Oh what an exciting weekend! I’ve learnt to do something new and I can’t wait to tell you about it!
I’ve been abandoned for four whole weekends! But worry not, as we all know that it just means four whole weekends to get up to lots of exciting things and mischief! I am quite happy to entertain myself.
This weekend I’m up to all sorts, but due to a bit of boredom (because I’m stuck in a hotel room all alone this evening in the middle of nowhere) , I’m going to tell you about last weekend, and my exciting discovery. But first of all, the start of the weekend.
It began with a lovely run with friends to catch the last of the snow around the lovely Wentworth Castle Gardens at Stainborough. It was so pretty. The run took us through the grounds of the stately home which I am so lucky to live less than a mile from. At this time of year the parkland is full of deer. Huge stags with the most gigantic antlers. I’m always a bit wary of running too close to them but as long as you give them a wide berth they don’t bother, and they are the most gracious and majestic creatures to watch.
We followed this up with coffee and banana bread, baked by yours truly! I love this Annie Bell recipe. It’s so easy and as long as you like bananas it’s great after a run. Quite low in fat too as there is no butter, it’s made with sunflower oil instead.
In the evening I was out with my lovely friend Jeanette for dinner. I had the most delicious braised Ox Cheek, parsnip crisps and root vegetables………………..all served on a bed of horseradish mashed potatoes with rich, thick gravy.
Now you might read this blog and think………………goodness, all she does is eat. I don’t!! I do however run quite a lot and runners don’t diet and exercise………they train and eat! I can eat well and maintain a weight of less than 60kg no problem. You cannot diet and run……….I’ve tried it…………..it does not work………….and the balance is an extremely fine one but you have to make sure you eat enough to run…….but I could write an entire post on that! And I guess you only get to see my treats that I eat on a weekend when I allow myself to eat what I want.
During the week I have to be careful to eat a diet full of protein with plenty of iron. If I don’t I’m constantly iron deficient. So meals through the week look like this! Really quite boring…………..usually meat or fish, vegetables and pulses. This is pork loin, spinach wilted in a bit of butter and nutmeg, with braised Mediterranean lentils. My other half is strict vegetarian, but it does not work for me, I need the iron in the lean red meat and the protein in fish and white meat.
So then, what was the exciting discovery I want to tell you about? I’ve been back to class! Art class to be precise. I loved Art when I was at school. I got top marks………..a grade ‘A’…………….in my final art exams. However, strangely enough it wasn’t my strongest subject. I’m a scientist………I excelled at Mathematics and Physics, which is quite unusual for someone so creative I’m told. Despite the fact that I read so many books and write a lot…………….English was my worst subject…………..yes, my own language. 🤭But coming from Yorkshire it’s not much of a surprise because, we have our own dialect! 😆
I’d visited the David Hockney art gallery in Saltaire and saw some linocuts he had done, and thought, “I’d like to have a go at that!” They were so effective but did not look too difficult. Getting back into my art is something I would really like to do in my retirement soon, so I thought I’d look for a workshop.
I found one in York with a lovely lady called Michelle……………….a local lady who moved to Yorkshire after a career in graphic design in London. The pandemic saw the demise of her day job so she now makes a living as a very well respected, and well known, linocut artist. She has produced linocuts for book illustrations, cards, marketing literature and is very shortly to have her own book published. I found her on the internet and saw she offered linocut workshops for small groups of four people. Perfect I thought, I’ll sign up!
However, I felt a little bit out of my comfort zone. Here I was, signed up for a workshop with this very talented lady, having not picked up my drawing pencil for over 30 years!🤣However, I’m a great believer that life begins on the edge of your comfort zone. I’m one of life’s philosophers………..I think too much ………..and when I’m on my own I philosophise about all sorts of random stuff. I think it comes from being on my own quite a lot as my other half is often away competing. As I write this, I’ve been dot watching on and off all day today, and just two minutes ago he has crossed the line in 5th place in his age category in the 82km UTMB World Series Arc of Attrition Race running around the coast of Cornwall in stormy weather. 476 started, 127 have already dropped out, less than 100 have finished so far and he has just finished 5th in his category! No crew support allowed at this one to make it extra hard! Yes, he pisses me off so much, most of the time 😂 and a lot of friends I know would not tolerate him, they’ve told me………………..but they are friends who would be lost without their other half, they have no life or interest of their own. I do! And I was thinking the other day about the difference between existence and life! Now that’s a deep one for you!
In my opinion life is what you live when you step out of your comfort zone and is all about quality of life, experiences and purpose. Existence is just the state of being alive…….what you live biologically if you just repeat the same thing, never having the courage to step out of your comfort zone and routine, it lacks richness and excitement. So we all exist……………..but we don’t all live. Oh my goodness you are probably thinking……………how does she even have time to think about these things?
Well with an Olympic Gold medal in getting lost, finding myself on the top of mountains without a clue where I am, taking on challenges that are way out of my comfort zone and capability, being christened ‘GMOAT’ (greatest mother of all time) by my offspring……………I do like to ‘live’. I have a very fulfilling life, with or without one of the worlds fastest 50 something year old male mountain runners!
So off I went, completely out of my comfort zone on my linocut workshop. I had confessed to Michelle that my experience was limited to Art ‘O” level 30 years ago but “I like to make things” I said enthusiastically.😂 So the day commenced with me staring at a blank piece of lino thinking “Shit, what do I do with this now?”😂
I’d got in my head that I wanted to come away with something to put in a picture frame, which is me all over! Thinking I’m Picasso before I’ve even started! 🤣
“Just do a sketch of what you’d like to do a linocut of”, Michelle said. So I did a sketch of a group of botanical flowers, trying to fill the space and get the right balance and proportion. But I could not help think that there was too much there for a 5 hour workshop. But Michelle thought it was achievable.
Next step was to reproduce my image on tracing paper, which was quite straightforward.
You then turn it over and make an imprint of the carbon on the lino to give you the shapes and outlines to follow as a guide.
Then it was time to practice with the tools! Exciting……………………and very therapeutic! The little chisel type thingys (they’ve probably got a proper name) just slice through the lino like butter. I was very proud that I managed some lines, circles, stars and dots without losing one of my fingers!🤭
Then I got permission to go ahead and start carving the real thing! I spent two lovely hours lost in my own little world cutting out my flowers. My mind was so still!
The next step was to prepare the paint and the rollers. After cleaning off the lino it was time to roll the first lot of paint on, and do the first test prints on normal computer paper.
It was really exciting to see the finished test print emerge.
Then I moved onto the proper printing cartridge paper and the prints gradually got better and better as I got used to judging how much paint to load on the roller and how much pressure to apply. And here are my finished prints!! They are not perfect but I am quite proud of them and I am definitely going to frame one as my very first print. Not bad for a first attempt I think…………move over Picasso!😂I’ve actually looked at his linocuts and think mine might be slightly better!!!!🤣🤣🤣 I can’t wait to practice more, and get a little bit more adventurous with the designs and perhaps do some jigsaw linocuts with more than one colour. What I have failed to add though, is out of all four students, I did get the award for being covered in the most paint and pencil by the end of the day…………….I was so messy!!! It was oil based paint too so I had oddly tinged green hands for a few days. 🤭
It’s definitely something I’ll do more of in my retirement………………….I can picture myself now in my little space abroad, sketching, lino cutting, baking, reading, sewing and eating cake!! ❤️ So there you go……….my latest skill……..lino cutting. Have a go………….you’ll love it! So relaxing.
This weekend’s adventures are even better………………..I’m away from home, all alone, with a map, and we all know what that means……………………………….😂😂 I’m going to have some fun things to tell you about!