Hurricane Bertha and the sort of finished mackerel...

Well, not that I'm complaining but the massive news build up to the remnants of 'Hurricane Bertha' for the North East of England was a bit of an anti-climax. Granted, this is a good thing, but here I was waiting for some awesome torrential rain and thunder and lightening which the weather forecast predicted which never happened. Obviously I realise we got off lightly compared to many other places and for that I am grateful. 
 To be honest, being where we are in the UK we are quite protected, most storms that come across the Atlantic lose all their power when they come across the Pennines so we generally just end up with a little bit of rain.

I do love a good thunder and lightening storm though. But as that was not to be, I decided to spend most of yesterday in my studio.

Job one was to finish my little hand printed 'Thank you' prints to pop in with any sales I make...

I'm really happy with them! I think they've come out really well, so looking forward to popping them in to sales just as a little thank you for the purchase and supporting my artwork!

Another job I set myself was to create a run of 10 mackerel lino prints. The few I created the other day came out very mottled and I wasn't sure it was the best look, so after changing paper and putting a LOT of pressure onto the back of the prints (I now have bruised hands!) I am really happy with how they've come out! 

So I managed to get my run of 10 after all. I do want to play with the lino a little more now though. I'm thinking I might add an outline to the fish and possibly remove some of the background. We shall see!! There are still a few more very windy days in the mix so I could just always hide out in the studio some more.

I also picked up my latest framed Gyotaku print (fish print)

Think I may be ok with this mounting process, it's come out nice and flat so it may be the way to go! This was just a practise mount and frame though, so need to get a few more done I think.
 I quite like the black mount with the white frame though. I think it really helps the fish stand out.

Right well...going to hide from this wind some more I think...