over-think these postcard collages instead of quickly just grabbing what comes to hand - not necessarily a good idea.  

Handprinted tissue, mulberry and cartridge paper,
acrylic, gel pens and machine stitch
 (Hahnemeuhle watercolour postcard 6" x 4")

Collaged postcards

Since I finished my collage journal last month I have missed the playfulness of cutting, tearing and sticking random oddments of painted papers.  I have a box of Hahnemuehle watercolour postcards which I have only used on a couple of occasions and the size of these appealed to me as a substrate for further paste and paper experiments.  I also added machine stitching for more texture and interest.

6" x 4" Hahnemeuhle watercolour postcards

Ink, acrylic, paste paper, lino print, stencilled
texture paste, gel pens and machine stitch

Ink, acrylic, gesso, lino print, foam stamps,
gel pens and machine stitch

Paper and stitch

Recently I have been following three interesting challenges organised by TextileArtist.org.

I didn't get round to producing anything following the first two demos by Sue Stone and Merill Comeau, as inspiring as they were, but I couldn't resist having a go at Jennifer Collier's "cathedral window" quilt block made with paper.

The finished block measures 2.5" - envelope paper

with painted paper insert and flower

 A little bit fiddly as the envelope paper is reasonably sturdy, so a bit more practice needed I think.  Several of these blocks can be stitched together to form a larger work.  However, I decided this one was just the right size to attach to an A6 card. 

Christmas greetings

 I'm a bit late with my online greetings this year, but here's my effort for 2020.

Soft cut block (approx. 4.5" x 4"

Hahnemuhle bamboo paper background painted with fluid acrylics, plus
shimmering blue acrylic, overprinted using white gesso.
Additional details in gold, silver and blue gel pens.
Paper bow and fabric ribbon.

The printed baubles were cut out and glued to A6 cards.

I had thought I wouldn't be sending out as many cards this year, but I ran out of my handprinted version so used my design drawing to print extras on the computer, again adding metallic gel pens for a bit of sparkle.

Christmas cards

 

Just a sneak preview from the Christmas card production line!

Hungarian Map Fold

I'm not sure how much this differs from the Turkish map fold, but for some time I've been meaning to design an image that would fit the structure.

I had intended to do a lino cut, but in the end opted to scan my drawing and and print it on the computer, that way I hoped there would be less chance of misalignment.

Printed on cream paper with added accents of gold gel pen,
attached to a brown card blank

For the second one, I left one quadrant blank for a handwritten message.
Embellished with coloured and gold gel pens.  

I also added a close fitting cover and band utilising
one of my hand-painted papers
Closed size 3" x 4.5"

Care Mail and handmade books

Our local council is asking for notes or cards which can be forwarded to care home residents to help cheer them up during this lengthy period of isolation.

As well as some of my printed cards, I am sending a couple of artists' booklets.

This one is a little wild - a while ago, I had the urge to completely fill an A3 sheet of black paper with my handmade floral foam stamps, then wasn't sure what to do with it.  Hopefully it will brighten someone's day.

Cover - 4" x 6"

Gesso, acrylic and metallic ink

The other was a prototype for my garden pop-up book (final version here) - this just needed some coloured pencil added to the pen illustrations to finish it off.

You can find my cutting guide for the booklet in this post.

3" x 5" folded from one sheet of A4 paper

Another paper cast

Another card using a painted paper cast from my last lino cut.  An optical illusion, the scan makes it look as if the print has been impressed into the card base whereas, in fact,  the paper cast is quite chunky and is glued to the card.  I think I used about 8 layers of tissue on this one, perhaps a bit over-kill for a card.

Paper cast on A6 card, painted with gesso,
fluid acrylic, Inktense pencils and gel pen

Sketches and linocut lilies

It is lovely to receive a bouquet of flowers, even better when I have time to really concentrate on their colour and form by making pen or pencil and watercolour studies of them.  I file any usable sketches in ring binders so I can refer to them, sometimes years later, for reference or inspiration.

These sketches gave rise to more considered work in acrylic, watercolour, collage and lino print; with the latter I experimented further by printing on different painted backgrounds.

The flower petals were lightened with white acrylic,
with gold gel pen accentuating the stamens

A fine liner pen and silver gel pen were used on this print

A couple of early proof prints in my "Experiments" Moleskine -
on the left using fluid acrylic which wasn't successful as a printing medium;
on the right,  gouache and gum arabic print, collaged over a black gesso background

The Art of the Fold - Crown Card

The Crafting Handmade Books challenge for this month was both the Crown Book and the Crown Card.  To make a reasonably sized book you need fairly lengthy strips of paper, so I have given that one a miss for the moment and concentrated on the greeting card.  I utilised a page from an old atlas for the outer folds and a small sheet of scrap-book paper on which to write my message and add some postage stamps.  It seemed like an appropriate "bon voyage" card for someone heading halfway round the world.

Closed dimension approx. 3" x 8"

Red poppy book

I made this fold book a couple of weeks ago.  I like the colours, I don't often use this red, my painted papers usually veer towards magenta or pink, but this red and gold seem to go well together.

I haven't decided on a recipient for this one yet and have just added a general greeting message inside for the moment - I might keep it in my sample box.

Hand-printed paper -finished size approx 4" x 5"

Personalised greetings can be inserted
in the inside pockets

More folded pocket books

I don't think I have posted these two recent fold books.

The paper for this is similar to a previous one, but I varied the flower shapes -
a card for someone who loves purple and silver

The paper was randomly covered with yellow, orange and mauve acrylics,
 foam stamped with white gesso and gold acrylic splatter added.
The flowers here are made from teabag paper

Avoidance tactics

One of my "go-to" tasks when I don't want to do anything too serious!

An experimental piece on watercolour paper from way back - random washes of watercolour, gesso background print (which is not really visible, but provides a nice texture), then a wash of gold acrylic ink.  The mauve daisy is a collaged lino print on tissue; the foreground daisy, using the same lino cut, is a paper cast.  Add some stems, cut to size, perfect for a birthday card!

Card size 4" x 6"

Christmas Greetings

Wishing you all a Joyful Christmas and a Peaceful New Year

Lino print on book page, coloured with Inktense pencils, gel pens and
silver acrylic ink.
Christmas Greetings - computer print over ink sponged paper

This is not quite how my card for this year was envisioned.  My plan was for a simple rectangular lino print, using thin paper which could then be adhered to an A6 card.

I made the mistake of not leaving enough of a border on the lino block which meant it didn't ink up cleanly and I wasn't really happy with the design either.  Rather than start again, I decided to use just the image of the bird and bauble, so I cut away most of the lino background and printed onto book pages. It would have been nice to have either some Christmassy text or sheet music of carols, but I made do with what I had on hand.

Lots of hand colouring, cutting and collaging.  I think I made just under 30 in total.

First attempt - lino block and print

Hahnemuhle watercolour postcards

At the end of last year, Hahnemuehle sent me a tin of their watercolour postcards (30 size approx. 6" x 4").

I always have trouble finding suitable birthday cards for male relatives, but for my brother-in-law this year I used one of these postcards and popped it in with his gift.  On a recent visit to their cottage in the wilds of Wales I had taken a photograph of his prized Massey Ferguson tractor - an ideal subject for his birthday greeting.

Pen and watercolour -
 (birthday greetings were added later in the top lefthand corner)

Printing experiments

I have been printing a couple more fold books for birthday greetings (similar to this one).

I had some leftover gesso to use up and experimented with combining it with some Caran d'Ache Neocolour II water soluble crayons.

The gesso was already tinted a creamy orange.  First of all I coated my foam stamp with gesso then quickly scrubbed over crayons in reds and purple.  The result was a bit patchy, so I tried lightly dampening the stamp, adding the crayons, then gently adding the gesso over the top.  The latter method seemed to result in a better impression, but a bit more experimentation is needed.  I could have used just the crayons, but the addition of gesso sets the image should I need to work over it with other media.

Hahnemuhle surprise parcel!

An early Christmas present from Hahnemuhle - certainly a lovely surprise!

My package contained a tin of 30 watercolour postcards (approx 4" x 6"),  a Faber-Castell water brush and watercolour pencil with extra thick lead, all with a nice hand-written note from the Hahnemuhle team.

All wrapped up in red tissue within a red bag

The water brush is only 5" long, which makes it a useful addition to a small pencil case for outdoor sketching.  In addition, the cap is designed with an angular edge which can be used to scrape lines into damp paint - very neat.

Testing out the water brush cap on some watercolour swatches

Print workshop

At our local art group meeting last night, six of us set up tables around the hall with materials and examples of our individual printing techniques, with colleagues able to browse, watch mini demonstrations and ask questions.  We had lino printing, gelli printing for collage, Japanese woodblock, pastel painting with handcut stencils, inkjet and laser print transfers. It was a very successful and interesting evening, but unfortunately I was so busy with my display, in addition to trying to get a quick glimpse of what everyone else was doing, I completely forgot to take photos for our website write up.  I am hoping those participating will send me some notes and photos so I can rectify the matter. (Additional notes and images have been added here.)

My set-up included lino and Softcut, as well as handmade foam stamps, paste grain papers, printed tissue, mulberry and drawing paper which I use for cards, artists books and collage.

Sample papers, printing blocks and tools

Booklets and cards using handmade printed papers