Malham Cove, Yorkshire Dales

Malham Cove
Reduction Linocut (nine colours). 270mm x 180mm.
Edition of 5.

Well I didn't finish in time for Christmas but I have managed to finish it before the year end, just! And in the intended nine colours rather than the ten or eleven that I thought it might run to. There were one or two hicups along the way and I lost three prints due to sloppy registration.

This is Malham Cove in the Yorkshire Dales, a massive limestone crag from the base of which emerges Malham Beck. Described by the artist John Busby as looking like a giant butterfly pinned to the landscape. From the top of the crag a valley leads up onto the moor and eventually to Malham tarn. This valley is now dry, but eons back in the mists of time, it must once have carried a torrent that plunged over the lip of the cove in a waterfall higher than Niagara.

Happy New Year !

Eighth colour down and nearly finished

Only one more colour to go now. A final dark for the shadows on the crag and to tie the whole image together.

Colours six and seven

Two shades of brown for the trees in the mid foreground. I had originally intended that these trees would be a dark green, but I decided that the image was becoming a little overpowered with cool greens and greys and needed a warmer tone as a contrast.

Only two more colours to go; a dark green and then a final dark for the shadowed areas on the crag. I didn't get it finished in time for Christmas, but it should be done over the next couple of days. Then just time to get one framed ready to submit to the East Coast Open Exhibition, at Scarborough Art Gallery in mid January.

Colours three and four

Got colours three and four printed, a light blue and then the first green. The image is now starting to take shape. For readers not familiar with the landscape of the Yorkshire dales this is Malham Cove.

and then the fifth colour, a mid grey in the shadows on the crag face.

Last job before Christmas

Two colours down on the next print run. A cream and then a pale blue grey. I want to get this finished before Christmas if possible, before my studio space becomes a temporary bedroom. The plan at this stage is for nine colours but will probably end up around ten or eleven.

Goldcrest and Barn Owl

Another pair of illustrations completed for the bird club report.
Goldcrest.
Pencil and Ink Wash. 130mm x190mm.

Barn Owl

Pencil and Ink Wash. 130mm x190mm.