Since returning from Scotland I've been down at Northern Print making some work inspired by my visit to Herculaneum in the south of Italy.This is the first piece which will be part of the annual 20:20 exhibition, the joint fundraising project run by Northern Print and Hotbed Press in Salford.It is a small etching with aquatint. The image is 12cm x 12cm on paper 20cm square.
This is my photograph of the fragment of fresco which inspired it.
Making an etching involves several processes. Top left, the reversed image is traced on to the zinc plate which is covered with a soft wax ground. It is then placed in nitric acid which bites into the plate where the wax has been removed by the tracing. Top right, the resulting line etching.Bottom left, aquatint is used to add tone to the plate. This is the first proof printed with black ink.Bottom right, the colour proof using two colours.Centre, the finished zinc plate.
The edition of 25 prints - all numbered, titled and signed - made by inking up and wiping the finished plate - 25 times!
It may seem difficult to believe after the wonderful weather of the last week or two, but a month ago in Torridan, this was the only drawing I managed to make in over a week.
Liathach stood proud against the grey, lowering skies for one morning before the rain and gales swept in from the Atlantic.
With cloud down to Loch level each morning and midges galore, we eventually headed for Rannoch Moor.
A lovely sunny evening there gave way to a well clagged-in morning - so back to Northumberland through torrential rain storms - and plans for another trip in the Autumn!
When Lakpa Sherpa and the Adventure14Peaks team set off for Everest with the Joint Indo-Nepal Army Expedition, they also took with them a special team of ten Sherpas. Their job was do a big clean-up of the route between the South Col and Camp 2.
Everest is the Sherpas' mountain and is sacred to them. A Puja ceremony is always held at Base Camp for the blessing of the expedition. Offerings made to the Gods and juniper is burnt for good fortune for the sherpas and climbers.
On this year's trip, the sherpas collected and carried out 4000kg (4 metric tonnes) of rubbish, all collected on the route from the South Col to Camp 2. This is what it looks like!
Lakpa and some of the clean-up team surveying the 'mountain' of rubbish!
An excellent achievement and a job well done!
Namche is the main Sherpa village in the Khumbu and home of the famous Bazaar. Here is Lakpa, back in the village after his successful summit, with the traditional welcoming garland of marigolds and good luck scarf given to all travellers in Nepal.
And he doesn't look in the least bit tired!!
Back in April, you may remember, our Sherpa, Lakpa and his team from Adventure14Peaks.com were setting off with the Joint Indo-Nepal Army expedition to climb Everest. In early May, after acclimatisation climbs as high as Camp 3, the weather closed in with snow and high winds, preventing any early summit attempts. By mid May, more settled weather was forecast and the team were able to set off. Here they are on the way up with their last camp clearly visible below on the rocky area.
Early on 19th May, on a fine, clear morning, the team makes their way on the final stage of their climb to the top of the world. What a fantastic photograph!
Lakpa celebrates the summit. For the second year running, the weather is perfect!
The view from the top - magnificent!
Makes me think of Joe Simpson's evocative description of 'the beckoning silence of great height'
We are incredibly lucky to have such an accomplished guide as Lakpa looking after us on our trips to the Himalaya.
Up at the studio it's beginning to look as if there's some work going on! Three oil paintings on the go, all on paper at this stage - and three different approaches. At least the wall is looking lively!
All this sunny weather has inspired me to take up my watercolour brushes again!
This first painting recalls the storm over the Panchachuli range of mountains in Kumaon, the Nanda Devi area of North East India close to the Nepal border. I made a quick watercolour (second from top on right of wall), watching from my room in Munsyari.
The next morning, in sparkling sunshine, I made the large drawing you can see at the top of the wall, on which the painting is based.
Today I started another watercolour of the same view, but this time I want to capture the sunset over the mountains. The painting above was made all in one go, so that the weather and the mountains become one with each other. This time, I need to work in stages so that the clarity of light and form comes across in the final image - so just the sky and shadow painted and left to dry.
I've been recharging the batteries in sunny Italy! In Rome, Spring had definitely sprung! What a contrast with the grey, cold weather left behind in Northumberland!
Then off to the Amalfitana coast east of Naples and a boat trip to the Isle of Capri. Not my usual choice of destination - but there was still snow to be seen on the mountains as we drove south.
Everywhere was sunshine, intense light, the blue of the sky reflected in the glittering Mediterranean, marble and tiled surfaces radiating heat, giant lemons ripe for the picking in the lemon groves and wisteria, perfuming the air from morning to night with glow worms dancing in the dark.
From our wisteria-hung terrace, a view of the tower which inspired Dutch artist M C Escher to pick up his pen in 1931 and make a lithograph from his drawing.
Inspiration also came from the wonderful ancient frescoes in the churches and villas of Amalfi and Ravello...
....not to mention those at Herculaneum which, along with the buildings containing them, survived the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79. Miraculous!
Fascinating fragments, subtle colours, exciting textures reminiscent of mountain landscapes - maybe these visual feasts will find their way into my work back in the studio.
Since returning from Scotland I've been down at Northern Print making some work inspired by my visit to Herculaneum in the south of Italy.This is the first piece which will be part of the annual 20:20 exhibition, the joint fundraising project run by Northern Print and Hotbed Press in Salford.It is a small etching with aquatint. The image is 12cm x 12cm on paper 20cm square.
This is my photograph of the fragment of fresco which inspired it.
Making an etching involves several processes. Top left, the reversed image is traced on to the zinc plate which is covered with a soft wax ground. It is then placed in nitric acid which bites into the plate where the wax has been removed by the tracing. Top right, the resulting line etching.Bottom left, aquatint is used to add tone to the plate. This is the first proof printed with black ink.Bottom right, the colour proof using two colours.Centre, the finished zinc plate.
The edition of 25 prints - all numbered, titled and signed - made by inking up and wiping the finished plate - 25 times! 
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