It was the second day of a two day collagraph course in the studio today. Among the themes were houses, chrysanthemums, bracken, the Fibonacci sequence and this fantastic fungus! Everyone got stuck into printing straight away and experimented with different ways of working with colour. A very productive day.

The next course in the studio will be a three day course in March, looking at three different approaches to collagraph using relief and intaglio inking.

‘Aberdyfi II’ has gone to a new home.

Printed in three layers using six printing plates made with marram grass collected one wintry New Year from the dunes at Aberdyfi. Had terrible trouble getting the grass to adhere to the plates and during the inking process, some of the grass would come adrift! I applied further colour – water-soluble inks – by brush, to the finished prints.

A few years ago I worked with eleven primary schools in Flintshire and Denbighshire, to create prints reflecting various points along the North Wales Pilgrim’s Way. I converted one print from each school into a design for a rubber stamp. Eleri Jones worked with schools in North West Wales, so that the whole of the route was covered, from Basingwerk Abbey in Greenfield, Flintshire, to Bardsey Island off the coast of Gwynedd. Walkers can stamp their passports as they make their way along the route.

Recently I was asked to translate another of the children’s prints – an image of a harebell - into a stamp design for Llannefydd Church in Conwy and the rubber stamp arrived this week.

www.pilgrims-way-north-wales.org

Well done to all those who came along to one of the two workshops in the studio this month. I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing the great prints that were produced. Yesterday was ‘Cut & collage – creative printmaking’ - relief prints from collage.

Two weeks ago we were using natural objects to make monoprints - feathers, leaves, seed-heads, bracken, etc. - quick and experimental! One participant said the six hours felt like two.

September is a busy month! Artists across North Wales open their studios to the public for the annual Helfa Gelf Art Trail. www.helfagelf.co.uk. It's always interesting to see who comes through the door and I'm appreciative of the effort some people have to make to find my studio! Most come by car in ones, twos, threes and fours. Some come on two wheels, and arrive deliberately or by chance, and occasionally some come on foot. I had five walkers make a detour to my studio the first weekend! Some faces are familiar - always nice to see them again – and others are new. It's interesting to find out what their backgrounds are and their reasons for visiting studios. Some are artists themselves, others are doctors, builders, vets, engineers, landscape gardeners, teachers… these are just some of the different people who made it through the door this Helfa Gelf. Some visitors plan their routes and take in a number of studios each weekend, a few come from some distance – one couple came from Southampton this year – many, of course, are fairly local. It was a successful year from the point of view of sales and workshops bookings, despite being quieter than usual.

I like to have something on the go to demonstrate inking and printing to visitors and this year made quick monoprints from feathers, bamboo, geranium seed-heads and cow parsley. On the last Sunday I sold three of the cow parsley prints I had made that day.

I’ve just completed two days of children’s printmaking workshops at Gladfest, a literary festival held at Gladstone’s Library, Hawarden. www.gladstoneslibrary.org. Gladstone’s Library is unique. A Grade I listed building, it is a residential library founded by William Gladstone, and amongst the 250,000 printed items housed there are 32,000 of his books.

This is the fourth year for this annual festival - and the first time I have been involved. It rained all day yesterday but it didn’t prevent the children from getting stuck into some printing. (We were in a small marquee.) The group of six girls in the afternoon got on together so well! We began with some descriptions of characters from Roald Dahl’s stories - Mrs Twit, the enormous crocodile and the roly-poly bird - which the children drew and turned into collage printing plates.

Today we have been printing letters from a title of one of Roald Dahl’s books and then using the letters to make other phrases. One seven year old boy picked out letters to spell ‘MY TAID’ (grandfather).

The Annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy, ends one week today. I think it is a lively exhibition this year, with a lot of variety. I have three pieces on show, including ‘Messages IV’. This has been included in a selection of RCA members’ work to go the Attic Gallery, Swansea, for an exhibition from 15th October – 12th November 2016. Hoping to get down to visit it at some point.

www.atticgallery.co.uk

I called in to a hotel in Llandudno recently. It was the Escape Boutique B&B, Llandudno, which had a few pieces of my work on display. I needed to collect one piece to take it to another venue and while I was there, the owner drew my attention to the ironwork at the front of the hotel. It was very intricate with some lovely circular motifs and being a fan of circular imagery I said I would make some prints! Today I returned with said prints and left some at the hotel, with the possibility in mind that guests may want to purchase a reminder of their stay at Escape! Sam, the owner, bought a set of five in a frieze for the hotel dining room.

I had a great day in London yesterday! First I went to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and enjoyed looking at the printmaking section in particular. Some fantastic work. Favourites included Hughie O’Donoghue’s carborundum print  ‘Moonlight Marine’; ‘Fagus II’ and ‘Ilex aquifolium’ by Emma Buckmaster & Janet French, etchings on beech leaves and holly leaves respectively; photogravure etchings by Cornelia Parker; and ‘Sanctuary – Spring’, ‘Sanctuary – Autumn’ and ‘Sanctuary – Winter’, three pieces of work in etching and collagraph by Barbara Rae. There was also a beautiful etching by Katherine Jones, ‘Clear Surface’.

I met Katherine for the first time recently and one of the main reasons for my trip to London was to visit her studio near Elephant & Castle. I have looked at reproductions of her work but it was great to see the originals and to discuss with her how she makes her work and arrives at the imagery in her subtle, atmospheric pieces. We share a love of the collagraph! www.katherine-jones.co.uk.

I also called in to see Jason Hicklin’s exhibition at Eames Fine Art. www.jasonhicklin.com. A beautiful set of etchings, monoprints and drawings based on his recent trip to St Kilda.

‘Feather Circle I’ has gone to a new home! It was made in 2010 and in order to create it I inked feathers individually and printed them onto very fine Japanese paper. There are five layers of printed feathers on paper in this piece and one absent spider. The new owner of ‘Feather Circle I’ saw it in an exhibition four years ago but only recently contacted me to ask if it was still available.