Rod Duncan

@rodduncan

Writer. Writing mentor. Printmaker. Photographer. Lecturer. Dyslexia. Aphantasia. ADHD. PhD. Shortlisted for the Philip K Dick Award & the John Creasey Dagger. He/him. No AI slop.

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Rod Duncan@rodduncan· 24d

I framed up the print so I can leave it propped up in the hallway and catch glimpses of it unexpectedly from time to time. That's the only way I know how to decide if I like it. How do you try to achieve objectivity about the things you create? I'd love to know.

Two framed prints leaning against book shelves. The prints show stylised head and neck designs. The nearest one highly abstract, the other expressionist.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· 25d

I think this is the final iteration of the design - for the time being. I've printed up two, with slightly different background variations. I'll need to frame one up and live with it for a few days before knowing if I like it. But that aside, I've learned a lot through the process. #Printmaking

Two prints hang from a line in a cluttered garage. Each shows a stylised head and neck. Something vaguely Easter Island about the design. Also a roughly drawn circle, bottom right. The background of each shows angular patterns, which radiate from the circle.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· 27d

Latest test print from this design. The border has been ditched. And a colour has been introduced. If I'd the capacity to visualise, perhaps I wouldn't need to go through so many iterations to get half way there. (If, indeed, I've reached the half way point...)

Stylised design of a head and neck, as if the head is glancing down at a roughly drawn circle. All in black relief print on grey white paper. A bar of pinkish red angles up from the circle and across the face, fading as it goes.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· 27d

Early test print. Provisional title: The Moon is Born. Not sure what I think of it yet. But I really neede to make something.

Relief print. Highly stylised heads and neck. It seems to be looking sideline ay a roughly drawn circle on the ground.

Blue vinyl with a design marked onto it. A carving tool rests on top. The design is a highly stylised heads and necks with a roughly drawn circle near the ground.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· 27d

I'm really enjoying the freedom of charcoal and scrap paper. The 'scrapness' of the paper is key. I'm reticent to waste anything. But having a stack of paper half-used, so to speak, allows me to make bad art without feeling bad. (Of course, the act of making art can't be bad.) #charcoal

A sheet of scrap A4 paper on which single line has been marked in charcoal. The line curls round on itself, forming the stylised image of a head and neck. As if an Easter Island statue were to angle its gaze down with a skeptical air. A stick of charcoal lies on the paper next to the drawing.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· 28d

A glimpse into my visual art practice, which is fuelled be home made charcoal and heaps of scrap paper.

A kitchen table on which many sheets of A4 have been laid. On each has been drawn a pair of highly stylised heads. A stick of charcoal rests on the nearest one.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jul 13

The view over Borth from the top of the back road from Aberystwyth. #Borth #Ceredigion #Cymru

A road. A hillside. In the distance, the sea, the low village, the distant mountains. All this in golden-hour light.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jul 13

View right now from where I'm staying. #Borth #Ceredigion #Cymru

The sun has set. The sky is dark blue fading to pale blue to yellow to peachy red. Tree leaves as silhouettes.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jul 13

Cwm Rheidol yesterday. #Ceredigion #Cymru

White water cascades over and between rocks, some in shade, some in full sun. Dense foliage in the background under a clear blue sky.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jul 11

Just after sunset. #Borth #BaeCeredigion #Cymru

The sky over the sea and the coast. The sun has set. Bands of inksky still show against the darkening sky.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jul 9

As dusk fell and a sea mist rolled in, we happened upon a beached jellyfish. There was something about the light that made me stop.

In the dusk, there is sand and sea and sketch. On the sand, which occupies 80% of the picture, lies a beached jellyfish, almost luminous in the last of the light.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jul 8

Weird, beautiful, pearlescent light on the water and in the foggy sky at sunset. #Borth #Ceredigion #Cymru

A panoramic view over the sea and coast. A sea fog has rolled in but patches of light still find their way.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jul 8

I made the mistake of not bringing my DSLR camera...

Two fuchsia flowers bathed in sun against a shady background.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jul 8

Where I'm calling from. #Borth

Borth. This image feels like a vertical panorama. The beach (15% of the height of the image), the bay (the next 15%), the sky (the remaining 70%). Blue sky. Hazy.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jul 2

I made this when I was 14 or 15. A rare positive memory from school.

A ceramic abstract form. Something vaguely Henry Moore in terracotta.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 29

Morning sketch. #charcoal

Very loose charcoal sketch of a face, neck and shoulders. The charcoal lies on top of it.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 28

Breakfast sketching. Charcoal on scrap paper. 'A whisper in your ear'.

A piece of rough willow charcoal on a piece of scrap paper. One line has been drawn, making a highly stylised impression of one head whispering into the ear if another. The heads have no eyes - because that would require more than one line...

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 26

Sunset light narrowly reaching the wall above the stairs, which is only lit like this near mid summer.

Picture of flowers hung on a wall, viewed from below. All is dark but for one narrow splash of golden hour sunlight.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 23

I hope Nolan cast an actor who was actually fathered by a swan to play Helen of Troy. Anything else would completely undermine the historical accuracy of the movie. #Odyssey #Nolan

Charcoal sketch showing the heads and necks of two swans.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 23

Morning charcoal sketching.

A kitchen table cluttered with piles of scrap paper, rudly covered in charcoal sketches. They are of weirdly distorted faces. Something vaguely Easter Island or Picasso in the influence. One sheet lies in the foreground with a stubborn end of home made willow charcoal lying on top of it. The face has been constructed from a single line. The line starts with the right eye, moves to the right brow, down the nose, then up yje other side to the left brow, down the cheek bone to chin and back up the right side of the chin, all the way to the top of the head, across the top, which is flat, then following back down, just outside the left side of the face, to eventually form the neck below.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 20

The sun is about to set and its light has angled through to a place it doesn't usually reach - the wall above the stairs. #midsummer

A painting of flowers hangs of a wall. A vivid splash of light lies partly across it. The light is golden hour yellow from the setting sun. Everything else is dark in comparison.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 19

Some months ago, I bought a pair of shoes. Naturally, the tissue paper they were wrapped in, I stashed away in my art box (Okay... one if my art boxes.) So here is a bit of fun, monoprinting on the tissue and then relief printing over the top. As I said, bit of fun. No more than that.

A sheet of tissue paper on which is a print of two armoured snakes or dragons fighting. Each thinks it is biting the other's tail. But they are tangled and confused. If their teeth break through the armour, they will realise they are biting themselves.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 18

Last night's moon. I was holding the camera without tripod - hence the slight wobble.

A thin sliver of moon, blue grey in a blue black sky, the craters on the line of dawn just picked out. The dot of a planet hovers just above it.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 17

Another mashup of relief print and monoprinting.

The pale shadows of 9 flying birds arranged in a grid, each in a different flying position. The background is black and orange and highly textured.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 16

Experimenting with monoprint backgrounds for relief printing.

Lino print of three figures looking down, ahead and up. The image is printed roughly on an uneven blue and white background. Above is something that could be a night sky.

Lino print of three figures looking down, ahead and up. The image is printed roughly on an uneven blue and pink background. Above is something that could be a night sky.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 13

Art House Leicester is such a wonderful festival of creativity. Many thanks to the people opening their homes. And to the artists exhibiting. We did half today and hope to do the rest tomorrow. Here's our haul of cards so far... share.google/QWwU8AioVCK8...

Eight art greeting cards on a kitchen table. Several are reproductions of lino prints. The subjects are flowers and landscapes.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 7

Here is the framed print. Note to self: make the design a fraction smaller next time. The windows in these standard pieces of mountboard are a shade too small. And I can't afford to produce custom frames. #framing #Linoprint #crows

A framed print of 9 flying crows in various contorted mid air postures. The frame is propped on a bookcase.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 7

Adding chop marks and pencil text to my latest print edition.

Six linoprints laid mostly on top of each other on a kitchen table. Each shows 9 flying crows. (Though only the top one is fully visible.) The prints are black and white. But each has a small red 'rd' chop mark bottom right. The words 'Crow Catalogue' are are hand written in pencil at the top of the uppermost print.

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 3

Spotted on my walk.

A red poppy by a copper leaved hedge under a blue sky

Rod Duncan@rodduncan· Jun 2

Feeling a lack of the creative self-belief today. This emptiness visits me from time to time. It only stays for about 3 days before I can start making things again. (Setting my calendar for Thursday...) But in the meantime, I've framed up these two recent prints. #linocut #expressionist #RBD