A day of art...

Apart from a trip to my local fish mongers this morning, I have spent all day in my studio...so it's a good job it's been quite grey and dull outside.

Job one today was to finish my Guillemots print. I needed to trim them down, sign and number them all.

I have to say though, I love the finished print! I'm really happy with the finish (which isn't my normal reaction to my artwork) What do you think?

 I printed ten of these, and I'm not going to use the linocut for anything else, so it will simply stay at these 10. If you would like to purchase one please check out my Etsy shop where you can find them for £30 with free UK delivery. I have started doing international delivery too now! Although, I am afraid this will incur a small charge due to shipping fees.

So, trimming and signing the prints didn't take all day...as I mentioned, I went to my local fish mongers this morning to purchase a sea bass...not specifically to eat - although it has now been filleted and is ready to cook. I had other plans in mind before hand...here's a little sneak peek at my new gyotaku piece...

In a day or so I will post a gyotaku tutorial incase you're interested...

The 5:2 diet, guillemots and the Commonwealth Games...

Afternoon folks (almost)! Yesterday was quite successful in a few areas.

Monday after my new equipment arrived, I spent the rest of the day hidden away in my studio carving my new linocut. I opted for the guillemots I drew the other day. I loved the simplicity of the design and thought it would come out really well with the new ink.

I was right! This is a proof print, not on the paper I plan on using for my finished prints, but I wanted to make sure it was all cut ok, and was going to look how I wanted. So yesterday afternoon was spent creating 10 prints, which are now hanging in my studio drying. 

Yesterday was also successful in terms of the 5:2 diet. (I'm sorry I had to mention this!) but it's the first diet I have ever tried, not because I am really over weight...I just started to notice my weight gradually creep up and wanted to put a stop to it before it went too far...and so far, so good! I simply try and eat only 500 calories on a Tuesday and a Thursday (due to the days that best suited me)and to be honest, sometimes I'm not very good at sticking to it. Yesterday for example, I still managed to have a bag of Maltesers! Still managed to loose some weight though! So it's definitely working for me. 

Also managed to get a bit of lazing around in and watching the Commonwealth Games. I am really enjoying it! Watched some of the boxing for the first time yesterday and really enjoyed that, as well as the track and field and swimming events on the evening. It's great during the holidays when I don't want to do a lot, but know that something good will be on TV...not sure what I'm going to do once it finishes, I had this problem with the Olympics in 2012 as well. I also heard on the radio yesterday that one of the giant Tunnocks Teacakes was being auctioned and was at around £700 with a few hours to go...I wonder how much that went for! Great way to raise some money though!

Right well, off to check on my prints, let's hope they're dry so I can get them trimmed...

A tidy and some new stuff...

This is the beginning of week three of my summer holidays...I don't really feel as though I have been massively productive. Which is probably a bit silly considering I have managed to get three different prints done, as well as that all important relaxing time!

I've also thought a little bit about the future (not majorly)...but mainly because I had a day the other day when I just felt very bored (I ran out of art supplies, so that probably didn't help). But you'll have had one of those days I'm sure; you want to go out and do something but just can't seem to muster the motivation so just end up spending all day sitting on your arse, but ultimately by the end of the day you just feel worse. Sound familiar?
 It's actually quite easy to fall into the trap of those kinds of days, especially when there's no work.
 So I got thinking, I'm 26 with not a great deal of disposable income at the moment (that's code for none!), people I know are either at work, or can generally afford to go out at do things, husband is busy writing up his PhD thesis...so I can quite easily wake up in the holidays with literally nothing to do, and nowhere to go. So that's why I got thinking...and after a trip to the RNLI open day down on our local Fish Quay last weekend I met some people with a vision that after thinking about it I decided to put myself forward for; to give myself something to do in the holidays other than paint/print/eat/be bored etc...

I am going to volunteer at The Net. Basically, The Net is to be a new heritage centre on my local Fish Quay in the old Low Light building. For a long time now I have been interested in local history, I think it just started with staring at those beautiful black and white photos of life gone by...but it is something I enjoy learning about, and love getting into conversations with people who know things about where I live that I don't.
 The Fish Quay is around a 10-15 minute walk from my house, with a lovely walk along the river, so figured I could offer my time! I could get involved, I could learn something myself, and help create a link with the school I work at as well...then it means in school holidays I have no excuse to say I am bored right? Well...that's my plan anyway!
 They open in September, so looking forward to getting my teeth into something else! And for anyone reading this who happens to live near by and might fancy taking part, I'm sure they'd be happy to hear from you. Check out their website!

That is pretty much my plan for the near future (I did say it wasn't major...sorry!)

So...back to the present I guess! My new art supplies have arrived!!

It may not look like much, but new linoleum and printing ink means I can get started on some of my new designs! 

  If you're interested I get my supplies from Great Art. They have a great selection for all sorts of creative enterprises and the prices are reasonable...however I would say spend over £40 otherwise delivery is quite expensive...and I hate paying delivery charges.

Anyway, I decided to use the lack of supplies as an opportunity to tidy up my studio (The delivery man just arrived today).

  As you can see, I don't have the best sort of light to work in. While it's bright enough it doesn't compare at all to having natural light poring through. Thankfully with the lino printing and the bright acrylics I tend to use, it doesn't effect my work. I do long for a nice sunny studio though...

 Right well, I have my supplies and a tidy studio...not sure what I'm waiting for!

Hiding from all the busy...

Living in Tynemouth has it's pro's and con's. I love the place itself, it's beautiful. There is always plenty to do, and everything I need is on my doorstep. But that also means that people flock here...particularly on a lovely summery day.

 I realise that people coming here is a good thing - contributing to the local economy and everything, but it can get a bit tiring day after day when the weather is good.

 So...I was feeling pretty unsociable today. My husband was out all day so I was quite looking forward to having the day to myself.

The day started well too, I managed to sell two of my prints even before 9am, so it had it's positives!

I also completed three avocet prints in green...I love the colour!

So the good thing already is I now only have two of the green prints left and one of the blue. So I can't complain too much!

So, after a trip to the market at Tynemouth Metro Station (weekly market) I decided to hide out in my backyard and get some drawings done. I really enjoyed doing the avocet, so wanted to focus on other birds we see on our coastline, so I did a few sketches of guillemots, oyster catchers and stoneturns. Also did one of a black backed gull, but that came after the photos. I have a few ideas of different ways I can portray these images as well so looking forward to that! However...I need to wait for more linoleum to arrive before I can do anything else...

Completed avocet...

While I was cutting out the avocet I was looking around at my studio space, and glimpsed the screen for well...screen printing. (The looking around does explain why I managed to stab myself three times though!)

 So I decided straight away I was going to combine both screen and lino printing for this avocet.

I love the texture you get from screen printing, it comes out with such an even and smooth finish it's great. However, on paper, I prefer to screen print with acrylic paint. It's always been my preferred paint, it's just so simple to use, it mixes very easily and dries quickly with a lovely finish.

 However I think lino printing, especially with quite fine lines, can come out with quite a rustic finish, especially when it's all pulled by hand.

So, I went for a blue background to start with...I printed about seven but while the screen printing all came out spot on, the lino prints did not. So in the end I got four I am happy with...

(The colour only looks slightly different on these because of the light in the room, they're actually really uniform)

So I've decided while getting four out of the prints using that colour, I thought it would look quite good with a vibrant yellow background, but then I also thought a green may look good. 

 I am undecided. I do know I don't want to create too many with this design, maybe just four more of one other colour. I am happy with the avocet shape though, I love it's simplicity.

 Two of these avocets have gone already, so if you fancy one I've got them for £25 unframed on my Etsy shop. (Free delivery to UK)

I'm always thinking of things I can do next, so I think I might have a go with some Oyster Catchers. They can always be heard making their loud squeaky noise outside my house, and I think they're quite stunning birds with their bright yellow beaks and legs. Going to do something a bit different with that design though...

A typical Tuesday...

In the holidays that is. Today has involved breakfast at my local surf cafe (Tynemouth Surf Cafe) on the seafront (Great food!!), a wander along the beach before it got horribly busy, a game of frisbee and crucially, some creating! And the day is still young!

 So, I decided to continue with some lino printing, but some other ideas came into my head as I was creating that...

After various sketches, and my love of birds, I decided to focus on an avocet for this one. I'm not actually a bird watcher, I don't know a great deal about birds, I think I simply admire them, I find them beautiful. So wanted to be able to capture some of that.

 I am however not very good at detailed drawings, I tend to lose patience and just assume I'm not going to be very good at it, but to be honest, it's not been something I've really ever focussed on. I like the idea of leaving something to the imagination.

 I love getting lost in a good book, but hate it when the author describes every last little detail to me that nothing is left for my imagination to do, I sort of see my art in that way as well. While I don't want to do any crazy 'abstract' work with some weird and bizarre meaning to it, I do still like bold and simple designs.

So after a few hours yesterday of carving away at my linoleum (and three stab wounds, each to different finger ends!) I ended up with this...

So today allowed me the chance to sort of, decide what I wanted to do with it...I've decided to combine some lino printing with screen printing (I love the texture in the paint you get from screen printing). So after marking my screen out I opted for a bluey background colour with acrylic, so now have several of them sitting on my studio floor drying.

 I'm not sure how many in the blue background to create with this avocet...I think I might just do a limited run of 5 or 6 with this particular colour.

 I do have some new ink on it's way too, so may wait till that arrives to give it a go! 

 Hurry up delivery man...

Back from my Islay adventure...

Islay was beautiful! If you have never been and enjoy miles of unspoilt soft sandy beaches, clear water and beautiful countryside with plenty of wildlife then I definitely recommend Islay as a holiday destination.

I am however, very, very sunburnt! I currently look like I have been on holiday to the sun. Moral of the story - always take suncream!! Scotland does get glorious sunshine and it certainly left it's mark on me!

 My little car also has some permanent memories...many scratches around the wing mirrors from a certain couple of highland cows who realised salt gathered nicely on the windows and it clearly tasted good! It's a good job my little car is 18 years old and I don't care about the scratches...although, it is what you get for parking in their field. 

Anyway, Sadly we didn't catch any fish (I'm too impatient I think) So I was unable to print any. However, that is my mission for this week. I also have a few more ideas for some lino prints so watch this space! And as I now have six empty weeks ahead of me I will be able to get plenty done.

So...I thought I would add a few photos from my trip, just to give you a little taster...

This was on a walk around The Oa, right on the south west coast of Islay. The beach looked fantastic for beach combing (through the binoculars) however it looked very difficult to get onto...and despite how calm the photo looks, it was incredibly windy up there.

As I have said, Islay has miles of empty beaches, so on a day exploring the north coast we stumbled across this wonderful stretch of sand, and decided to bust out the wooden fire pit to cook marshmallows on for lunch.

This was the night before we left sitting at the entrance to our tent. Stunning sunset over the Atlantic and looking over to another part of the island. It was such a peaceful evening after such a hot day.
 - The campsite we were on was in a fantastic location on the south west coast of the island about a 10 minute drive from Port Ellen. The campsite is called Kintra Farm and is a lovely place to base yourself...I do recommend you don't pitch your tent on the top of a hill though; it's quite windy!

And lastly...plenty of things to be found on the beaches but my favourite find to add to my collection was an unbroken Sea Potato shell (Urchin shell)

So...That was Islay! Now sadly I have a few more mundane jobs to do and then I can get creative!...after the pain from my sunburn disappears that is...

Summer time...

Morning! The summer holidays officially begin today (for me anyway!)

 Yesterday was a lovely last day at school, the sun got out in the afternoon as well, and by home time it was roasting. 

My evening last night was spent having a catch up with all my old work friends, even if the night did start a little bit rocky. Forgetting my I.D wasn't the best idea! I look quite young for my age (I'm 26) and as I never usually leave my village (Living in Tynemouth there are plenty pubs/restaurants etc.) I never usually need to take my I.D...so it was quite embarrassing! Lucky for me, my lovely husband drove into town and brought it for me so the night wasn't ruined!

On a more civilised note, this morning I checked on my most recent run of lino prints to find they have finally dried, as block print paint takes quite a long time to dry properly.

 So I was finally able to sign them and get them up on my Etsy shop. For these prints I am simply doing a short limited run of 10 prints, they're all done by hand as sadly I don't have a fancy etching press (this is the ultimate aim!) but I still like the rustic finish they have...

Well...this will be my last post for a week...tomorrow at around 4am my husband and I are leaving for Islay (with art supplies and the camera at the ready!)So check back in a week - I'm hoping for a lot of inspiration that I can share with you!

Have a lovely week folks.

Not such a summery summer...

Well, it hasn't felt particularly summery over the past few days. After a very stormy Tuesday, today has been chilly and grey...I guess that's the North East coast of England for you. Unless it's just waiting until the summer holidays to change its tune and warm up.

Speaking of summer holidays, tomorrow is the last day of term. Morning as usual then an afternoon in church (It's a faith school) then I'm free!! Very excited!

Anyway, as you can probably tell I have been quite busy with work lately, so the art has been a bit slow lately, so thought I would add a few more photos of some things I have made since the beginning of the year:

Got to love a beautiful nautilus. I have a fossilised one, and I love it's shape. I also love the history of such an ancient creature that hasn't needed to evolve for millions of years. Already perfected maybe? I think they look pretty amazing. So, this was done on canvas with acrylic. As you can probably tell by now, I love bright bold colours...I quite liked this finished product. 

A few more beach huts painted on driftwood there, that time I decided to keep it really basic just by using Posca pens. It was quite fun, I'd not used paint pens before and while the colours didn't come out quite so bright as if I'd used acrylic I still liked the overall finish. 

Another little bit of gyotaku, this was mainly for practise of what to do when I mount it. The problem I discovered with gyotaku was due to the water based Japanese ink going onto thin rice paper, when it dried it caused the paper to wrinkle around it. I wasn't satisfied with a wrinkled paper in the final framing process, so I had to work on a way to get rid of it. 

  I prefer the idea of using natural products, so I had a go making my own wheat paste (1 part plain flour to 4 parts water boiled on the stove and stirred constantly until it thickens up) The paste itself came out great, smooth and easy to apply. The problem I then discovered was the paste soaked through to the ink and made it bleed. The finish would have been fantastic if it wasn't for that. 

So it was on to phase two - I sourced some silicone paper (it's very expensive- and sort of like giant double sided sticky tape) but I managed to find some on a relatively small roll, but it meant I had to rub it incredibly firmly with the back of a spoon to take the layers off, and the final result was pretty rubbish. The rice paper didn't spread out as much as I wanted and left very permanent wrinkles. Not good!

 So, phase three - this was having a go with some spray adhesive. We happened to have some lying around in the garage, but this was also a disaster, came out in blobs that weren't able to be spread onto the back of the rice paper. So...

 Phase four...Prit-stick. Yep...just a normal glue stick! Why not? And surprisingly, it worked very well! Moist enough to spread onto the back of the rice paper and spread out the wrinkles, and thankfully not wet enough to make it bleed that much. I was actually pretty happy with this process. Although, I kind of thought it wouldn't be ideal for larger fish prints. So, I moved on...

Phase five...I bought some different spray mount. There's loads of different kinds, all claiming to do different things. I thought one that comes out like a mist may be effective, and as of yet, I haven't actually had time to test it out. So it may work, it may not! We shall see...probably going to give it a try when I come back from my holiday...fingers crossed by that point I will also have a few new fish prints to mount, hopefully ones I have caught on Islay.

So...many problems with gyotaku, especially on a very limited budget. Fingers crossed this will work!

Almost there...

Evening folks! So, today has been quite busy, sadly not on the creative front, but in the 'real work' front. 

Day time for me consists of working in a high school with students of a lower academic ability - often dyslexic students. I enjoy it, it can be a great laugh at times (teenagers can be hilarious!) but it's also hard work. 
  However...today marks there only being 3 more getty-ups (this is how my calendar works) until the summer holidays! So I'm very excited and desperately looking forward to seven glorious weeks of relaxing and creating. (apologies to those who work a 'real job' as you probably call it...I don't envy you)

My first week will be spent on Islay. I love Scotland, but have never been to Islay so can't wait. I am looking forward to camping on the beach and enjoying the beautiful sunsets and hopefully fantastic beach combing. I will be taking my sketchbook and Japanese ink as I hopefully want to make some more of these...

I made my first gyotaku fish (gyotaku simply means fish printing) a few months ago, and while it was quite frustrating to do, I loved the finished product. So, hopefully I will be able to catch my own to create something beautiful. Although, I must also add I have never gone fishing before, so it could all go horribly wrong. (So...watch this space I guess!)

I also want to do some more drawing. It's always a good place to start exploring and developing new ideas, especially with a wonderful view (that I am hoping to find!). 

In my last entry I posted a photo of my original beach huts on small canvases, but from that idea it continued to grow, as did my love of beach combing, so I wanted to combine the two...

I love combining natural and ideally found items and turning them into something new, something people can admire! Driftwood is fantastic, so hoping to find a few nice pieces on Islay as well...although some pieces of driftwood are just too lovely to do anything with. So if anyone knows of any good beach combing spots on Islay, feel free to pass the information on...I promise it will stay a secret!

So, off for another evening...Happy crafting folks.

A little snapshot of the past...

Well...yoga is over for another evening and I'm feeling energised...sort of.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to share a few things I have done in the past. Like I've already said, I dabble in a bit of everything. 

I believe there is a creative idea inside everyone. It just depends whether the person does anything about it. For me, I have always loved the British seaside. Granted I don't live on the South coast where the water is warmer and beautiful colourful beach huts line up along the sand. 

 However, I maintain that living on the North East coast of England can be pretty spectacular too...

Thought I would just provide a couple of photos to prove my point. In fact, I love it so much, my husband and I chose to have our wedding on our local beach (which is no more than 100 metres from our doorstep) So as you can see I'm quite a fan.

Living by the sea is inspirational! The weather can change in the blink of an eye, and the landscape can look different from one day to the next. There is always something to look at, and always something to do, even if that is just a bit of beach combing and rock pooling (definitely a hobby of mine!)

So...because of my love of the seaside, it's not surprising that I found myself painting brightly coloured beach huts a good few years ago, and from there the beach theme just started to grow...

Captain's log...

OK..So I'm not actually a 'trekkie' nor have I ever really had a blog before. So this will probably be quite a learning curve (apologies in advance). But I decided to combine a few things I do enjoy.

 First, is my love of creating things. You name it, and I have probably tried it...within reason of course. I have always loved art...not in the visiting a million and one galleries and knowing everything about every artist kind of love for art. But in my own curiosity and experimentation. 

  As a child I was always simply drawing and colouring in. Getting involved in art during my school days became an excellent excuse to get out of lessons I didn't enjoy. But now, in my mid-twenties (my actual mid-twenties...I'm not someone who is in my thirties and can't let go) I do enjoy experimenting and playing with various mediums and learning strange new skills. Some of them take off, and some of them don't. Some I do for a while then get bored, and some are the fail safe that I often come back to.

Secondly, is my love of writing (and reading for that matter) So...I thought this might be a good place to show the world what I do! After all, isn't the dream to make enough money from your creations that working for someone else can become a distant memory? 

So, this is all how (and why) Curious Seagull Studio came to exist. 

For the last few years my studio was simply anywhere in my house that I could organise myself...and by that, I mean leave materials out and come back to them when I fancied. However, I am actually quite an organised person and couldn't really leave paint and canvases out allover the living room floor, especially when I share that living room with a nosey bunny.

 That being said - I finally set up my own studio! (in my basement!) but still a studio non-the-less. And I love it! After sorting myself out with a lovely big desk and collecting all my equipment together from allover the house, it felt great to finally have somewhere I could work in and not have to clear up whenever I am done for the day. 

So, feel free to have a nose, laugh at the disasters I create or share the ones you like and feel free to contact me and say hi...but please be gentle...remember I said I was new to all this! 

Off to yoga now.

Susannah