Magic of the season Etsy

Great new treasury on Etsy with My Pink Pegasus starring at the top. see on https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTIxMTcwNTh8MjcyNTM3OTM1NA/the-magic-of-the-season

printed tea towels

Trying out a batch of natural tea towels that I ordered with different prints. I have developed a pylon pattern, makes me think of the Eiffel tower. Loving the start of Autumn with the wood burner to dry my art by.

natural cotton twill tape printing

Mistletoe print design, this would look lovely with brown parcel paper for a rustic eco wrapping paper and ribbon look at christmas.

foxy bunting

A peak at my newest printing prototype, foxy bunting. going on sale on Etsy next week.

collage for cushions

I have spent the last weeks developing some lovely square collages with a link in terms of colour and pattern. I hope to develop these as fabric then cushions. This photo is a taster of the work in progress.

Young Stag Exmoor

I have been having a printing fest, larger scale print of the young stag that I saw on Exmoor. Working with varying tones of Ultramarine.

Blue bird print in new Etsy treasury

Love this new treasury by Cara on Etsy, thanks for including my blue song bird print.

www.etsy.com/treasury/ODc2NTY0MnwyNzIyMzEwMTY1/last-of-the-summer-days

Mother rabbit and Bunnies

I am really enjoying working on this blue and white series. I am very inspired by English Willow pattern china and want to capture some of the luminosity of china in these prints. I am still making studies of this local rabbit family in the early morning. The lovely Jenny of Griffins Yard Gallery South Molton is now showing four of my blue and white prints, so now you can pop along to see the real thing.

Watercolour and rice paper

Really enjoyed experimenting with the combination of watercolour and print last week. However the rice paper rippled unevenly, need to find a stronger rice paper or go with the flow and live with the wrinkles. 

End of Summer finds treasury

Just back from a seaside camping trip to find that the lovely Arabella Reason has created this new Etsy treasury with my butterfly print in, thankyou Arabella. 

Run rabbit run

This weeks printing in proof form and a process shot. I have been getting up early to draw the rabbits at the abandoned cow yard. Meadowsweet and bind weed grow here profusely. Often the rabbits run when they see me so I have made lots of lively sketches of them.

Rabbit and leaping kittens

Today I worked really hard and for many hours images did not work out, then I let go and just went for the essence of what I had seen and sketched the previous morning. The kittens were leaping in the morning sun, the mother watching, beautiful. I will be posting this up for sale on Etsy soon.

Snail Thirst

Two posts ago you saw the sketchbook designs and now in my lovely cool and shady studio I have created the prints. These are the snails that I saw on the hottest day seeking the moist and shaded side of the road. I wonder if the snail gets thirstier than most creatures as it is so full of water and glitter trail.

See my Stag in this new Etsy treasury

Fresh summery colours chosen here by Anne Luz of:  https://www.etsy.com/people/anluz

Nice to see Etsy shop owners putting  my work in their favourite collections, much appreciated.

Snails

This week I have been working on a snail design in my studio. Whilst out walking I saw 5 yellow snails moving across a hot dry road to the moist verge on the other side. The trails that they made, their bright yellow colour and their life threatening thirst for the moisture in the shaded verge struck me and held me to the spot. I am playing with my handmade collage pages seeking the abstracted colour , pattern that could describe this moment. Thought you might like a pic of the studio table too!

Weather Pattern 1 and 2

Inspired to develop my weather patterns from my sketchbook into vinyl prints. Here is weather pattern 1 and 2 absorbed by the light and rain on the tarmac outside the complexity and beauty of water in the environment.

Sparkle Butterfly Love

See my Cabbage white butterfly print in this Summery treasury selected by Nancy Benedict on Etsy. Check out this link for Nancy's colorful painted mirror designs at

 www.etsy.com/shop/NancyBenedictDesigns

Tutorial 3 Transferring the image

Ok the next stage in your vinyl printmaking journals. Leave a comment or a question if you want additional advice on using this printmaking technique. The more I do of it the more I love it.

Vinyl printmaking tutorial, selecting the equipment

A tutorial for you on how to select your materials for vinyl printmaking. Hope you find this useful. To buy the vinyl use the link for the blast shop on my blog.

Fern Forest vinyl print

This is my latest vinyl print inspired by the secret place that is seen in the depths of a fern group. The green and yellow are in perfect harmony with each other making my eyes jump; pleased with this and hope you enjoy too.

Cabbage white butterflies dipping into the water

Two new prints completed over the last week. Cabbage White butterflies linked and twirling above a stream., drinking the water or dipping their tails.I have used vinyl printing and Caligo oil safe wash printing colour. I wanted to play with the soft fluid colours and ripples of the patterned water against the rhythmic beating of the butterfly wings. I would love to have a go at putting this design onto textiles, any offers and advice about doing this I would welcome.

vinyl printing today

Wanted to share the work that I have been developing in the studio this week. Working on a three colour vinyl print. I have made several loose collages from a moment by the river where a group of cabbage white butterflies twirled and dipped above the moorland stream.

Bloom treasury on Etsy

Thankyou to Lisa Goodman of https://www.etsy.com/shop/MessyBedStudio who included my stag print in her new Bloom treasury. Check out my Etsy link for a closer look at this print.

Mating Craneflys second colourway

I wanted to find the most delicate colours for this second colourway of the Craneflies. To show the moisture and the plants, the air that feed the insects.

'Mating Cranefly' latest vinyl print

Last post I gave you all a peek into my sketchbook and a lead into developing this cranefly print. It all started whilst lying down in the sun in the long grass, lazy days. I saw across from me balancing on stilts of grass two mating Cranefly. They looked so elegant, long legged dancers and they perched mating in the sun for half an hour whilst I, my sketchbook ever handy drew them. The drive to create seemed profound at this moment. Does anyone know about the cranefly life cycle is it one moment of mating , laying eggs then die? All insights gratefully received through comment button below. This is a three layer vinyl print using eco friendly oil inks on Japanese paper.

Stag print in MID Century Modern Treasury

Thought you would like to see my Spring Stag print in this great new treasury on Etsy curated by https://www.etsy.com/shop/CHICaDees Check it out if you absolutely love the Mid Century Modern vibe, I do.

A peek into my sketchbook, video

A peek into my sketchbook and some thoughts on what will be inspiring my next vinyl print. More videos to follow over the next weeks giving a stage by stage tutorial on how to use the wonderful vinyl medium to print. If you have any questions please comment below or email me on luna.north@btinternet.com

thankyou for watching :)

Colour combining

 I have been experimenting with my collage papers, laying them out in different colour and pattern combinations. I have also been researching the colour trends for 2013 and there they were the colours that I had been instinctively drawn to. Odeneal, aqua, crimson pale, smoky grey, colours with atmosphere and depth.

Printing yellow

I have spent the last two days in my studio creating new collage papers.  The prints are made from both lino and vinyl cuts, my favourite mediums. I felt that I wanted to put the sunshine into the work through yellow.

Running Deer collage

Recent work showing a pair of young deer. I have been experimenting with the patterns here, I really enjoyed using the abstracted marks in the darker textured mound shapes that came from an older linocut print, nothing is wasted in art practise. 

Exmoor Beasts

Walking in the mizzle on the moors and there they were, huge shaggy Exmoor longhorn cows. I sneaked up as close as I dared and photographed. I am really excited to have had a chance to get so close to them after the odd rare sighting over the last couple of years. Now I am just itching to draw their iconic shapes. I would love to hear from anyone else who has seen these or even painted them, you can click on the comment line at the bottom to share :)

Pegasus

A new working of my horse vinyl print in the form of Pegasus. Find for sale on Etsy.

Featuring my love of grey

Night birds print collage using Anchor 125 vinyl from the wonderful 'The Blast Shop'. Every colour sings when it is placed next to a grey. 

Dog walking a study in grey

Hello I wanted to share with you the beautiful greys in the coat of Lucy the dog and on the wet road ahead. I  will show you over the next posts how I explore colour. Natures colours.

Spring deer

Another stag collage for you. A print of this is just winging its way to America to an art collecting Etsy shopper.

Sunrise Woodland collage

Another woodland for you to see, the dawn sunrise. I collaged and printed this one onto Japanese paper which is my favourite paper, it feels like fine cloth. I love breaking the boundaries of the print, creating a frame and a sun symbol at the same time. Hope you enjoy.