Tag: linoprint

March: in like an Adder’s head..out like a Peacock’s tail.

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The adders were my ongoing subject for Beautiful Beasts in March and this old weather proverb can go both ways, but we had a beautiful sunny weekend so maybe it is going out like a beautiful shimmering peacocks tail this year.
Chris and I had a walk around Woodwalton Fen yesterday which was fascinating. More of Woodwalton Fen to come, but in the early chilly morning it was beautiful. Birds, bees, a distant Marsh Harrier and the black water of the meres  reflecting a struggling sun. I thought about my adders again.

The large adder print …

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The block and some of the mess, the rest is scattered on the floor and around the house.

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2 colours..9.5 x12 inches

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3 colours… A proof print

In all I made 8 prints, each quite different, trying a variety of combinations as I cut away. They don’t call this reduction printing “suicide printing” for nothing! Once you have cut you can’t go back. I will post more stages on Print Daily soon. This is one I liked..

Fenland Adders: Keepers of Peaty Treasures.

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Four colour reduction print 9.5 x12 inches

What’s it about?
Well, in my personal, alternative reality, wild things generally have a better time than in real reality. It’s a grey breezy day with clouds bubbling up in a huge fenland sky.
My beautiful adders, keepers of the secrets buried in the peaty darkness of the fenland soils, rise up to survey their domain. One black and one patterned. They watch the distant peat cutters.
The sensible mouse keeps a safe distance. What are those things scattered in the soil? Who knows what lost treasures, bodies and bones are buried in the peat? It is a subject of enduring and delightful speculation.
It’s back to bees this week!.. then maybe eels 🙂

Four Found Fossils

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I have spent hours experimenting with different combinations of the images and backgrounds. It is a very good exercise for learning about overlays registration etc. I will post more of the stages on Printdaily next week, but for now here are four fossils prints based on the fragments I found here at Grafham.

A is for Ammonite


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B is for Belemnite

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C is for Crinoid

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D is for Devils Toenail

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All are reduction Lino prints: Image 6 x 4 inches I am not quite finished with the fossils yet and am playing about with ideas for a small concertina form which will use the single prints in some way.

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This was a first rough idea.
I hope to get something more done next week. I do like these little book forms.

A Slightly Improved Pig

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I am thinking that a-print-a-day on this blog might be very tedious for my kind readers and this blog tends to be a mishmash of many things so I have decided to corral all the print progress pics into a different blog.
I will put any new developments here too but I think 20 different versions of one print could be too much. It’s just interesting for me to chart the progress.
But if you would like to see what is happening go to PRINTDAILY. There is a link in the side bar too. This was a better print today using oil based inks for the final black.

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Enthusiastic Pig with Acorns… 8” x 6”

Printmaking: Starting properly… with some pigs.

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I am a very new printmaker. Yes I did a bit at college many years ago and some odds and ends since which I really enjoyed, but there is a lot to learn about paper, inks surfaces, tools and different combinations of all those things together.

My first attempts here have been mixed usually due to rushing things so I am going to try to get stuck in this winter and really learn.. from basics up.
My very good friend Den over at Animal Art Blog pointed me to a group who have been posting prints throughout October on Twitter see (#printoctober.) There is some great work there. It’s a bit late for me to contribute but, duly inspired, I have rashly decided to try to print something every day for a while and blog/tweet it. #printdaily

I had an interesting visit to the printmakers shop Intaglio on Saturday. I have to say that I feel very inadequate in these specialist shops. Other customers all seem supremely confident and knowledgeable, ask loudly for obscure things or are on first name terms with the staff.

I sometimes feel an imposter..but hey.. you have to start somewhere.
I came out with new inks and many unasked questions 🙂 Anyway continuing the the pig theme, I have been working on a small print with Chris’ Salute the Pig blog in mind and it may well fit into a new book/print project which is taking shape.
I’m not concerned about making the perfect print, it’s all about experiment at the moment and a chance  to try different papers and inks and combinations of plates. Some first prints..lots more to follow…

The prints are about 8”x 6” some hand printed, some put though the press, different papers etc etc .