Screen Print Finito...Introducing Double Dog

After a long and winding road involving the purchase of poor quality inks, amateurish technique and long periods with very little time on my hands I've finally arrived at my latest finished screen print. Thanks have to go to the knowledgeable fellas at the brilliant gigposters.com who's simple advice regarding squeegee handling and ink viscosity has saved me effort and yet more time.

Painting Collection Finished!

Some decent close-ups of the new collection (thank you Canon!). View the full range at my online gallery...

Marc Lawrence, Ingle (Detail), Acrylic on Canvas, 100cmx70cmx4cm, ©2011

Marc Lawrence, Ingle (Detail), Acrylic on Canvas, 100cmx70cmx4cm, ©2011

Marc Lawrence, The Sun in September (Detail), Acrylic on Canvas, 100cmx70cmx4cm, ©2011

Marc Lawrence, The Sun in September (Detail), Acrylic on Canvas, 100cmx70cmx4cm, ©2011

Marc Lawrence, The Sun in September (Detail), Acrylic on Canvas, 100cmx70cmx4cm, ©2011

Marc Lawrence, Berserker (Detail), Acrylic on Canvas, 100cmx70cmx4cm, ©2011

Marc Lawrence, Berserker (Detail), Acrylic on Canvas, 100cmx70cmx4cm, ©2011

Marc Lawrence, Cadent (Detail), Acrylic on Canvas, 100cmx70cmx4cm, ©2011

Marc Lawrence, Cadent (Detail), Acrylic on Canvas, 100cmx70cmx4cm, ©2011

Fabulously Surreal and Creative Storyteller

As a visual artist I'm more inclined to link to art and design pages but Michael Crowe's site documents several seriously funny-strange anecdotal stories that can't be passed up. Check out 'Shush Party' for starters...put an enormous grin on my mush

Saatchi Gallery, Newspeak- British Art Now Part 2

Another trip up the road for us to the brilliant Saatchi Gallery, King's Road, London. Some of the highlights included paintings by Robert Fry, Toby Ziegler and Jonathan Wateridge. If you're in London this free public gallery is too good to be missed...
A choice selection of the finest cuts (IMHO) below...

 Dan Perfect:

 Nicholas Byrne:

 Luke Rudolph:

 Jonathan Wateridge:

 Robert Fry:

 Robert Fry:

 Toby Ziegler:

 Tessa Farmer:

Painting close ups

A few more work-in-progress shots of the paintings. One of these days I'll take a wideshot of each one but for some reason close-ups with my canon feel more appropriate...

No More Screen Printing Blues!

Thanks to the advice from the folks at gigposters.com for curing my printing process woes. I basically did the following:

Used less pressure on the squeegee (I mistakenly feel you have to be the hulk to pull a colour)
Made sure my ink was thicker
Used a more upright angle of pull

And hey presto!

Screen Printing Blues...

The life of a plucky home screen printer is often a frustrating one and my case in point has been highlighted during this past week as several of my attempts at coating and exposing my screens have gone wrong. Having produced several successful prints before now, I decided to change my ink and emulsion supplier which is when the issues began. Under exposing has caused the emulsion to wash off immediately. Ink too runny causes it to smear under the stencil. Too much pressure on the squeegee means ink bubbles. Poor flooding produces streaking. The list of potential errors is endless. Fortunately I discovered the gigposters.com forum which has proved to be invaluable support and guidance. The guys here have years of experience of screen printing and run their own professional studios and what's best is that they encourage beginners and home users alike with the advice that's needed to get it right. At the end of the day it's all about trial & error and perseverence...Onwards and upwards.
My rubbish prints...