I can't deny that this year has been hard work so far... but I am slowly getting used to not having a day job and starting to get some energy back. It's been a long time since I had the time or energy to pick up a pen and start drawing out new ideas and designs for
Inkmeup or even to restock some of my old ones.
It was really hard to get back into drawing... it's been 4 months which is the longest I have gone without drawing since I can't remember when. I was struggling last week but finding those
beautiful bird books really helped to inspire me to get to work.
I did have a little hissy fit when, after 2 hours of drawing, I decided I had lost the ability to draw and threw my pens up in the air and went out. When I came home I had a look at what I'd done and realised I had forgotten to step back and have a look at what I had done... and I decided it wasn't so bad and that I should finish it!
I pulled out the gocco and some bulbs and got ready to fire a screen, prepared a load of different papers and inked the screen up... I made my first print and thought that something did not look quite right, his feet were a bit light... I tried again, maybe the ink was a bit gloopy and wasn't going thru properly, but no, something was definitely wrong. I check the bulbs in the machine and realised that one had failed to fire properly. Very calmly, instead of my usual hissy fit cos I'm only allowed one a day, I worked over a few of the fainter lines on the original drawing and got some more bulbs out and made a new screen... this one worked!
Print 2 with feet... print 1 with no feet from misfiring bulb!
I'm really happy with my new snowy owl... very happy indeed! I can't wait to get working on some more new designs, I am thinking of a whole series of different owls since I enjoy drawing them so much. I even got some more owlie moley notebooks printed!
I can't deny that this year has been hard work so far... but I am slowly getting used to not having a day job and starting to get some energy back. It's been a long time since I had the time or energy to pick up a pen and start drawing out new ideas and designs for Inkmeup or even to restock some of my old ones.
It was really hard to get back into drawing... it's been 4 months which is the longest I have gone without drawing since I can't remember when. I was struggling last week but finding those beautiful bird books really helped to inspire me to get to work. 
I did have a little hissy fit when, after 2 hours of drawing, I decided I had lost the ability to draw and threw my pens up in the air and went out. When I came home I had a look at what I'd done and realised I had forgotten to step back and have a look at what I had done... and I decided it wasn't so bad and that I should finish it!
I pulled out the gocco and some bulbs and got ready to fire a screen, prepared a load of different papers and inked the screen up... I made my first print and thought that something did not look quite right, his feet were a bit light... I tried again, maybe the ink was a bit gloopy and wasn't going thru properly, but no, something was definitely wrong. I check the bulbs in the machine and realised that one had failed to fire properly. Very calmly, instead of my usual hissy fit cos I'm only allowed one a day, I worked over a few of the fainter lines on the original drawing and got some more bulbs out and made a new screen... this one worked!
Print 2 with feet... print 1 with no feet from misfiring bulb!
That lovely owl looks great!! So happy to hear you are getting the energy & inspiration back!!
ReplyDeleteYour owl is very cool, and I love to see process pictures, printing processes fascinate me!
ReplyDelete