Sunday 11 November 2012

Linocuts with Left Handed Lucy in Lancashire

We had a super day at a workshop with Lucy Bishop of lefthandedcrafter and "Woad Butterfly" as our fabulously good tutor in Rochdale, Lancashire.
It was organised for us by Lynn of Doodly Birds and, as Lynn had already been on Lucy's course, she spent most of the day looking after the class, kindly providing us with  tea, coffee, her delicious home made cinnamon swirls and even run to the bakery for some wonderful hot pies for our lunch.
So Thanks to both Lucy and Lynn!

It was far easier to create exciting things with the help of Lucy's expertise than I ever remember when doing linocuts at school. First, I chose to make a sketch of an Olive wood angel figure that I love, then I recreated it to print. I was so excited and pleased with my initial attempt. 
Lucy demonstrated the rudiments of cutting, inking and printing along with the important safety factors, so we didn't lose parts of our fingers. She then expertly guided us through our own endeavours.
She had some super examples for inspiration and a library of books on the subject for us to browse.
I moved on to design and create a quirky dragonfly which I coloured at random
Here's my lino cut and the first magic print.
I love the somewhat imperfect effect when we printed on fabric
The rest of the class were such good company and they all produced some excellent prints.
Carol of carolcsstuff and stampattack cut and printed a super house and a lovely little bird in a cage....
Anna's seed heads, above.

Below,Annette's lovely butterfly made a really effective shopping bag.
Here are Lynn's famous Doodly Birds and the texture panels she made last week.
Barbara made lots of  fabulous gift tags.
Falling leaves on Barbara's Tea Towel
John's classy trees worked so well
John even made a cute little owl

Line up with Lynn, Annette, Carol,Barbara, Jo, Lucy, John
and here with Anna on the left....
I thoroughly enjoyed the day course, one of the best I've been to in ages, and I am really inspired to continue and hopefully increase my skills. Lucy is an excellent teacher and I would recommend her classes if it's something you'd like to learn. Good fun, good results and a most enjoyable day was had by all.
Amazingly FIVE of us were lefthanded... just like Lucy!!

Last, but certainly not least, here is the ATC I made for last month's Vicky Stampers challenge. I waited until the 11th day of the 11th month to post it! We all have someone in our families who should be remembered today so here's my poppy in REMEMBRANCE....
Lest we forget
I stamped the poppy onto vellum, distressed it, then attached it to suitably worded old dictionary print. I must admit that, after the photograph was taken,I did write in the missing letter "r" on the word "remember"! 
I drew this poppy as one of the designs as part of a plate of Japanese stamps for stampattack, a couple of years ago. 


19 comments:

Dotpat said...

Jo that looks brilliant, would love to learn how to do that. You made such a good job too, fab post
Dotx

Angie said...

Wow ....I am so impressed ...that dragon fly is awesome ...and the printing on the bag is beautiful. Sounds as you had a fantastic and fun day ....now you have yet another talent under your belt. xx

Ann B said...

Looks like a fab class Jo and all of the lino cut pieces are beautiful. I love your dragonfly and the colours - perfect.
Now if I had joined in it would have been 6 left-handers as I am kibber as well.
Ann B
xx

mamapez5 said...

What a fun day. I haven't done a lino cut since school (50 years ago!).
I love Annette's butterfly bag and John's trees, and your dragonfly is amazing. It prints so beautifully.
How great to learn something new - well almost new anyway, and good company to share it all with.
Kate x

Redanne said...

Hi Jo, a great post today, so nice to see your lovely work and that of the rest of the team too. All so different but all so lovely. I really do love your angel and dragonfly and Carol did a wonderful job on her house and birdcage too. I love the way it works on fabric too. Really sorry that I could not make it! Crafty hugs, Anne x

Annie said...

I well remember doing lino prints at school Jo and really enjoying it...maybe I should set up with the essentials and have another go? I really love your dragonflies.
Hugs,
A x

Paul B said...

Brilliant! Looks a superb class Jo. Love your Angel stamp. And what a talented class to share the day with. Such fantastic creations from everyone. Pxx

Twiglet said...

Such fantastic results Jo - what a fab course. Your dragonfly design is perfect - I love the randomness of the print - what a stylish shopping bag! x Jo

shazsilverwolf said...

Those are all so cool- your angel is gorgeous! xx

Lynn Holland said...

Brilliant day and a great write up Jo. I will put a link to it on my blog tomorrow
Lynn xx

Sheilagh said...

That looks like an amazing class to take, not a bit like lino cutting I remember in school.

I love your ATC too.

love

Sheilagh xx

Helen said...

Sounds a great day - love all the lino cuts. Your atc is also fabulous.

Julia Dunnit said...

I would say you're a natural for this sort of design and ink up work Jo..love the things you've photographed. How satisfying to have had such a good productive day!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jo, thank you for the brilliant write up of Saturday. It was a great day and everybody created such wonderful work. Your dragonfly bag was one of my favorites. It was lovely to meet you and hopefully stay in touch.
Lucy x

Lynne said...

Jo these are fantastic! Thank you so much for putting so many photos on-line. I love lino-cuts, as you know. Would have really enjoyed this workshop. Lx

Cardarian said...

Loved this post and the dragonfly is fantastic!!!! I want one too!!! You have done very well - actually the whole group has done well!! You must give me more details on Skype some evening when you will have time!
Lots of hugs
Cardarian

Words and Pictures said...

Wow - that's an amazing day's work from all involved! What wonderful linocuts, fabulous creativity, and great end pieces. Thank you so much for your kind words over at Words and Pictures - as always, so much appreciated.
Alison x
(Can't think how I wasn't already a Follower... all fixed now!)

Unknown said...

beautiful linocuts .... I had forgotten how fun those are .... I need to get myself some rubber material and make a big one like the winter scenes in your fourth picture down. Simply beautiful!

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Color me impressed. These linocuts are really gorgeous. I'm inspired to find the material I need to make some of these. Maybe after the first of the year.