This time Saturday night we will be in Italy. I'm excited for the trip and for the reason why we are going (see march fifteenth entry) but the flight, specifically the take-off, has me thinking that if God had meant us to fly he'd have given us capes (that's a Superman reference by the way). Once I'm up there I'm O.K. It's that initial rush as the 'plane thunders down the runway trying desperately to get off the ground before the ground runs out.

I'm sure I'll be fine...no, really.

This is the next in my 'Pantheon' series of prints. It was originally going to be entitled 'Gorgons', of which there were three. As you can plainly see, only one made it into the final image, so I guess that this should now be titled 'Medusa'. No, she doesn't have snakes for hair. It's representational, o.k?

I've just seen the last ever episode of Battlestar Galactica and it was...Frakkin'...Awsome! I've also just realised that much of the cultural and religious references in the show were based around Greek mythology. Just like the last few prints that I've done. Coincidence, eh?

No, honestly.

And yes, I am a first class Geek (no not Greek). Want to make something of it?

Another successful week. God, two in a row, eh? Seems like things really are falling into place at last. Here is the second print in what I'm now calling the Pantheon series and they will be produced in an edition of fifty each. This is Hades in all his glory. You'll notice that I've Left the dogs off the final image. Thought they made the design unbalanced. I know that there should be a Cerberus reference in here somewhere but, hey, artistic license is a wonderful thing.

Here is the next print that I'm working on. This is Hades. Not sure about the dogs or the size of the skull face.

After what seems like months of the 'trial and error' printmaking method, I think that, FINALLY, I've discovered the secret of executing a successful print.

In the six months that I've been screen printing my success rate has to be about 50% which in my book is just unacceptable. I thought that the processes were firmly planted in my brain and, therefore, I should be able to produce a good print every time. Unfortunately this was not so. I was becoming more frustrated every week which only proved to make matters worse.

A couple of weeks ago I decided that it was high time that I invested in some screens of my own. The good folk at Wicked Printing Stuff were able to supply me with advise and a couple of screens at a really good price. This was a huge step forward but something was still amiss as the images on the screens were still a bit dodgy.

My eureka moment arrived on Sunday when I realised that allot of the acetate's that I'd run off for prints that hadn't been 100% successful had been printed at the wrong resolution. WHAT A DUMB ASS!!! This meant that some light was getting through during the exposure process and screwing up the stencils.

Armed with this knowledge I attempted the Ares picture from last week and (drum roll please) everything went perfectly. And I mean perfectly. There were no errors, no blemishes, no half printed tones. Just a perfect print. In fact it is so perfect that the image of it here looks just like the digital version form the post on Feb 27Th.

I am so pleased with the way this has come out. One down, three to go.

The countdown to Tuscany has begun.

Four weeks from today I will be here. And here is Garfagnara, Tuscany, Italy. How great is that. I'm expecting lush, verdant landscapes and azure blue sky's and from the looks of thing that's exactly what I'll get.

The trip is actually a joint 40Th birthday celebration for our Friends Paul and Varinia. No, she isn't Italian but she does share her name with Spartacus's wife. Cool, eh? There's fourteen of us going, all told so the trip should be a blast. I'm hoping to find a few quiet moments to do a little sketching. We are staying in an old monastery (is there any other kind) so the architecture should be a combination of rustic functionality and religious grandeur. As a rule I'm not one for sketching landscapes etc. but this is too good an opportunity to pass up.

Can't wait.

Here is the Ares image that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. I'm really pleased with the way it's come out. I'm trying to produce three more along the same theme for a new show that should be up sometime in April. If only I could get my screen printing act together...Yep, that's right. It all went 'tits up' at the studio again this week. Even managed to trash one of the screens in the process. Don't think Pandora was best pleased.

This is just plain scary.

Oook.

It's been a long couple of weeks.

Weeks in which nothing much has happened. Apart from too much day job and not enough time for my own work. I'm trying to come up with a series of prints that have a common theme. I keep getting flashes of ideas based around Greek mythology, specifically Ares, for no apparent reason. Something must have sparked this, although I have no idea what. So I'm just going with it to see what happens.

I also have another invitation to design. This time it's a twenty fifth wedding anniversary. Something tasteful and sophisticated is called for. Bugger! Stylish, funky and hip I can do, tasteful and sophisticated is something altogether different. We'll see how that shapes up.