"The artist...is also a born adventurer. His explorations, unlike those of a tourist, are rewarded by the discovery of beauty spots unmentioned in the guide books, and with tireless curiosity and an exceptional proneness to wonderment, he will come upon objects of remarkable interest overlooked or even shunned by more disciplined observers."

Augustus John, R.A.




Sunday 18 December 2011

Loch of the Lowes - Selkirkshire

Loch of the Lowes - Selkirkshire
11 colour reduction linocut. 180mm x 270mm. Edition of 5 prints.

Finally finished the print, which looks like being the last one of the year. I have one I'm just drawing onto a lino block, but I'll not get that one finished before the year end.

This shows Loch of the Lowes in Selkirkshire. The viewpoint is near its out-flow into St Marys Loch, looking back up the lake towards the Dumfriess and Galloway hills.

With thanks to Sherrie York and Keith Tilley, both of whom suggested the subject would make a good print when I posted the original field drawing over a year ago.

Sunday 11 December 2011

Nearly there now


With two more colours printed I'm a lot less despondent about this print now. The first of the two, above, a dark blue green to create some shadows on the left hand hill. The next, below, a darker green for the foreground. One final dark should see the print finished. Tune in next week.


Monday 5 December 2011

Birds in Huddersfield


Out now .....  well actually been out for quite a bit! I've been a bit remiss about posting this as I have had a copy for over a month now. Cover illustration by yours truly and black and white illustrations by Russ Boland, Mike Pinder and myself. It also contains colour photographs by David Tattersley and David Pennington. Copies available from the Huddersfield Birdwatchers Club by following the link on the right.

Sunday 4 December 2011

What with one thing and another and various interuptions to the flow of work, this print seems to be going nowhere fast and has been progressing, if you can call it that. In a series of fits and starts. I don't like working on a print in this manner and to be honest, finishing it is starting to feel like a bit of a chore. However, we'll keep at it. Three more colours down :

 A dark blue to create some shadows on the far hills.

A green for the foreground.


And a dark orange for the bracken on the right hand hillside.

This looks like its going to be the final print of the year. I have an idea in my head for a dales landscape print but nothing down on paper yet. Unless I can get away with being really anti social during Christmas week, I don't think I'll manage to get that one as well as this completed for the year end.

Friday 2 December 2011

Beware the Art Scam !!!!

I have had some recent e-mail correspondence which I have transcribed in full below. I have not altered anything, the poor english, grammar and punctuation are all as in the original e-mails only the italics are mine. Having done some research on the matter this apparently is one of the signs to look out for.

On 22 Nov I received this e-mail via my Folksy Shop site ;

Hello,
i want to make immediate purchase of your item,
what is the present condition?


do you accept PayPal as mode of payment?


what is the final asking price?


kindly get back to me with your reply to my private email:


hope to read from you soon.

The e-mail address given was a yahoo.com address. Use of free e-mail accounts (hotmail, g-mail etc) is another sign to look out for.

I thought this was a bit odd as the sender had clearly been on the Folksy site, even referencing the particular piece they were interested in. So they would clearly have seen the asking price and that Paypal was the method of payment. However, giving them the benefit of the doubt I replied with the price and packaging costs and pointed out how to make a purchase through Folksy.

I didn't hear anything else until yesterday morning at 0626am, when the following e-mail arrived, again through the Folksy messaging service;

Hello seller
Are you ready for immediate sales of your item?
do you accept PayPal as mode of payment?
kindly get back to me on (again giving the same yahoo address)
with your reply and the final asking price.


hope to read from you soon


Best Regard

This was getting a bit familiar.
Again I replied with details of the price and how to pay. I got the following reply at 1755pm;

Thanks for the respond. i am an oceanographer and am currently on the sea at the moment, i am buying the item as a gift for my mum,i want to make it a surprise gift for her,she won't know anything about the gift until they get delivered to her.So i want you to reassure me that the item is in good condition as you have described. I can only pay through PayPal. So please kindly get back to me immediately so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done,i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the Item up immediately after payments.
 
Regard

I replied stating that I would only despatch the item by first class post after receiving payment of cleared funds in full. At 2051pm I got this reply;


Thanks for the reply,as i have told you i have agent that will come over for the pick up so you don't have to bother your self about shipment,all i will need from you now is your phone number and the address where pick up is going to take place so i can book shipping with my agent,also i will need your PayPal ID so i can make the payment for you when am done with my agent,hope to read from you soon.

Regards.


Note the request for my PayPal ID. I haven't replied to this e-mail and won't be.
The sender signed themselves Tracy Michael. A name I subsequently found on a list of known internet art scammers. So if you get anything similar in your inboxes just delete it.