#dolbadarn

Castell Dolbadarn, Gwynedd, Wales

Today I’d like to show you my first ever dry point print.

It’s of Castell Dolbadarn in Llanberis.

I made the plate, scratching into a plastic sheet, at a "Meet and Make" session at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight on the Wirral one Saturday last month. I got to print the phthalo green version there too, using a printer we rolled our work through. I printed the other versions at home, with my husband’s help pressing down on a static lino cut printer. The hardest part was spreading the ink and then wiping it back off, so it stays in the lines scratched in the plastic but not in the places it’s not wanted!

To find out more, including who built this castle and how to get to it, please go to:

Phthalo green:

Burnt Sienna Hue (the red one):

Sepia:

Woodies Colour Pencils:

Thanks!

Dolbadarn Castle

Sculpted out of resin and clay

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.”

(Albert Camus)

The photo is one of some sphagnum moss that I took on the path up to Dolbadarn Castle near Llanberis recently, on Steve and my little three-night break to Caernarfon. We were tired after a busy December, but seeing new things, some walks, some exposure to the beauty of nature and getting to practice our Welsh with lots of very kind Welsh first-language speakers has been really good for us.

The image of the moss I framed in my phone’s camera, with the vivid life-filled green in the depth of winter, spoke to me of new growth and of how I would choose to be: with a “sunny disposition” despite the darkness of the season.

Wishing you a boost of inner sunshine for the week ahead!