Workshop News

 I'm pleased to announce that I will be running a two day mezzotint workshop at the West Yorkshire Print Workshop in Mirfield on 20th-21st August. Full details of how to apply can be found here

First Steps

 

When I did this sketch of Llyn Ogwen whilst on holiday a few years ago.. I had it in the back of my mind that it would make a good linocut. Over the years since I've looked at it but never been able to come up with  a way to satisfactorily work it out as a block print. I came to the conclusion that atmospherically it needed to be a mezzotint but again was unsure of how to go about it. Enlightenment arrived in the form of a book on the work of the Welsh artist Kyffin Williams, which I received as a Christmas present. Looking at the work in the book, especially the ink and wash sketches gave me the inspiration for a starting point. So looking again at my initial watercolour field study I made this monochrome wash drawing.

Now I had a tonal painting that I could use as the basis for my mezzotint. 

I scanned the image, reversed it and printed it out, using this to transfer it to the 200mm x 300mm copper plate.

and began the engraving.

Recent Prints

 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.

Winter Moor

4 colour Linocut

190mm x 130mm

Grey Seal and Pup

Wood Engraving on Lemonwood

30mm x 69mm

Saltaire Makers Fair 18th-19th September - Back on the road - at last

 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.

Moorland Bridge 

Wood Engraving

Stepping Stones

Wood Engraving

The Last Shadows of Summer

Mezzotint

And Autumn Waning Fleeted By

Linocut

Clearing Sky Over Top Withins

Linocut

Where Seven Steams Fall

Mezzotint

Roding Woodcock

Linocut

Sylvan Shadows

Mezzotint

Beadnell Bay

Mezzotint

Editioning

 Finally finished the platework on the new mezzotint and started to edition this afternoon. Managed 10 impressions in a 5 hour session.

Mezzotint - State v - Imp i

 Nearing the end of the platework now. Just some highlights to bring out on the foreground grasses and then the editioning can begin.

Nearing the end

 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.

Blue Black

Charcoal Black