Grasshopper First print

I’ve been sketching grasshoppers over on the blog I share with Sue. See the sketches here. We are focusing on a small community wood  which is really a little nature reserve and I have decide to make a set of work about things that “sing” in some way.

Grasshoppers and crickets are another wonderful sound of a UK summer, along with the bees, so they are one of the subjects I will be working on.
I am not sure I can really call this a grasshopper its a bit of a hybrid mix and I have taken quite a bit of artistic license with it, but it’s fine for some more experiments and does have some of the essence of the sketches and grasshoppery-ness about it. I have been reading about the difference between crickets and grasshoppers and, as usual, it all becomes more and more fascinating the more you find out.

Drawing, block  and first proof…

 

I have quite a few more prints and drawings and ideas for this little chap in progress so more soon.

Many Moons

I am just 3 weeks into the MA course and working on lots of ideas to do with the Moon's Phases. I cut some blocks to print all phases both singly and overprinted.
They made some unexpectedly lovely prints:

 

It was a quick trial so only printed on newsprint, its sods law that they would come out so well. Maybe I will try on some Japanese paper later..maybe..

One Coot Finished

At last, a finished print with a  little hand colouring. There has been quite a lot of learning the hard way with this one. Patience is a virtue.



The large coot with 2  punky spiky haired chicks .. vinyl cut. Image 11 x12 inches

Coot 2 Progress

I am still playing with the coot and after a bit more cutting away I have another black proof.


I am hoping to make a few experiments with this and now have a blue green version and a couple of dark blue ones.





Coot Blue Lino 10 x11 inches
More to come :)

Coot Number 2

I have returned to the coot sketches and am planning another print to be a companion to Rook. I am not sure if or when I will be able to find the right sort of type so might just have to cut it myself. It would be good practice.

Black and white thumbnail.
So far I have made a rough proof and scribbled on it a bit with white chalk to  see what more I need to cut away. I made quite a few colour roughs but in the end decided it will just be black and white this time, like rook.
 
Inked up plate and first proof
It’s fascinating seeing the print emerge. It’s never quite how you imagined.

Coot and Willow Print

The print I made last week, a continuation from my last posting on Beautiful Beasts here. There will be some more prints to come I hope.

 
I did a few initial drawings and tonal sketches for what will be a 3 colour reduction.


Various first stages and the lino block


Some final stages with various different colourways.

I like the image, but the printing needs work :). Maybe one really good one out of 6.




Coot and Willow..  image 6 x6 inches
I see the coot pottering about on the shoreline here, in and out of the willows. There is always a fisherman somewhere. The coot is large, the willow tree is small. That’s just how I wanted it.

Adders: The prints

It's more print yearly than print daily at the moment but one of my New Years resolutions is to get this blog up to date. I am writing this in Jan 2015 but back dating it to March.:)
These are the print developments for the adders


2 colour trial
 
3 colour trial.

The final print. 4 colour reduction. Hard work …
More about the print and its development here on my main blog. I do like adders

I Found A Crinoid

On Monday I went to a different part of the reservoir just to see if I could find any other fossils. Within 5 minutes, in amongst the shore line shingle, I had found a tiny piece of a Crinoid Stem. On Sunday I had written about them over at P&L because I knew they could be found here but I was not really expecting to see one. I was amazed to find it. It is TINY and my eyesight not that good. I then spent the next two hours not finding much else.

  
 

I do like to see a thing,or have a thing, or even a bit of a thing, in my hand before I draw it. It’s to do with authenticity and understanding.
So I am delighted to have this and I can now give myself permission to make a crinoid print which will complete my planned four.

First proofs.

Block and print after second cut

Crinoid proof .. reduction lino 6” x 4”

More … yet more, to come!

The Making of Bertie

I wrote about this Belemnite over on Pencilandleaf. It is part of my fossil/print exploration. I try to give myself a new problem with each new print. This time it was backgrounds, rotating a print and transparency.

The Sketches

In the end I rotated the image to “swim” downwards. It needs to contrast with the soon-to-come crinoid.

Bertie On The Block ….

 
After the second reduction cut

There are endless combinations of plates, colours and densities of ink. All producing different results. That’s what is so seductive about printmaking. Here are a few trials and combinations.

The Prints

I had made three different possible background plates, fronds, wavy lines and a circle

 

The Belemnite was a 2 colour reduction lino plate.

 
Frond background and first belemnite printing.

Rotated print with thin ink film to achieve some transparency.

 
Circle background, first lino print was rotated and reprinted. Then second colour added.

 
With wavy background and two colours.

Berties on the Bench

more soon …

Ammonite:The Curious Snake Stone

Amongst my fossil finds on the reservoir shore this week was the fraction of an ammonite. Only a tiny piece but enough to justify an ammonite print.

I am rather fond of snakes so was dismayed to discover that ammonites were thought to be the remains of snakes, cursed and turned to stone by St Hilda. And then to add insult to injury they were subject to a beheading curse by St Cuthbert. All this to account for these curious curled and apparently headless things found in abundance near Whitby.

My information comes again from the Natural History Museum here.. as does this quote:

“William Camden in the book Britannia (1586) stated that, 'if you break them you find within stony serpents, wreathed up in circles, but eternally without heads'.”

Apparently to make them more saleable. heads were carved into the fossils. This is a current piece from the Whitby Jet Site where master carver Hal Redvers-Jones has added a jet head  to a fossil.. it is rather endearing.

Ammonites are such a beautiful shape. Maybe one day I will find a whole one!

The piece, the lino and design an a proof print.

The ammonite with overprinted fronds . Lino print 4 x 6 “

I was wondering about adding some type so tried this.

I may think about a series, I am not sure a fossil ABC is feasible but might be interesting.

… and a few more….

A few more trials, colourways  and experiments with the White Hart.

 
Probably the best print, with reasonable registration.

 
I added a few gold leaves to this one.
It will be my P&L New Year Greeting.

I think I will cut the plate one more time and add one more darker colour before I am finished with it. The more I print the more possibilities come to mind … but I have to move on.

White Hart: A Start

A couple of years ago when I first started exploring the local tracks  I saw a muntjac deer. I hadn’t seen many of these curious little deer before and it appeared out of the bushes up on the track by the railway line. It was very pale against the dark foliage like a little ghost. It delicately stepped away into the undergrowth again. I thought it was quite lovely. I made a very small note in my sketchbook at the time..along with a couple of terns.

 
Muntjac deer… and terns July 2011

I remembered this pale image yesterday when I was wondering about another small lino to use up the scraps. And I then thought about the White Hart, the emblem of Richard II and an auspicious beast for the turn of the year. A sighting will bring good fortune. It seemed a good subject.

My lino cut cannot compete with the exquisite White Hart of the Wilton Diptych, Richard’s most beautiful portable alter piece, but I decided to use it as my starting point. I wanted to keep the familiar heraldic pose.

 
First thumbnail

 
Pencil Rough. I altered the front leg to make a better silhouette

I altered the angle of the head to be more engaging.

First cut of the lino and first test proof. It is going to be a reduction print so I have to be methodical and think about what  I am doing.

More tomorrow and for the next few days, I think.

Starts and stops.

Just one of those weeks with constant interruptions. It’s just the time of the year I think.  For me, printmaking really needs some thought and is quite a slow process. It’s not yet as easy as just picking up a pencil or a brush. So progress on the dragon print based on the sketch of my lost ceramic piece is slow.

I made endless roughs and sketches and could not come to a conclusion. I know what I would  like to achieve  ( but I think that’s probably a bit of a mistake with printmaking) but am quite a way from that yet. So in the end  I just got started with some experiments and I hope something will emerge.

I have some basic cut out shapes using the easicut stuff so I can experiment with placing them at random and sort of “assemble” the image.

Basic design and first cuts

Trials and tribulations…..

 

.. but I like this bit!

I always tell my students that if one square centimetre of a piece of work is Ok then it’s a success.