Wednesday 6th February
I have now had two days at the print studio and its love. Although I am not allowed to handle the electric offset press, it is a wonderful machine, which I would kill to have available in London. Torsten who is the master lithographer helping me is kind, helpful, good humoured and utterly precise. They are all horrified and amazed at the way I work, never having seen anyone make monoprints directly onto a plate next to the machine and churn out layer after layer. Still it appears to be working and on Friday we will put a photographic plate over the monoprint and see how it looks.
This place is so utterly civilised, completely orderly and yet relaxed and easy going. There is an area set aside for meetings and meals with a round table and wooden chairs. There are plants on all the windowsills. There is green tea in hand made ceramic bowls poured from a giant tea pot at 10 am and at 1pm everyone gathers for lunch bringing an interesting assortment of homemade food. There is more to be written on this model studio, I am totally impressed with its combination of excellent facilities and master printers and low key approach.
Dresden as a city also continues to fascinate me. Late this afternoon after a trip to the equivalent of Homebase to buy plywood for woodcuts, I walked along the riverbank, still covered in snow from last night to the opera house to buy a ticket for the Marriage of Figaro on Friday night. How cool it is to be able to walk along the river in 15 minutes to the opera?
Tomorrow brings a meeting with an artist in the morning and a trip to the archives in the afternoon though this may be swapped for some time in the studio working on a woodcut. Torsten is away and the excellent Udo the master wood and typography printer is there.
Despite my best endeavours I have not yet found really good cake in Dresden, this may be good for my waistline but I am thinking about the amazing piece of poppy seed cake I had last week in berlin at German Historical Museum and wondering where its Dresden equivalent can be found? This will of course be the first question I can ask tomorrow.