I started a live streamed music radio show on twitch.tv/cropmaster_flex
I’m on every Friday from 9pm til late. You should come party with us… things have escalated since those early days 🕺💃🌈🤣
You can listen back to each week on my Mixcloud here mixcloud.com/Cropmaster_Flex
No really, you should come party. P.A.R.T.Y
I went to see my mate Sam in Sheffield. He’s played keyboard in the ‘little glitches’ for nearly 15 years. They invited me to watch them practise and I did some painting.
It was all the fun.
Click thumbnails for images.
Just picked these up from the print workshop after being away for a couple of weeks. Interesting to see the range of styles and success (or not!) of the printing. Spent last nights session running out an edition from one plate to see how many prints I can get from the aluminium before they get too light – looks like I can only get about 1/2 a dozen before the main lines will need to be re-worked or shelved. Here’s some cheeky photos of the tests I picked up…
As ever, click the thumbnails below for full screen images. tiddly pip!
It begins! :D
Had a really weak session (IMO anyways…)Â on the standard drawing front this week – but I think that’s in no small part due to the fact that I was itching to get on and try my hand at dry-point etching live at Life Class! :D – Its exactly how I hoped it would be, I’ve already caught the bug… Here’s my very first ever proper etching from life:
Apparently Aluminium plates are the thing to use for dry-point etching, not copper plates like I expected. Maybe its cost, maybe its an easier material to work with, who knows does the job tho! I was very pleased with how the 2nd one also turned out:
Cool beans! I’m going to enjoy this etching lark :D I couldn’t resist having a little play in photoshop to give an idea of what a print from the image will look like, so IÂ tweaked the levels for contrast, reversed it out to a negative image and flipped horizontally:
Cool! Its always a bit odd looking at the mirror image of something that was drawn ‘the right way round’, but heh ho, there’s no way round that if you are etching from life and straight to print. I’ll be using some of the images that I have been previously testing to see what happens over the weekend when I try to etch plates from drawings that are pre-reversed out so the final print is the right way round.
So, I’d say that was a successful first run – all systems go for project print the shit out of everything! Here’s the other sketchbook images from tonight for posterity:
And as usual click the images for full screen versions and use the arrows top and bottom of the screen to navigate (apologies for repetition of the prints, not sure how to selectively display images in slideshows and galleries…) – til next time… :D
You’ve gotta love the Old Duke pub on King Street, finest purveyors of squeaky Jazz and Blues Noodlings. Every year they put on a free outdoor jazz festival over the last Summer bank holiday weekend, and it rocks! Last years highlights were ukulele maestro’s the Rinky Dinks and the amazing One man blues machine and Old Duke Sunday resident Eddie Martin and the Little Big Horns. There was even a cameo from DJ Derek singing with Eddie, nice.
I can hand on heart say I witnessed something I’ve never seen before at a Jazz Festival. During Eddie Martin’s encore track there was a spontaneous mosh pit. The middle of the crowd opened and the people inside went mosh-mental! If it was a punk, metal or hardcore fest I could understand it… but the blues? nice.
Dave Cropley 