Daily Archives: October 10, 2005

I’m giving Linocut another red hot go. One of my dorm-mates from Geelong (Chris from Queensland) gave me a few tips, mainly that I should use a texta to colour in the negative areas of my design so I know what to cut away (that freemotion linocutting caper just didn’t do it for me, and as much as I hate to plan things out, I REALLY need to with linocut).

I need to work on the ‘inking up’ concept, but I don’t think it turned out too badly.

Have you ever looked at a portrait of Queen Elizabeth (the first) and lusted after her dress, or longed to slip on a ruff for just a day? Well, maybe I’m a little loony. But I sure do love those costumes and fabrics Mmmm Mmmmm Though I’m glad I don’t have to entertain those corsets LOL

Anyway, I was admiring this portrait (in and ad) yesterday, when I decided I could have a little bit of the fun myself by stealing a bit of her skirt:

Now, as a surefire way of killing a project, I’ll tell you about the germ of an idea I had whilst cutting away. Perhaps I could do a little series of linocuts featuring bits of fabric. But only the good stuff (and stuff with big motifs LOL, my linocutting skills aren’t that great). Anyway, now I’ve let it out of the bag, it is sure to be the last you hear of it! 🙂

And, just to keep the magic going, here is a sunrise photo I took in Geelong (Chris of Linocut fame is just visible to the right, she is wearing the lovely blue felt hat she made herself!)

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Edited to add some more info on Lady Reynell:

Excerpt from the article “Robert Peake & Scipione Pulzone in Adelaide” by: Angus Trumble at Antiques & Are E-zine

“Mark Weiss, who has published the painting in his recent Rex Irwin catalogue, Tudor and Stuart Portraits, 1530-1660, London & Sydney 1997, states that: ‘Frances, who was the daughter of John Aylworth of Polstow in Devon, married Thomas Reynell (1555-1621) in about 1580 and by him had nine children, three of whom were sons…The first was born in 1581. The Reynells, a West Country family of great antiquity, were first recorded in the 12th century during the reigns of Henry II and Richard I as having custody of the castles of Exeter and Launceston. Thomas Reynell, whose brother Sir Carew was cup-bearer to Queen Elizabeth, was knighted in 1603, following the Coronation of King James I [and VI of Scotland].'”

Now, I grew up in Tasmania where English place names are numerous, but I never knew that Exeter and Launceston were named after castles. Launceston is the second largest city in Tassy and Exeter is a ‘blink and miss it’ town in the same region. We get most annoyed when mainlanders refer to Launceston as Lawn-ceston, it is pronounced lon-ceston. Anybody know how they say it in England? Continue reading →