Fieldfares Linocut

Fieldfares.
8 colour Reduction Linocut. 190mm x 170mm.
The result of work made over the last week or so. I took a lot of time trying to work out the composition and came up with a number of different solutions playing around with the groupings and the sizes of the birds. So I may yet have another go at this print.

and the winner is....

Had a very nice surprise today at the preview of the Doncaster Open when my print 'Evening on the Skirfare' took first prize. This is me with the Mayor of Doncaster.

Great Northern Diver

Adult Great Northern Diver, Ringstone Edge Reservoir. Pen and Ink.

This bird turned up on a local reservoir almost a week ago. After a failed trip out on Monday to try and see it I finally caught up with it this morning. The views were a bit distant as the bird kept to the far edge of the reservoir. It also spent a lot of the time fishing and didn't remain on the surface much which hampered the amount of drawing I was able to do. Unusually for the time of year, it was still in full summer plumage.

Welsh Landscapes

Its been a busy couple of weeks printing. I needed a couple of prints for submission to the Royal Cambrian Academy in November so I've been looking through some old sketchbooks for possible ideas. I came up with two prints and while they are both ok prints, neither has that 'extra something' that I was looking for.

First is a print based on a watercolour colour sketch made on holiday a couple of years ago.

Dryslwyn Castle. 13 colour Reduction Linocut. Edition of 3.

I started out with 5 prints but lost 2 due to sloppy registration on the last colour. I'm reasonably pleased with the top half of the print especially the treatment of the hill with the castle and the background hillside but there is far more green in the print than I had originally intended.

Next is a print based on a sketch drawn just after I had left college.

Low Tide- Laugharne. 10 colour Reduction Linocut. Edition of 5.

This is better but the boats pulled up onto the mud don't really stand out much. I should have used them to introduce an accent of brighter colour.

I'm not sure at this stage if I will submit either of the prints, there is still time yet to try another subject.

Exhibiting

I have had two linocut prints accepted for the Doncaster Open Art exhibition. This exhibition runs from 22nd October until 3rd December at;

Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery
Chequer Road
Doncaster
South Yorkshire.

Telephone the gallery on 01302 734 293 for further information.

The prints accepted are Kilnsey Crag and Evening on the Skirfare.

Brown Trout Print Finished

Evening on the Skirfare. Littondale.
9 Colour Reduction Linocut. 270mm x 180mm.
Edition of 7 prints.

A quiet evening beside the River Skirfare in Littondale with 3 Brown Trout lazily rising to take the first flies hatching.
A larger and more complicated version of the Brown Trout print made earlier this year and based on the same set of sketches.

Open Up North

Today was the preview of the Open Up North exhibition at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal. Unfortunately I was unable to attend as I had to drop some work off at Doncaster Art Gallery, in the opposite direction to Kendal from here. However, the Brewery Arts Centre has published a full catalogue for the exhibition which is available on line at http://tinyurl.com/newOUNCatalogue