Monday 29 November 2010

Wine society




South African Wine



Californian

Lino cut and ready to print

Inked up with 'magenta' for the colour separation and showing registration marks

Colour separation

pink (Magenta) cut away and inked with the black

Final print
Turned out to be a nice little job, producing 12 inside spot illustration and the cover for the Wine Society's Quarterly catalogue. The small pictures had to be printed as one colour ( supposed to be Magenta but ended up more as a kind of pink!) and black separations, so it was an interesting challenge to produce dramatic images within this limitation rather than the range of colours and graduations I usually employ to get the story across.
The use of black to hold the composition together and show the various elements of the print became key and I found myself cutting much finer and more descriptive lines than I would perhaps usually do. A good example of this and my favourite of the series is this print of San Felices de Bilibio statue & church in Rioja.

Wednesday 24 November 2010

More Cows


Cows Ahoy!!
I did warn you there were would probably be more cows coming and here they are. I have been out walking quite a few times and seen cows wandering over the old canal bridges and thought it looked great. This time, on the Montgomeryshire canal walk I actually had my sketchbook with me and managed to get a quick sketch and a couple of photo's. The print was still wet when I took the photo, hence the reflective shine on the bridge, but overall am very happy with the way it turned out. Favourite bits are the giant hogweed in the foreground, pale against the bridge and the view through the arch. This is the last of the new prints for the Powysland Museum exhibition, which has an open evening on the 7th of December starting at 6.00.
Next job - 12 spot illustrations and a cover for the December/January catalogue of the Wine Society.

Wednesday 10 November 2010

New print of Montgomeryshire Canal


A first view of one of my newest prints produced for a fast approaching show at the Powysland Museum in Welshpool starting December 4th. Had a lovely stroll along the Montgomeryshire Canal and saw this great composition through the hedge. I really enjoyed playing with the decorative element of the leaves and stems in the foreground and have started to actively look out for it when sketching. Cows of course are a great subject for lino as they look like prints wandering around a field already. I usually get to draw a lot of sheep in the welsh hills but again after this print I am really starting to keep an eye out for more cows.

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog. There isn't much here at the moment as I have just started ( I know what took me so long?) but in the future there should be information about the prints I am working on, how my workshops are going and generally interesting linocut and printmaking related items. I also get a lot of general print, printing technique and 'How the hell do I..." questions which I will also post so everyone can see the answers and if you have a print question, or a new print answer you think I might like please pass it on.