"The artist...is also a born adventurer. His explorations, unlike those of a tourist, are rewarded by the discovery of beauty spots unmentioned in the guide books, and with tireless curiosity and an exceptional proneness to wonderment, he will come upon objects of remarkable interest overlooked or even shunned by more disciplined observers."

Augustus John, R.A.




Sunday 4 December 2011

What with one thing and another and various interuptions to the flow of work, this print seems to be going nowhere fast and has been progressing, if you can call it that. In a series of fits and starts. I don't like working on a print in this manner and to be honest, finishing it is starting to feel like a bit of a chore. However, we'll keep at it. Three more colours down :

 A dark blue to create some shadows on the far hills.

A green for the foreground.


And a dark orange for the bracken on the right hand hillside.

This looks like its going to be the final print of the year. I have an idea in my head for a dales landscape print but nothing down on paper yet. Unless I can get away with being really anti social during Christmas week, I don't think I'll manage to get that one as well as this completed for the year end.

2 comments:

Jennifer Tetlow said...

I wonder why some pieces seem more arduous than others, or don't flow as normal. I've stopped trying to puzzle it out, and generally try to work through it, like you, but it can dampen the spirits and cause frustration. I'm not sure any of it shows in the final artwork, and if you hadn't said, we wouldn't know - but it is nice to be part of knowing, makes the final print more personal, knowing you persevered and more special for the effort.

Stuart Brocklehurst said...

I think the problem has been one of too many interruptions and not having the time to get any sort of flow going. When I'm working on a print like this I usually aim for a colour a day. If there is not much carving I can sometimes do two colours but I usually like to leave the print 24 hours between colours, even though I'm using waterbased inks which dry quickly. It gives me time to think about what I'm doing between colours.