The sun was shining when we woke up on Sunday morning and that meant an opportunity that we simply couldn’t let pass us by! We hopped on our bikes and cycled along the Amstel River (hmm, pretty) to Zorgvlied, a relatively nearby and hence favourite tree-communing spot. To think that less than a week ago I was already accepting Winter’s triumph over Autumn! Judging by Zorgvlied’s trees’ magnificent splendour, she’s still got plenty of show left in her.

I’ve been so enjoying the many and beautiful Autumn images I’ve been seeing all over the (Northern Hemisphere) interweb, and am a little overwhelmed by what an incredibly beautiful season it is. But I guess I already said that, now and in previous posts… sorry to be such a bore!

I’ve been doing a bit of papercutting and, as is so often the case, cannot decide which I prefer – the intended cut shape or the ‘negative’ shape offcuts. Both have their appeal, but the negative shapes are somehow more intriguing and mysterious. No doubt because their form always comes as an unexpected surprise to me when cutting is complete (and I like the shadows they cast!).

Positive is obviously good too, and I wanted to take this opportunity to say ‘thanks’.

I was thrilled to sell all of the prints and cards I’d put into my new Etsy shop within 10 days of listing them, so if you bought one of them or you’ve left me encouraging comments and you’re reading this – thank you! Your support is much appreciated and has given me some much needed confidence to continue to pursue this art-lark and to make more stuff! (In the meantime, while I get on with making more stuff, I have listed a few more of the Curiosity Cabinet limited edition screenprints and cards on Etsy).

Now, back to those negative-positive shapes…

Thanks again, and have a fun weekend!

[tuesday 17h14, wednesday 11h18]

So far it has been a week of blustery, changeable weather and the colours out there seem, to me, to herald the always-too-sudden transition from Autumn to Winter. I’m enjoying the contrasts of light & dark, saturated & desaturated, and warm & cold colours (Johannes Itten would be having a field day!) but I guess I must reluctantly accept that the Big-W has just about arrived!

[tuesday 08h03, wednesday 10h19]

[wednesday 07h49, 10h17]

[wednesday 14h14, 10h20]

[wednesday 13h56, tuesday 08h02]

Tim Biskup’s ‘Yeti Thinker’ has been gazing intently down at me from my studio wall. His subliminal promptings have apparently taken hold as last night I felt compelled to carve a Halloween yeti pumpkin (template available here).

The blade slipped a few times (pumpkins are slippery things!) so it’s a rather loose interpretation, but even though it lacks the essential yeti-ness it still glows fiercely enough!

Another creature shaping up out of a bit of slicing and dicing is this hairy fellow, made from a negative-shape offcut from a previous papercutting project. I’m still trying to decide what other features he needs, if any? Perhaps a row of sharp little teeth…

On the subject of creatures, Halloween, and whatnot, if you’re in Amsterdam at 3pm on Saturday 31 October get thee down to the American Book Centre where Amsterdam based artist Femke Hiemstra will be signing copies of her new book ‘Rock Candy’ (published by the marvellous Fantagraphics). There will also be fine art giclée prints of some of her work available for sale. And seeing her display (made from “dolls, animals and other characters from [her] personal collection of ‘bric-à-brac’”) in the bookshop window up-close-and-personal is a must!

It has been a little damp around these parts recently (lots of rain dragged in by wild horses!)

Luckily the newest member of the household arrived fully equipped to deal with the local weather (being a Londoner he’s no stranger to a touch of the wet stuff).

The grey has been punctuated by bursts of orange and yellow (this is why I love autumn so!), and when the sun manages to break through those clouds everything *glows* as if illuminated from within… even my breakfast…

Autumn really is a very special season…

[The dunny was designed by Triclops, and is part of the Kidrobot 'Ye Olde English' Dunny series. The owl kite was made by Dutch artist & illustrator Leendert Masselink]

Remember these critters? Well, way back at the beginning of this year I spent a couple of days at the wonderful Amsterdams Grafisch Atelier (AGA) and made a limited edition screenprint of them. After a nine month gestation period (I’m not sure what they’ve been up to for the past nine months in the dark seclusion of their A1 storage box!) they have finally found their way into the world, and more specifically in to my brand-spanking-new etsy shop.

detail of the “Curiosity Cabinet” screenprint, in a very limited edition of 28

Also available in the shop are little packs of handmade ‘Greeting Cards from a Cabinet of Curiosities’… for when flowers just won’t do, and the only way to say it is with creatures preserved in bottles :)

handmade, screenprinted greeting card

reclaiming the screen after printing completed

The AGA is a fully equipped printmaking studio in the centre of Amsterdam, which I am very happy to have found and very grateful to have access to since completing a screenprinting course/workshop there towards the end of last year. The workshop was very informative and a lot of fun, and the studio spaces are fantastic! These two ‘Curiosity Cabinet’ projects are the only things I have printed there since completing the workshop so I am very much hoping to get back to the AGA soon for more printing fun and experimentation… it has been too long!

Yesterday marked seven weeks in our (not so) new (anymore) home… and we still haven’t hung any pictures! (Ok, there are a couple temporarily installed on existing hooks in order to get them out of the way and off the floor… but temporary installation doesn’t really count :)

The hanging of pictures is, to my mind, one of the most important steps in making a house a home… so I’m hoping to get lots hung this weekend! And I hope that you have a good weekend too, whatever you’re up to!

Kudos, and thanks, to all the very talented artists represented above – we’ve derived so much pleasure from living with your art!

Yoko Hayashi (‘midnight’, etching), Camilla Engman (‘red’, giclée print), Femke Hiemstra (’solstice d’eté’, mixed media on book), Charles Burns (‘big baby / blood club’, screenprint), Jim Woodring (’squeaker in the woods’, intaglio print), Studio Ghibli (’spirited away’, animation cell), Rob Ryan, and Femke Hiemstra again (’skinny dipping’, giclée print)

My cloud obsession doesn’t appear to be abating. In addition to taking lots (and lots!) of photographs of them I have also recently been drawing them, inspired by (left to right in the photo above) classic Kimono sash (obi) patterns, the work of Japanese graffiti artist ESOW, and the cloud studies of Claude Monet, Emil Nolde and John Constable…

[Postcard of John Constable's 'Cloud Study', 1822]

[Unrelated to clouds, but important nonetheless: the framed print along the bottom of the above picture is "The Hairy Monster" by Tom Gauld. You can see more of his wonderful work here]

Although trying hard to rein in my cloud photographing obsession I couldn’t resist when this crazy one made its way across the skyline a few mornings ago. It’s so… structural! Like a partial side view of a viaduct or Stonehenge.

Unfortunately I have no meteorological knowledge but I’d love to know how a cloud so ‘angular’ is created. Anyone got any ideas?

I found this work of unbridled genius trampled on a wet path as I took a stroll through Artis yesterday afternoon to admire the autumn leaves (and say hello to the Red Pandas).

Such magnificent gnashers!

And wonderfully scaly scales!