Welcome

Welcome to my blog, if you've come here after reading about me in the Otago Daily Times. (That's a direct link to the article.)



This is the personal section of Ampersand Duck, and you'll find a mixture of things, ranging from printing adventures through to things that might be a bit hard to read, and even further down to absolute fluff, like this:



The 'real' or more formal writing about my work is at my website. I quite often direct people there if they have more refined sensibilities.

Otherwise, enjoy, hang around, leave a comment or two.

Postscript: and my goodness, I've been made into an instructional video by some earnest Bibliography students!

Game Over, dudes

Yesterday Natalie, my excellent studio resident, and I sat down and scanned the fruits of her labour. How's this for eye-popping?



I've just written a couple of posts about the student residency itself and Natalie's working process, and put the posters up at my Duckshop, which is where you can buy much of my work, and now the work of people who make things with me. Fun! If you can think of anyone who would like to support Natalie's work by buying or promoting these broadsides, please spread the word.



So. Next I need to finish my Book Art Object edition, make solid plans for my NZ experience, teach a few workshops (Megalo, Tuggeranong Arts Centre, Book Studio Winter Typography School. If you'd like info about any of these, head to my website) and organise Peter's broadside residency. Amongst other, more domestic things that need to be done. Is that enough to be going on with? I think so...

Exhibitionist

I don't know if anyone's noticed, but I've been steadily rebuilding my website, and I've even added a new Duckshop...

I've had a really busy weekend. Friday I drove up to Sydney to deliver some works to a group show I'm in soon. Here's the invite:



Just in case you can't see the image, let me tell you the deets:

Brenda May Gallery: Paper Works
23 March to 11 April 2010
2 Danks St, Waterloo, Sydney
Opening: 4 to 6pm, Sat 27 March

I'm very excited, I'm in exalted company, and I'm showing two pieces from my solo show in Canberra last year.

Unfortunately, I can't make the opening, because I'm going to a wedding at the National Gallery of Australia that promises to be posh and lush and unforgiveable to miss. But, if you're in Sydney, I hope you can pop your head into either the opening or the actual show in normal gallery hours.

I spent all day in Studio Duck today printing. Printing, printing, printing. Mostly printing bookplates for my mother-in-law as a present for her impending 70th birthday party, and then printing splash posters for another upcoming group exhibition I'm in...





This is the invitation I designed for the gallery after I printed the first proof of the wood type. I've been printing more of the text onto sheet music and newsprint to plaster through Canberra and the National Folk Festival, since we've timed the exhibition to coincide with the Festival.

Do come to this opening, if you're in Canberra (6pm Wed 31st March). We've got Dr Stovepipe playing, and they're a most excellent outfit.

Yawn... bedtime.

Fark

Do you know what I just did?

I went to back up my website (www.ampersandduck.com*) and clicked the wrong button.

And now I've wiped the entire thing.

Mammoth FAIL.

I have a back up of the rotating headers, but that's all.

I think I'll go to bed. Or should I stay up all night creating a new website?

FAAAAARRRRKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Not quite a glass of wine on the laptop, but for someone with an urgent 'to do' list as long as my cat's tail, it's a bit of a bad thing.

:(


*link added there so you, hopefully only for a short time, can see for yourself.

duck up

Yay, website fixed. Thanks for the kind offer, Tigtog, but all it needed was a bit of nagging after a slack weekend.

duck down

Apologies to anyone trying to access my formal website. I got an email telling me that it would be down for a day for some hosting software enema or some such thing, and two days later it is still down, although my dashboardy thing looks ok and everything is still intact behind the scenes. Frustratingly, I seem to have trashed the email, and I didn't get a chance to sit and contact my hosting service today (too busy going to the art school to pick out two future duckettes -- but more on that this weekend) so it's still down.

Sorry.

Let's all take this moment to breathe. In, out. In, out. Try not to think about Australian politics, and especially not about swimming costumes. In, out.