Studio Fairytale

Once upon a time, there were two honest and hardworking artists called Susie and Sonia. They toiled away in a very spacious printmaking studio called Half Moon in South London – and here is a picture as it was in the olden days.

In the years that followed, another artist, Martin, joined them, followed shortly by a little Jack Russell terrier called Nipper ( whose name is quite apposite but that’s another story…)

Next to join this merry band in Brixton were two more hardworking and honest printmakers Louise and Gail, who were then followed by a third, Karen, squeezed in some time later
Of course, this was not the end of their story as we all know that principal characters never seem to learn anything from their various predicaments and carelessly carry on making the same mistakes over and over again.

So, consequently a little shih tzu called Tommy and a huge standard poodle called Casper also felt compelled to daily undertake the long, arduous journey into this crowded studio from far-flung corners of South London.

So, children, the moral of this story is that no building can expand outwards, however much important stuff (and printmakers and dogs) we feel we need to cram into them but it doesn’t matter – we keep trying anyway.

(And that’s a kind of happy ending….)

Affordable Art Fair

The Affordable Art Fair is over again for another year and in spite of the uncertain economic climate, we all at Half Moon Studio sold well.
To be honest though, one of the the nicest things about doing the fairs is the contrast – after the comparative isolation of the studio, it makes a change to get out and meet so many of our customers, some of whom come year after year to see us (you know who you are and thank you !).
As usual, though, things went a little awry.
The stand had the store cupboard put in the wrong place and we had to wait around for a precious hour or two until it could be re-built.
I forgot to take any photos – not a single one – which is a bit of a pain. Hopefully someone else will have some I can use.
There were a few (okay, a lot) of unscheduled trips back to the studio to pick up things accidently left behind and things we didn’t know we’d need.
And I had the very special treat of some last-minute re-framing. I don’t know what I was thinking but I’d written the title down on one batch of prints as Winter Equinox instead of Winter Solstice. As it was a brand new linocut, I was really tempted to just leave it as Winter Equinox – it seemed easier than having to open up three frames to change the name. That was, until it was pointed out that you only get the equinox over the Equator, and never over London Bridge Station….

Still, you have to look on the bright side – nothing will ever be as bad as the year we went to the Buy Art fair in Manchester, and managed to leave half the work behind
It was only when the van got to Manchester and the work was unloaded that you could see that something didn’t look right.
But before it could be figured out what that was, the mobile rang. A kindly member of Artichoke, the studio upstairs, was ringing to find out why so much of Half Moon’s work had been going up and down in the lift all day….

Affordable Art Fair

Another year comes and goes and here we are again – the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park is looming.
Oh yes, it’s mayhem in the studio as we all try to get our last minute editioning done, work out a hanging plan and rush out to the framers with last minute orders….
Anyway, as usual, I have a few free tickets for either the Charity PV evening (Wednesday 20th October) or the Gala PV evening (Thursday 21st October). The tickets will also get you in for free at any other time if you can’t make it that night.
Email me if you’d like one – first come, first served, of course….

London Lives Exhibition


I am among the 100 artists whose London themed work (City of Gold shown left) is showing at the Bankside Gallery, close to Tate Modern, in September. The exhibition has been organised by the gallery, Network Rail and Cass Art with the support of the Guardian newspaper.

One work from the exhibition will be selected to be shown on hoardings across Blackfriars Bridge while the new Thames-spanning Blackfriars railway station is being built. My linocut, First Light at Farringdon, has also been on the bridge for the past year – I wrote about it here

London Lives, Bankside Gallery, 48 Hopton Street, London, from 9-19 September
more info

Back to work

Well, summer is over – the kids are going back to school and I’m back at work, contemplating getting on with some serious printmaking.
Those sunlit memories of weeks slowly drifting by in Devon and Norfolk are fading fast but not to worry!
After all, I now have lots of other things to look forward to – looming deadlines with complimentary panic attacks, freezing cold hands, dark afternoons, rickets…..

Grayson Perry and me


The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition is over for another year.

Here is a photo of Grayson Perry (in the dress, obviously) standing in the vicinity of my linocut Exodus (top and to the left). I’m afraid the identity of the other man is lost to posterity

I do like to think that shortly after Karen took the photo, Mr. Perry looked up and gasped in admiration as he spotted my picture…..

And anyone who thinks otherwise – please don’t get in touch.

Oh dear…. (part two)

I know I should have finished this how-to by now but I’ve had a crisis of confidence…..
It always happens – I reach a point where I feel I can go no further with a print and so the next step is to edition it. This I do, generally feeling quite pleased with myself…..
Then, with the print finally hanging up to dry, I’ll take a quick look and it’s like a fog has lifted. I suddenly see the mistakes, and worse, all the ways in which it could have been so much better.
By this time, (generally the day after finishing the editioning, but sometimes after a cup of tea) it’s far too late to do anything about it and I just put the prints away in a drawer and forget about them for a while.
Of course, this isn’t possible when the print has featured in a series of blog entries so for now, I’ll do an on-line version of putting it away and just leave a photo of it drying in the studio….
Looking on the bright side though I do have a title – it’s called Two Tribes….

Oh dear….

Please don’t laugh but I really and truly thought that I’d be able to carry on posting my how-to on linocuts while I was away on my summer holidays. As you can see from the last two weeks of resounding silence, the delights of deepest Devon proved too much of a temptation.
Anyway, normal service will shortly be resumed, for anyone still waiting for the next thrilling instalment…..