still lots to learn

old images, tetrapak home-spun-cut-out prints of birds combined with a new stamp from Le Tampographe, an iris! suddenly the bird becomes alive, or should I say, even more so

the beautiful boxes in which they are packaged and sold, they're even signed; I ordered these from the website and they always add a little surprise, in this case the swallow looking to the right (I already owned the one looking left) and so I was able to make the invitation below:

A friend asked me if I would be interested in following a 6 week course on printing techniques, 'twist my arm.....hell yeah' I exclaimed and immediately signed up. The first 2 lessons we practiced tetrapak printing with a proper etching-press and proper etching paper and oil-based etching inks, which makes for far better printing results (I had bought a water-based ink a while back which has a tendency to "run" as the paper needs to be soaked in water). So even though I think I know stuff, I'm learning so much more about the technique of printing. And it's always great to see what and how others go about making their artwork.

"there I was superduper happy after first printmaking class of the yær, fumbling at check out machine in parking garage, I had just laid the wrapped up prints on top of a nærby dustbin & when I turned to collect them they were gone! Some one had folded them double & tossed them into the bin.....for füçk'sake, I cursed # having a bad day a smug lady remarked# GGRRRRR back home I ironed out the cræses as best I could & wrote this tale to remind me"

first results before they were creased&crumpled!

above: me and Snoop in fantasy colours 😉 looking all rosy and happy together

our relationship has been transformed these past two weeks, after a period of decline culminating in two especially frantic episodes, suffice to say these included the death of a cockerel and me being yelled at by angry dog owners.....Where and whom to turn to? Fortunately a training session with dog-whisperer Gregory Pope was already planned (nope not a joke, his real name and I bow to his knowledge and pray for his help & advice) and thanks to his extraordinarily excellent advice cogs in my brain clicked and I realised I had to become Snoopy's boss, and bloody well start behaving like one if we were going to get along! So it went, and so it goes: whenever we 'go for a walk' it's basically a training session which has to feel like play for him, with me staying focused on him, not walking/talking with friends, or looking at my phone, no! anticipate and act preemptively, and you know what, it works. Much to my surprise, he enjoys being bossed about; it made me think, duh, this way he doesn't have to decide what he has to do, I do! It's like raising children: they cannot be expected to always make up their minds about everything. Even though we have had dogs now for several years, the dog-rearing was done by my husband and so it was easy for me in that respect. Now that I have a dog, it's up to me to make it work. Enough about the dog.

I enjoy watching series, documentaries and movies on my laptop in my studio, it's usually on with something playing in the background, and sometimes the moving images are just too distracting and I actually sit and watch; this happened the other day and I found self watching 'Barbie'✨️🎈I love my childhood Barbie dolls, still have a couple and there's allways one in The Dwelling dressed for the occasion.....I adore this movie and think Greta Gerwig did Barbie proud!

a fun booklet 'tips 7 tricks for 2025'

advice I feel I need to adhere to

 OBK in younger years

may we continue to live&learn ❤ and keep on dancing