Tag: woodcut

Twelve Trees Book at The Logan Press

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Over the last few weeks I have been planning a book to showcase just 12 of my favourite trees from the Spinney. I have been working up to making a proper book with letterpress type and the illustrations printed from the original woodblocks.Now it is a little bit closer to becoming a reality.

I am delighted to say that Patrick Roe at Logan Press has agreed that I can print the book with him. I will learn a huge amount, building on the work I did with Thomas Gravemaker at Letterpress Amsterdam who I hope to be seeing again in Feb to print “The Pig Book”.
So lots to do in the next few months.
I will be documenting the progress of Twelve Trees on the blog and also on Instagram etc. It will be a 32 page book with 12 full page woodcuts and a small amount of type based on old sayings, superstitions and the characters of the trees.
The format is a nice generous 350 x 250mm portrait with full bleed images and hand cut titles. Roughs and layouts and first cuts are underway!

roughs-and-plan

Rough layouts for the twelve images and first roughs.

First block, rough and my original sketchbook drawing from last year on the blog here; “ In the Woods,some Useful Sketches.” I just knew they would be useful someday!

Prints, Prints and more Prints

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After the very enjoyable experience with the large print earlier this month I have started taking a closer look at the possibilities of overlaying prints and combining plates. I have made overlays before, sometimes just out of curiosity or even by mistake.

Now I am beginning to find the potential more intriguing, especially where I can combine different types of print: relief and intaglio, monoprint, wood and card or lino etc etc. the combinations are endless but I think this may be a way forward for me. There are technical problems. Plate heights to deal with, ink and paper issues and having the patience to LET THINGS DRY.
Curbing my enthusiasm and impatience is sometimes very hard.

They are getting bigger too. A2 is actually beginning to seem a bit small!

a2 print overlays

A2 woodcuts ( from the big print) combined with added shapes. Up on the path in the woods the autumn Arum berries are a bright note in amongst the dark tree cover. The woodblocks were made with this walk very much in mind.

Val L 3. Overprint trials_resize

A3 prints combining relief and intaglio blocks.
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A4 Trials

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A2 Plates. Wood lino and card plates.

They are loosely based on what I am seeing on the path at the moment, dappled light, twigs, stones, leaves etc I like these.They are an interesting development.  For me they need more consideration in the way of content and composition etc etc.. and of course then there is the issue of colour.. Hmmmm… way to go.

Cuckoo Pint Suite

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The Cuckoo Pint Arum maculatum was really the first spring leaf to emerge in the shade of the wood. It’s a fascinating plant with many many names, most of them rude and suggestive. This drawing was done back in March and today I noticed that the first flower has appeared. Something had also been nibbling the roots of the plant which is also interesting because that too is quite toxic. The spotty leaves are particularly attractive and I wanted to celebrate this spring herald in some way.
I had sketched it back in March and then recently made a series of small woodcuts. (approx 4.5 x 6 inches)

arum

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The prints are of leaf, flower, seed and of course its namesake, a generously sized cuckoo. I played about with the interconnectedness of them. The flower is attractive to small moths, especially the small owl moth, the berries are poisonous but some birds can eat them, cuckoos are one of the few birds which can eat poisonous caterpillars, caterpillars become moths etc etc .
To echo that each image is under printed with the one before. I plan to incorporate some text and make a small book. Am looking forward to using some of those robust old country words…

cuckoo1      cuckoo-2

cuckoo-3     cuckoo-4

Black Rabbit on the Track

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On Friday morning I cycled early, up to the disused railtrack. There, very still, in the middle of the track crouched a big black rabbit.  In the quiet still early morning he seemed lost in thought, contemplative even.  It was quite something to see and had a certain mystery about it. I like to think that at some time in the past a tame rabbit has perhaps fled the confines of the cage for the great outdoors. It’s understandable. But when you stick out like a sore thumb perhaps the merry life of freedom will be a short one. There is a profound dilemma in that, isn’t there?

Over the last few years I have mentioned the black rabbits that live wild around the reservoir. I have seen them in 3 different locations. I guess on close inspection they are probably a chocolate brown but they seem very black and always mysterious. Whatever their colour if their aim is to be low key and unobtrusive, like their browny grey friends they are failing badly.

black-rabbit
A quick sketch when I got home.

I started thinking about a print, decided I wanted him facing the other and made a first quick woodcut. I have hunkered him down a bit more. On sight of me he had crouched more, ready to spring, before leaping away.

It all needs reworking/rethinking but I like the basic image.
The previous day I had visited Jeremy whose two big domesticated rabbits were grazing on the lawn in the company of a large adjustable spanner. So I have added a spanner which somehow seemed appropriate for a rabbit who lives on a disused railtrack. And of course there is a bike in the background

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The A3 block, cut and inked.

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A couple of first proofs. More to come after reworking/rethinking and playing around.
It’s a bit of  welcome break from the course work which takes up 99%of my time at the moment. If you are interested in what I am up to, I am keeping a blog of my final year work. HERE

A Quick Woodcut: Chris the Frog

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On Friday my Easton group had a great day tackling a woodblock print. Their results were excellent, some even managing two colours which is some going for just a few hours.
As a demo I had prepared a simple two colour print of a frog. Frogs are very much on my mind as they are all over the Garden at the moment.

Roughs and Colour notes:

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Some thumbnail compositional sketches

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A decision..

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Colour roughs

The Print I had printed up a few variations of the Frog using the same very basic materials we would be using in the class, a spoon, a baren, computer paper, tissue paper, some cheap Japanese rice paper and basic acrylic printing inks.

frog plate

The woodcut plate, cut for the first colour

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The first colour proofed on thin rice paper.

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Various combinations of paper and inking with the second colour added.

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“Chris the Frog”: Woodcut on Japanese rice paper: Image A4

The frog is called Chris because I realised I had unwittingly cut a rather nice letter C in one of the spots.. it seemed fitting..

letter-c

In the garden there are still many tiny froglets around the pond fringes Mowing is a nightmare and very very slow.
I have to carefully pat the grass to alert them and help the very tiniest ones to get to safety.
The long grass must seem mountainous to them.. I rather know how they feel.

froglet

Here is one on the very tip of my grubby fingers.. I am wondering how they will survive the winter.
Summer seems to be rushing by, the days are shorter, evenings and mornings darker and I am very busy..:).. Busy is always good!

Japanese Woodblock, Monoprints and Tree Following

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Just quick roundup of stuff, more printmaking and following a Horse Chestnut

Japanese Woodblock Printing

Over at Printdaily yesterday I wrote about my first Japanese Woodcut  made last week at an excellent days workshop with Laura Boswell, learning about cutting and printing the Japanese way. It involved cutting with knives and chisels, inking with watercolour and printing on dampened paper. All completely different from anything I have done before. It has great possibilities and in the right hands is very beautiful. With Laura’s help I made a small print of an adder which will be my next subject for Beautiful Beasts. I was absolutely delighted with the day and with how much I learned. If anyone is interested in Japanese woodblock printing I can’t recommend her highly enough. (I don’t say this lightly as I honestly see very few tutors who not only understand the mechanics of their craft, but also the “art” that it can produce when used in creative ways.)

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My first little adder print, three plates and about 4 colours.  See more steps on the blog post. I shall be working more with these plates next week.

Monoprints On Beautiful Beasts I have been playing with monoprints, again fairly new to me although I made a few at college years ago on old litho plates, they were less than inspiring but I am loving these small prints using the Silk Road Horse sketch as a starting point. So far I have only used waterbased inks and only black ink.They are made with a mix of trace through and wipe out techniques. There have been many trials and not many successes but they can have a beautiful lithographic feel about them and a surprising sensitivity of line. Hopefully a few more this weekend. These are my favourites so far.

mono4-bg      mono3-bng

Mono prints A4.

 

Tree Following..!

My blog friend Lucy over at Loose and Leafy is following a tree this year; seeing how it develops and changes over the year. Lovely idea Lucy. She has invited people to join her and I am definitely in. I am already doing some work on Willows this year and wanted a bit of a contrast so am opting for a Horse Chestnut.

It will be a once a month report but a great excuse for some tree sketching and observation. At their best they are magnificent trees in every season.  There are several scattered around the village. One I can see from our front window. It’s where the rooks roost and I am very fond of rooks. It will be fascinating exploring these lovely trees. I am rather wondering where the time will come from to do this… but hey…it’s what I love to do so I am sure I will fit it in!