The Decorated Sketch Book

This is what has been helping me keep my mind off the precipice. Mandy Pattullo's Tuesday evening class 'The Decorated Sketchbook' at Horsley Printmakers where until last year I was a partner.

The sketchbook is no masterpiece but that isn't really the point. Having chosen a theme 'Flowers and Patterns' it is a collection of ideas and creative techniques that hopefully, with practice, will act as sources of inspiration for my printmaking.

Collaging, using Brusho washes and emulsion paint, bleach and more washes to get interesting effects like this, linocut printed onto sheet music and cartridge, then stitched into like this ...

 

or this ...

with the reverse side looking like this ...

or doing a bit of transfer monotype like this...

and I might combine that with the stitching on this ...

But not only have I learnt some new techniques, one of the most valuable parts of the course is picking up what lies in part at least behind Mandy's amazingly creative mind. She has VOLUMES of decorated sketchbooks along a whole variety of themes but then there are also her visual diaries - the physical embodiment of 'Pinteresting', a pin board in book form.

Now I know what to do with all those magazines, gallery invitations, leaflets, photos, etc, etc, so that C won't have to say 'when are you going to throw this/these out?" I'll have torn out the pages I want and put them into MY visual diary. She has 50 years worth going back to when she was three ... I didn't ask her what her husband says about where they all get stored!