Come for a walk by the river
New print now available
I’m pleased to be able to say the linoprint I showed you in my last newsletter is now available in my shop. By the River is a limited edition (naturally, because it’s a reduction print) of 10 prints. It depicts the stretch of river bank known as New Walk that runs between the Blue Bridge and the Millennium Bridge on the River Ouse in York.
Printed in 11 layers1, the springboard for this print was a ‘Rivers of York’ project chosen by members of York Printmakers to mark our 10th anniversary. When the theme was first suggested I immediately thought of one of my favourite walks along the river (usually combined with either a coffee in the park café or a cone from the ice-cream boat…or both). Fittingly then By the River will make its first real life outing (unframed) at the York Printmakers annual print fair in just over two weeks, and will then, I hope, appear framed for the first time at a special exhibition hosted by Pyramid Gallery in York later in the autumn. More information about that nearer the time.
It has taken me a ridiculously long time to complete this print as I’ve spent a lot of the summer either up a stepladder painting walls, out in the garden attempting to tame the ‘wildlife friendly’ wilderness, or ruthlessly decluttering house and garage, all because of hosting a big family event that happened this past weekend. Did anyone notice that the oven was clean or that the skirting boards had been repainted? Did anyone care? Probably not, but it was the incentive I needed to get a lot of things done. I am an appalling procrastinator and generally need deadlines to prod me into action - and this was a fairly massive deadline. In theory I should now have all the time in the world to produce abundant work in my newly tidy and organised studio, so I am hoping for a productive autumn. (I also have an awful lot of prosecco, beer and cider to get through as so many guests brought bottles with them the supplies I had laid in were barely touched. Whether this helps or hinders the artistic output remains to be seen).
In other news
I have heard this week that I have been accepted for next year’s York Open Studios. To be honest I should ruddy well hope so after all the hours I put in during 10 years on the volunteer committee, but it’s nice to have it confirmed. For those of you organised enough to have your 2026 diaries already, the dates are 18th, 19th, 25th and 26th April. I will of course bombard you with reminders as the event gets closer.
I’m hoping to actually get out of the house over the next week or so (a radical idea, I know) so with any luck when I next write I will have things to tell you beyond simply showing you a half carved new lino block.
Thank you as ever for reading, and apologies to subscribers who have now been told about this new print twice in 48 hours because of being sent a special priority access link2 before it was released publicly.
Jane
There was a short video showing how these layers built up in my last newsletter.
This is a subtle hint that you might want to subscribe to Dapple Scrumping if you don’t already (it’s free) - sometimes you get extra stuff that doesn’t appear on the public Substack site.