... I blogged on this site.

 As an ex AA2Aer I've kept a low profile but since finishing the course things have been ticking along. I've done a show with an artists group, sold some work and got a couple of other irons in the fire. I'm also submitting some work to the RA Summer show for the first time in fifteen years (its a long shot I know - but you've gotta try).

It's a slightly different set up, but I've started making work at home. I've got a mangle which has been in the bits in the garage for years which I've always said i'd convert into a press. Well, after putting it back together to see if all the bits were there I thought I'd give it a go. The good news is that it doesn't need anything doing to it it prints lino just fine as it is!

These are images of my first print. It's a relatively simple print of two mackerel, but it's a start.

I'll be continuing to drop in now and again to keep this site updated but from now on I'll be posting regularly at my new site www.andrew-dalton.com.

I've noticed that its time for new applications to AA2A, and if your thinking about it, I would highly recommend it to anyone.

I'm alittle bit late with the last blog post as i finished last friday, but its been a busy week and only just around to it today. As part of the AA2A we had to deliver a framed work for display at the Darlington Campus of Teeside Uni, and I thought that 'Bird Boy' would be the most appropriate work to represent the AA2A experience for me. Since xmas its been a very productive period for me and I feel that my work has moved on a long way since beginning the course in October.

I've been particularly keen on the figurative images that I've made and I feel they are a real advance in my work. The strangest development has been the emergence of the Bestiary images which emerged form the bird form that suggested itself when I was completing 'Bird Boy'. I've never had any desire to make animal images but these pieces just seem to have come in a rush and have left me with a lot to think about for the future.

My regret is that I didn't get to merge the animal and figurative images, but maybe this is what I take from the experience and develop in future. I had a lot of positive responses to the work and I'm currently looking for opportunities to exhibit in the near future. I've also got to think about making work now that I don't have access to the fantastic press and facilities at the Uni.

I'd like to thank Phil Gatenby and the staff at teeside Uni for offering us such an open-ended opportunity and hope that I keep in touch with my fellow AA2Aers - particularly Jean who was my workshop buddy and a real star. I didn't get to make conatct with the other AA2A artists and it was pity that we did see as much of them.

I'd completely recommend the experience to any artist looking for an opportunity to revitalise their work, but you have to commit to embracing the experience if you are to take something meaningful from it.

Thanks AA2A.

Only two weeks left! can't believe that Its nearly over. I've got five more images to do to complete the Random Bestiary. I was trying to finish another large figurative piece but I just don't think there'll be time.

We had a round up of the AA2A experience with Phil Gatenby, course leader, and my fellow intern Jean. For us its been a very positive experience and access to the resource of the print studio has been a life saver for me. Its revitalised my approach to my art. I've begun a webiste/blog for the ongoing work that will come from this experience www.andrew-dalton.com . So all in all, great - just don't want it to end.

Anyway I tyhink I'll refelect on the experience in a final blog entry in a couple of weeks.

Two more creatures to come.

Carried on with the animal images this week, really getting up a head of steam and finished three new images - frog, newt abd dragonfly. I'm getting the idea together to create as eries of around ten random and apprently unrelated animals to form a sort of bestiary. The longer term idea is to combine the animals and the figures in some kind of composition, but while I'm letting that idea compost in my sketchbook I thought i'd produce a set of animal images. In some part of my mind they represent differing emotional states but I don't want to be too prescriptive about what they mean. I'll let the shrink do the interpretation.

The studio's been really busy over the last few weeks. College have booked in intro sessions for graphics undergrads, who seem to spend quite a lot of time looking puzzled and searching for their Macs. As the sessions don't finish till after easter i've decided to scale things back for while.

I've been working on some images which combine figures and animal images, but its a new direction in terms if imagery so i've been a bit tentative. Anyway this little hiatus has given me the push to try out a few of these ideas.

I seem to have come up with a kind of random bestiary which in some way are conected to the figurative forms but quite how or why I'm not sure. but as with many of these things sometimes its best not to analyse too much and just see where it takes you.

Ultimately I'd like to combine the two into a series of works but first i'm just going to make a series of single animal prints.

Been making contact with some of the fine art students too, there's a small group of printmakers who've been coming in on friday when i'm around, and they've started to feel confident enough to share ideas and discuss work.

The studio was full today, as it will be for the next 5 weeks with graphic design students doing their printmaking module. It's a bit weird going from almost deserted each week to inundated, but i prefer to work in a busy space as a i like it when the banter gets going.

I haven' t been in for a couple of weeks due to work comitments so i was busting to get going. I think i'll have to moderate my plans a bit for the next five weeks though as it was a touch crowded.

I've been thinking about how the make the full length figures slightly more animated, as the drawn outline can flatten and make the figure seem static. I made a cock of registering one of the sections a few weeks ago and the sheets didn't align properly, but wabi sabi (happy accident - i think) intevened and i liked the way the form broke across the sheets. So I though I'd do it deliberatley this time and I think it works well with the diving figure.

I'll be away again next week, so so you in two.

Finally got around to making the full length figure that I've been working towards. bit of a nightmare as I got the alignment all wrong on the second sheet and the hand was on the wrong side of the body. but overall, i'm pleased. I was probably rushong a bit to get it finish today as I'll be away from the studio now for 2 weeks. it'll be interesting when I get back we AA2Aers have pretty much had the place to ourselves, but from early march we've got to share the studio on a friday with 10 designers doing an induction into printmaking... might be a good time to try some digital printing!

Worked on the double sheet lino cut today. Had problems with image registration, but decided in the end that life is too short to be a technical printmaker. A little bit of rock n roll didn't do anyone any harm after all! The images reads quite well across both sheets so that's good enough.

I'm slightly troubled by my recent obsession with bird images and haven't been happy with the way they've worked out. I decided to make a torn lino shape which is an aproximation of a bird-form, but could just as easily be a bin bag. And after railing against ambiguity in an earlier blog I'm much happier with the ambiguous form in this image!

Worked on two new pieces on Friday. I was pleased and surprised by the 'classical' feel that this figure evoked.

I'm trying to push the vinyl lino cutting a bit further. I managed to calm down a bit after getting over ecited about the process last week and solved some of the registration issues, caused because the vinyl foam stretches as its is compressed by the press. Both these images aligned well after a little adjustment with a big spanner.

I'm going to work on a full length figure this week, and I'm also playing with the idea of printing onto acrylic sheet or a thin metal surface like aluminium. Mmmm.