I've decided to add a blog to my website - to give a bit of background to my woodcut prints. I aim to cover a little bit about how I developed my technique and the inspiration behind each of the images I've created. #sketchbook #initialideas
I'll start with 'Hornsea bowls and others'. Hornsea Pottery really is the go to pottery of my childhood - it was a shared memory I had with Olly, my long time creative partner at 'Brann' in Cirencester a well known Direct Marketing Agency. We spent many happy times coming up with creative concepts, mostly working out what was the most interesting thing you could fit into an envelope - a good example being a polypropylene Christmas tree that was designed to be decorated with Cadbury's Miniature Heroes and Cadbury's Roses. Olly and I have a shared love of nicely designed tea towels and retro ceramics. He gave me a set of green Hornsea bowls as a 50th birthday present.
The idea of carving into plywood to create a printing block was mulling around in my head - another friend Neil, a fellow graphics student at Trent Poly in the 1980s, gave me a set of carving tools, and as I had access to plenty of spare wood from returned flat-packed furniture things began to take shape. (I am a director at a small Nursery Furniture and Resources company Early Years Direct.) #earlyyearsdirect
I combined one of the Hornsea bowls with some more modern patterned bowls given to me by my sister and started sketching out an idea. Once the design was worked out, I remembered to flip it over before I marked it onto the wood. At this stage I had to learn how precisely I could carve, and which tools make different kinds of marks. Also, I learnt a lesson - the dining table doesn't really benefit from extra grooves and gouges! #hornseapottery
I was pleased with my first prints and inspired to continue. I've always loved colour, so I decided that cut paper shapes could add something to the design. I could print over the coloured paper to create a pleasing effect. My sister loves teal so her version was made by special request, as time went on I enjoyed changing the colours and printing in dark blue rather than black. There are many to choose from on my shop. https://www.ballardcreative.co.uk/ceramics
A friend Lalita requested a simple mono for her birthday present - she's a Hornsea fan too!
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