Julie & Georgia

Two little friends of mine. 

Three little sparrows

Three little sparrows sat on my finger this morning. 

A hare

I got some advice from an illustrator recently,"you should do more animals, people like animals."

This is a lost and weary hare.

A Garden Series of Woodcuts

Just some Shoddy quick shots of a project I'm working on at the moment, 

the first pulls of some new woodcuts, intended to be part of a larger series... 

Currently fiercely enjoying my excellent, unemployed, cold November mornings. 

Wrens

Some little Wrens for a private commission,

just before they were sent of in the post

Girl with Branches

....<>....

Wood cut Sparrows

I am tentatively coming crawling back to working with relief print, here are some shaky shots of a small bird motif I've been playing with recently. 

(Apologies for the iPhone quality.)

Latin America

Some sketches made in the Markets of Mexico and Guatemala. 

(I posted a couple of these before, but now finally i have a decent scanner)

Garden series

Some Sketches for planned wood cuts, its been along while since i've updated, more to come ...

chicken.

Finding Swoon in Oaxaca.

 The best surprise i could fathom. 

Small independent print workshops, Oaxaca

I sought out as many of them as i could whilst i was in Oaxaca, brilliant and exciting, small, co-operatively run print studios. Run by young and active artists around the city, these studios are inspiring, they have rigged up there own equipment using what they can and initiative, making a free and mobilising atmosphere. Music was blearing and all the guys i met were 

wicked, truly motivated (they were all guys) and bloody talented.

 It was by far the most inspiring experience I've had yet. 

Print making is still very much alive in Mexico.

Their work out on the street. 

Oaxaca.

Beautiful colours and peaceful courtyards walking the streets of Oaxaca City. 

Pablo Ortiz Monasterio

Incredible photographs of the Huicholes, an indigenous north mexican community.

'The celebration of the Hikuri Neyra is essentially a fertility ritual. It begins months before the festivity itself, when they make a pilgrimage to the desert of Wirikuta (where the sun was born) there, they collect the Hikuri or Peyote (Lephophora Williamsii) that, along with the maize and the deer conform a Sacred Trilogy. They return to the sierra with a load of the sacred plant, and right before the rain season, they celebrate the Hikuri Neyra. They sacrifice deer to offer its blood to Mother Earth, afterwards, the community gathers in the ceremonial centers to eat peyote and dance for three days and three nights, caressing Mother Earth with their feet, so that She will wake up happy and willing to receive the seed of the maize. The group choreographs draw serpents, which represent the water, because the rivers, seen from above, seem to be serpents and in addition, in those mountains, the serpents only go out when it rains, in this way, they summon the goddesses of water, so they watch over the maize harvest, the chief food source of the Huichol Nation.'

Taller Leñateros

I discovered this beauty in San Cristobal de las Casas, Taller Leñateros is a beautiful print workshop founded by the poet Amber Past. All the papers they use are 'hecho mano' - handmade using old techniques and the prints they have made are naive beautiful and strong. Hidden away on the back streets of the city i can't explain how excited i was when i found this little gem. They let me in, even with my limited spanish and allowed me to wonder about at will. 

The majority of the works that they produce are books and cards made with the intention of sharing the ancient poetry and prose of the maya women. Theres more about their work and places to buy it here. 

This is just one of many beautiful woodcut, wheat paste, fly posted images all over the city. 

After writing my dissertation on the Mexican woodcuts of over 100 years ago, seeing the woodcut technique still utilised prolific here is bloody wicked.  

San Cristobal de las Casas

Ive been living in San Cristobal de Las Casas now for the last few weeks. 

 Visiting the market everyday to buy to produce from the surrounding mountains the colours and smells and foreign fruits. Its an overwhelmingly creative and diverse pueblo, the people here are beautiful and warm even if the climate is not, despite being in Mexico we still wearing wooly hats and thick jumpers.