A couple of prints finished over the last couple of weeks. A simple 4 colour linocut printed to use as my Christmas Card and a small Wood Engraving of a Grey Seal and her pup originally sketched over 30 years ago at Pwllderi on the north coast of Pembrokeshire.
Next weekend I'll be taking part in the Saltaire Makers fair in the Victoria Hall in the centre of the Saltaire Village World Heritage Site. After nearly two years in the studio since my last event I've plenty of new work to show for the first time. So I've spent the last couple of days framing up a selection of the new Linocuts, Mezzotints and Wood Engravings.
Finally finished the platework on the new mezzotint and started to edition this afternoon. Managed 10 impressions in a 5 hour session.
Nearing the end of the platework now. Just some highlights to bring out on the foreground grasses and then the editioning can begin.
The latest mezzotint plate is not quite ready to edition yet but near enough to take a couple of impressions and start thinking about what ink I'll use to print it with. The first impression is printed with a blue-black, the second with Charcoal black. Both give a good range of subtle greys but I think I prefer the warmer tones of the Charcoal Black.
The highlights still need to be burnished to make the whites really pop out and some of the grass stems need to be highlighted to make them appear less flat. Other than that I'm happy with the way the print is progressing.
Much maligned and not everyone's favourite bird but an absolute gift for a printmaker. Given the subject matter probably not my most saleable print.
Magpie
190mm x 170mm
6 layer reduction linocut.
Edition of 10
A more experienced engraver than myself would have known not to bother taking a proof from the plate at this stage. I still find it hard to look at the image engraved on the plate and judge how it will look on paper. A mezzotint plate always looks more finished than it really prints.
A couple of pages of drawings made yesterday at the RSPB St Aidens reserve in the Aire Valley between Leeds and Castleford.
Black necked Grebes, Pen and Ink and Pencil and Watercolour.
Wood Engraving (on Maple Wood)
100mm x 75mm
Edition of 50
Printed on 145gms Zerkall Smooth with Hawthorn Printmakers Dense Black Ink.
This simple but elegant footbridge stands beside the Pennine Way footpath about quarter of a mile north of Blackstone Edge Reservoir.
On one of our regular local walks exploring the moors near our home. My daughter Carly and I came across this little stone bridge crossing the feeder canal to one of the moorland reservoirs. I made a quick pen and ink sketch and then back home in the studio made a more careful pen and ink scraperboard cartoon in reverse ready to transfer to the Maple wood endgrain block. The final photo shows the block with the newly started engraving.
Sunny Bank Farm
Linocut
296mm x 209mm
Edition of 9
I finished this linocut earlier today, the first lino print I've made since last summer. Having spent the autumn and winter months working on wood engravings and a mezzotint. This is a subject that has taxed me to say the least though.After two previous failed attempts at making a print of this ruined farm I've wasted more ink, lino and paper on this crumbling pile of stones than any other subject I've tackled. Finally I have an image I'm happy with.
Wood Engraving on Maple
100mm x 75mm
Edition of 30
Printed on 145gsm Zerkall smooth with Hawthorn Printmakers Dense Black Ink, completed 12th February 2021.
Dipper
Wood Engraving on Boxwood
50mm x 62mm
Edition of 20
Printed with Hawthorn Printmakers Dense Black Ink on 145gsm Zerkall Smooth.
The first print of the New Year and the last of my little sample pieces of endgrain blocks.
