Rosanna Reade Art

The Junk Drawer

Sometimes I want to walk to the sea
And tip out the contents of my brain.

Like clearing out an old junk drawer
All the defunct wires, receipts and keys.

I'd watch things sink or float and maybe
That would help me decide what to keep.

A clean slate.
A new leaf.
........

Print and poem by me!

Oh man, I'm ok with sharing art. But sharing words is not something I've ever done, it's terrifying! 🫠
My handwriting is dire, if anyone with a letterpress or typewriter wants to write it up nicely for me please let me know haha.

For the past couple of months, most of my work has been for other people. Don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful for anyone who wants my work and asks me to do things, but I also knew that I was craving making something for me.

I love making my room prints, but making a lino graphic novel is one of my dreams, so maybe it is another little step towards that.

Hope you like it, but also if you don't, I really don't care 😉
.......

Some good news before I take a little break back in Ireland!

Somehow I overlooked the email to tell me that my print Ten Past Ten was accepted into the Ironbridge Fine Arts Printmaking Competition 2024! 🫣☺️🎉🥂

I love this print so much, and I'm so pleased it has been received well too. Am I a bit scared I'll never make anything better than this? Sure! But I'll roll with this one while it lasts.

Trying to work out if I can make it to Shropshire for the opening in September.

I have no more originals for sale unless you come to find me in person at the following events!

Festival of Scottish Printmaking - 16-18 August 2024


Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair - 17-20 October 2024


And of course there will be one at the Ironbridge exhibition.

Loving these little frames I got for my tiny prints!

Who can resist this little irish trio!

The prints and frames will be coming with me to the V&A Dundee this weekend. I'll be there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Any tips for food in Dundee?

Thanks also for all the nice messages about finding copies of my prints on Temu. Seems like they steal from a lot of people, it was depressing how many people replied saying they'd found their work on there. It's nasty feeling like you're a part of some faceless websites success. Hopefully I can get them down.

Friday morning vibes and starting work on a new Atlantis print!
🐠🏺🪸🌊🐚

I love my studio but my desk is under the stairs, and when the sun shines (rarely) it's nice to bring my work back to my flat and work at the kitchen table.

I started work on an Atlantis sketch in 2022, but I've never been happy with it. Until yesterday when things just clicked. So weird how that happens! I've been quite well behaved this week with finishing up a couple of commissions and lots of admin, so I've allowed myself to just jump into it last night and this morning. When the flow is flowing you gotta go with it!

Also I swore I wouldn't use this blue lino again but here we are. 🫠

The joy of a new ink and a proper camera!
In my excitement about these two things, I printed one of my all time favourite prints in ultramarine blue. The colour is so vivid, I am in love.

🐟THE SALMON OF KNOWLEDGE🐟

This print was inspired by the myth of the salmon of knowledge, an Irish story about two giants. It's not a direct representation!

Here's the myth if you are interested. Credit to and legends .com where I have borrowed this from!

In the river Boyne in Ireland there was a magic fish called the Salmon of Knowledge. It was said that the first person to taste its flesh would be wiser than all other men. Finegas was a poet who lived near the River Boyne. He was one of the wisest men in Ireland. Finegas had tried for seven years to catch the fish with no luck.

A young warrior named Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) had come to live with Finegas. Fionn was unaware of the legend about the salmon of knowledge. When Fionn asked Finegas why he spend his days fishing, Finegas just smiled and gave no answer. Then one morning in springtime, Fionn heard a shout and a mighty splash. Finegas had caught a salmon. It was a beautiful fish and its body shone like silver. Finegas immediately knew he had caught the salmon of knowledge.

Finegas was tired after his struggle to catch the fish, so he told Fionn to cook it. Finegas warned Fionn not to eat the fish, not even a mouthful. Fionn built a fire and cooked that salmon very carefully, but when he was turning it, the hot skin burned his thumb. He quickly put his thumb into his mouth to take away the pain.

When Fionn brought the fish to Finegas. The wise poet noticed there was something different about Fionn. “Have you eaten any of the salmon?” Finegas asked. Fionn told Finegas he hadn’t, but then he remembered he had burnt his thumb and put it in his mouth. Finegas knew at once that Fionn now had the wisdom of the salmon of knowledge. Soon afterwards Finn left Finegas and went on to become leader of the Fianna and the greatest warrior they had ever known.

 

It's not Tuesday but here's a new !
And a whole gathering of them.

A spaniel, for all the crazy spaniel people.

Yesterday was a big printing day of tiny prints!

I'm always happy to take requests for tiny prints too, can't promise I'd make them!

"Toppled"
Black and white linocut print on A3 paper.

I don't feel like explaining this one 🙂
You can guess if you like!

Can't stop drawing scenes. This one pulls a few characters and objects from previous prints.

Pebble Women linoprints 🪨
(Though in my mind they're called blob women, but that doesn't sound as good)

How I feel about the world at the moment, and especially today on polling day.

They'd been living in my sketchbook for a while, so gave them lino life.

✨️Half Past Seven✨️

4 layer reduction linocut print on Somerset Satin paper
20x20cm

They will be going on sale on 3 July! There are roughly 20 in the edition (I need to do some official checking and editioning). I'll send out a link to my newsletter subscribers first, the link to sign up is in my bio 😌

And yes I will hopefully get this one turned into a riso print too!

Not to overshare, but I've been facing a bit of insomnia over the past two weeks, so if I haven't responded to your messages or emails, please do give me a little nudge!

A few non-printing related photos from my trip to Mull and Iona last weekend. 🌊🐚🦭

I am totally in love with these islands and will most definitely be going back 💙

I have veered away from landscapes in my reduction printmaking, because I never feel that they can match the beauty of the real thing, and there are some incredible printmakers who do it fantastically (see Laura Boswell).But I'm feeling quite inspired to make a Mull reduction print. So we will see.

1. Drawing a postcard of Mull in the sand (it didn't work out that well so sorry no pic 🫠).
2. Sunset from Fidden (my camera roll is about 50% sunset to 50% prints now)
3. Knockvologan beach
4. Ferry Port hole with rain on the sea
5. Buoy tree
6. Goat friend (I love goats)
7. Oyster catcher friend
8. Chicken friends
9. Carved burial stone (I think?!) Iona monastery
10. High Stone Cross taking me back to my Irish Leaving Cert Art History exam

🐚🌊🧜🏽‍♀️🐦⛰️
Sometimes a simple black and white print is just the best...

Hoping to be living these prints in c.6 hours. Packing up and getting ready for my camping trip to the Isle of Mull today. It's been too long since I was in the wilderness!

I met a lovely group of Marine Biologists at the Summerhall Market on Sunday who gave me a lot of lovely feedback on my sea themed prints! If you see this, thank you!

2 layers of Half Past Seven, a new reduction linocut print I'm working on 🔵🟡

Layer 3 going down on Wednesday I hope! It's going to be green... mixing the right shade is quite tricky because it needs to account for the blue shining through slightly. But mixing ink is definitely one of my favourite parts of printing.

The sunlight pouring in through the print room windows is so glorious, but a bit rare the last few weeks. Please Scotland, can we have some more sunshine?!
I'm off on Thursday for my first break and weekend off of 2024. Self-employment has been amazing so far in lots of ways, but weekends don't really exist. I'll be camping on the Isle of Mull (so yes, sunshine would be very nice please).

Working on my menagerie 🐟🐈‍⬛️🐕🐦🐇

A selection of my linoprint (or risoprint of a linoprint) animals.

My family dog (a black lab) might be having puppies in the Autumn... so I may have to keep one 🙃🙃🙃

🍇🍊🧄🍓🍅🥬
A Well Balanced Diet

I'm back in Northern Ireland again this weekend for a wedding. I'm excited to get in the studio next week to start on a new reduction print! The drawing stage has taken weeks, but I think I am there.

I like being able to vary between making smaller quicker blocks like these, and big ones that take weeks. It scratches the carving itch while I'm planning.

My latest linoprint print for wonderful

I really liked the angle of this one! It was fun to explore the stonework in light and shade. And I love the shop downstairs.

🪸I am 34 today!🪸 But here's what the kids are calling a photo dump.

Life has been seriously busy lately with lots of markets, weddings, and travelling around the country, with not much time for actually making art, so thanks for bearing with me and looking at the same prints. I am looking forward to focusing on actual printmaking in June and July! 🐦

1. Is it just a Northern Irish thing to be morbidly obsessed with the Titanic as a child? On the bright side, I remember having to take this photo to show what we wanted to be when we were older. It might have taken me a while to get here, but honestly I'm so grateful to everyone who is helping to keep my dream job alive. 💙

2. Some prints that will be in Super Seconds this weekend!

3. My stall at . Had the best day here, such lovely people, amazing artists, and so well organised.

4. Victoria St when I was visiting the Red Door Gallery recently.

5. A seriously good Sycamore in Glenarm forest.

6. Getting closer to actually making a new print!

7. I got this 1970s velvet dress in Armstrongs for £26 and it's my favourite item of clothing now.

💫if you read this far, I've also put 20% off everything for 24 hours as a birthday present 💫

#1990

You'll find me and all of my riso prints and lino prints at on Saturday 4th May!

Can't wait, I love the opportunity to chat printing and hang out with other printmakers! 😊

Ten Past Ten Risograph print is hereeeee!
✨️🐕⏰️🏔🃏🍫📚🍳

She's a bit smaller than the original, and more teal (which is actually what I originally planned) but she's come out really well.

A3 Risograph print on 100% recycled paper.

(I love when my shell collection comes in handy for photoshoots.)

On the website that starts with E and my own one too! If you're UK or US I really appreciate you using mine, anyone else it's best to use E!

print

Very excited to be running this 4 week workshop with talented at ! ☘️

Block Print & Sew

Join us as we take you through the steps to block print a pattern on sustainable fabric made from nettles, and then sew your own very unique top 🧵

Learn two creative disciplines here in in Edinburgh, on Wednesday evenings, starting on the 15th of May. 

Follow the link in our bios to get all the info and book your place.

We can't wait to see you there! 💚

There are twice the amount of you following me compared to three weeks ago, which is very cool and slightly daunting, so I thought I should say hi and introduce myself 👋

Please enjoy this photo of me with my print which I took in my shared garden, very aware that my neighbours were watching me bemusedly.

Here's a little bit about me:

✨️After printmaking and animals/nature, my third love is wooly jumpers. The spotty one here is a particularly good find from Donegal. I've recently discovered Amano jumpers and am now obsessed.

✨️I am a self-taught printmaker! I started off in my kitchen with an essdee beginner set,a 30th birthday present from my Aunt. I fell in love with it straight away after years of struggling to find a medium I loved.

✨️I studied History of Art at Uni because I thought it would be a better career choice (lol). I don't regret it, but I do regret spending the vast majority of my 20s barely making any art because I thought it was too late (I know 🤨). I thought I could live the corporate girl life and I was very wrong. Making, drawing and crafting was all I did as a child, and an artist was all i aspired to be. I've had to work very hard to get here and it's not easy, but it is 1000000% worth it.

✨️Stories and narratives are absolutely key to me, I don't just make a print because it looks nice.

✨️I love yoga, climbing, hiking, camping, swimming and most outdoors things.

✨️One day I want to make a graphic novel in linoprint.

✨️I've got 3 tattoos, a shell, a fish and a mountain.

Ok i think thats enough oversharing now. Thanks for being here!

A few close ups of Ten Past Ten!

(If you're wondering what that spherical object on the windowsill is, it's one of those old fashioned glass buoys on a rope!)

I'm particularly happy with the way the chocolate bar came out as well as the yellow and blue highlights on the chair.

I've was thinking about some of my influences on the train back from London yesterday. Going way back to childhood, I loved Usborne Adventure books where you had to search for details (like a grown up Where's Wally) and This Old House by Leo Hartas, which was a cross section of a town house shown at different times of day. So I think these detailed pictures with lots of things to look at satisfy some childhood interest in detail.

Working on a plan to get these on sale. I also hope to make them into Riso prints but they'll be more fiddly than the others to sort out so that will be a few weeks away!

Ten Past Ten
🕰🍫🕯🪑🐕🐈🃏🔥

My favourite print (so far) :)

This isn't a real place! I drew it from scratch, inspired by memories of trips to Donegal and Scotland. I love creating these spaces, and imagining their inhabitants, and my sketchbooks are slowly filling up with made up rooms that might make it to lino.

Some of the items are symbolic, and personal to me and my family. There are chess pieces for one brother, Risk for my dad, whiskey for the other brother, and seaweed for my mum. The only book with a name is for me haha (Can you see it?). But I really enjoy knowing that other people might also find personal symbols and resonances within it too. We share so many of the same experiences!

This is a reduction lino cut print, which means that the block is now effectively destroyed and I can never print more. There were 4 layers of ink, yellow, red, blue and black. I love how the different colours have affected each other and there's a lovely depth to the blue because of the colours behind it. I think the edition will be between 35 and 40 prints.

If you're interested in hearing about the launch of this print (Most likely next week) there's a link to sign up to my newsletter in my bio! I can't tell you how much all thr positive feedback so far means.

(So hard to get a good photo with just a phone, might need to borrow a camera to do this one justice!)

Progress on the final layer of Ten Past Ten (Bothy/Cottage print)! 📚🃏🔥🪟

It's a bit terrifying carving away large sections of your own work and knowing you can't take it back.

Hoping to get a test print before Easter but we will see!

.tools

I'm very into blue/teal and red at the moment as a colour combination, so this print is fuelled by that. 🟦🟥

A couple of little details from layer 2 and layer 3 of the cottage/bothy print (which I think will be called 10 past 10). 🕙

This print has been a bit of a revelation... not only am I loving using the traditional lino in comparison to softcut, but also I'm loving the reduction process. I think now I've got my set up right and I can trust the registration.

Excited to get the next layer done!

🖌Lino Printing Workshops 🪛

I designed some nice new flyers, feat. my hand and a new logo!

I've got a few more workshops on sale for March, April and May, including an improvers class and a block printing one.

Prices and all other info on my website, in my bio!

They are in Edinburgh, but also open to doing them from homes/other places so please get in touch if you have any questions at all.

Lino on top, riso on the bottom! 🐈‍⬛️🐕

Nice to see the gang all together. You can see the main difference between the lino and the riso, is the background colour of the original Bed Thief vs the Riso. P.S.

I've got a couple of original Bed Thiefs (thieves?) available for pre order which will be sent out end of March, but otherwise I'm holding the rest back for events 😊

If you have one of these prints, please do send me pics!! I love to see where they've ended up.

I am very very excited to share that I am now a Co on .co , a wonderful platform for small businesses in the UK, created by !
🎉🪅🥂💃🏻

It's a big honour to be included on this curated list and amongst such other great makers and artists. Thanks Holly and team!

Feeling very grateful for the things 2024 has brought me so far, and for everyone who has supported me 💙

Fruit Party and Vegetable Parade
🍓🍇🍊🍒🥬🍅🥕

Had a very colourful day printing these recently. I love imagining them in people's kitchens, I think that's mostly where they end up!

The blocks are cut from speedy carve rubber so I've been contemplating printing them onto fabric....

Another wrap up of the daily February prints, and taking advantage of (and joy in) the sunshine coming through the print room windows!!!! 🌞 that you spring?

Feb 20 : The Salmon of Knowledge
Feb 14: Cats and their People
Feb 18: Mr Rabbit
Feb 19: Lemur class
Feb 21: OctoPuss in boots
Feb 16: Berghain bouncer
Feb 17: Harpy
Feb 15: Dragon
Feb 12: Q Tip Fairy

More animals than people for this batch.
Fairy is my least favourite, and Mr Rabbit is my favourite. Managed to get the side eye I wanted in. 🧐

I might miss a couple of days this weekend as I'm headed to Bruges with my family for Dad's birthday present. Any tips? Dad chose it because of the movie....

A little wrap up of some daily February characters:

1. Feb 7th: People and their dogs 2
2. Feb 3rd: People and their dogs 1 (the art critics)
3. Feb 8th: People and their dogs 3
4. Feb 9th: People and their dogs 4
5. Feb 10th: People and their dogs 5
6. Feb 6th: The Lost Pirate
7. Feb 5th: Mad Seagull Man
8. Feb 4th: Sunday

Variety of sizes! Printed in Speedball super graphic black ink. Some have taken a few hours, others 20 mins.

So far it has been really enjoyable, and it's quite fun seeing what comes out of my brain when I only have 20 mins to carve. Mostly people and their dogs, it seems!

My favourite I think is the eco pirate using a plastic bottle as a telescope.

I got some excellent suggestions too, which might make an appearance next week!?