I have been spending more time in my studio with the good weather, trying different things on my small (29 x 35 cm) Tofko relief press.  I worked more on my dog linoprints, adding elements and trying different compositions.  I printed some in multiple colours, but decided in the end that I preferred the black and white prints.

I have also been working on small Collagraphs - with Leicester's "Small print, Big Impression" in mind.  I have produced four plates so far using a mountboard base varnished a few times to seal it.  The images are made from scraps of thick printmaking paper which I drew into with a hard grade pencil or a scalpel before sealing them with more varnish.  I printed them as relief with Speedball waterbased inks with extender added.  Having printed them individually I then tried overprinting two, three and four images using a registration board.  You can see a couple of the prints I like below
 
After Aberdour comes the big one - the Pittenweem Arts Festival, with 96 official venues this year!  It is a small fishing village, so this is made possible by people turning their houses into Galleries for the week of the Festival.  The content varies enormously, from invited professional artists to amateurs and it attracts huge crowds of people every year.  Have a look at their website - www.pittenweemartsfestival.co.uk - for a flavour of what goes on.
It seems virtually impossible to get a venue as the same artists are there every year and never give up their spot.  A couple of friends and I tried for months to find somewhere to exhibit - without any luck.  We'll keep trying again for next year though.

 
Amazing how quickly these things come around again, but it's Festival time again!  This weekend it is the Aberdour Festival in Fife and Sheila Carnduff  has once again opened up her house, as venue 10, to exhibit prints and paintings by Fife & Dunfermline Printmakers Workshop members.  The exhibition is on until Monday 2nd August.
The Opening on Friday was well attended, as was Saturday despite our summer weather being somewhat cloudy and windy with showers.  There was lots of positive feedback from visitors and some very welcome sales as well ! Do come along and see the exhibition if you are in the area.