Kittiwakes

Finished the Kittiwake Print

Kittiwakes at Braidcarr Point, Seahouses, Northumbria.
11 colour reduction Linocut.
170mm x 270mm
Edition of 9.
£110.00 unframed.

Started out with 10 prints but got sloppy with the registration on one of them so I'll have to make do with only 9 in the edition. It was my own fault, I was paying too much attention to the CD player and not enough to what I was doing. Now to get one framed up and ready for delivery to the Biscuit Factory in Newcastle for their Summer Exhibition. This should have been the last print to finish for this but I don't have to deliver them until a week on Saturday. So just maybe there is time to do one more. Providing I don't get too carried away with the number of colours.

This print is now available from my Folksy Shop here.

Nearly finished

Colours  8,9 and 10. A sequence of progressively darker greys to bring out the form and texture of  the rocks.

One more final dark and the print will be finished.

Kittiwakes

Starting a new print. There is very little preparatory work on this one as apart from one minor alteration to the foreground bird I've lifted it from my original field sketch.

 Colour 1

First colour is a very pale grey, followed by a slightly darker grey.

Colour 2

Colour 3

Colour 3 is a sandy yellow colour with a patch of lemon yellow rolled on for the foreground birds beak. Looks a bit scrappy but much of this will be hidden by the next colour.

Colour 4

A darker sandy yellow.

Colour 5.

A warm grey, the base colour for the shadowed rocks and the gulls backs.

Colour 6

Colours 6 and 7, two blues. Looks quite garish at this stage.

Colour 7

Colour 8

Another grey to pull it all back together. With apologies for some of the photographs which have glare from the still wet ink.

Bamburgh Castle

Finished the Bamburgh Castle print.

The Ancient Seat of Kings.
13 colour reduction linocut.
Edition of 9 prints + 1 Artists Proof.
252mm x 360mm.
£130.00 unframed and now available from my Folksy Shop

Embracing the Dark Art

These arrived this morning.

Two nice and shiny copper plates. Now I just need to work out how to use this...

Back to the print

After this weekends trip to Temple Newsam it's back to work on the Bamburgh Castle print. Before I left for the art fair I had printed colour 11. Here it is.

I am happy with the waves in the foreground and the tone of the shadowed parts of the castle. But the bushes below the castle are now far too blue in colour and need knocking back to green. So that was todays project.

A little bit of careful cutting, as you can see, not much of the block is left now. And then a dark green.

Much better. Just a final dark to pick out some detail in the castle and then it will be finished.

Same but different Art Fair - Temple Newsam House, Leeds

or more accurately in a posh marquee in the walled garden at Temple Newsam. Lovely setting, hope we get lots of visitors.

My bit

The Plan

The plan coming together

Finished. Not quite as I planned.

Just need to take all the card protectors from the corners of the frames.

Trust the plan

As I said in the previous post the next colour to print is a slightly darker blue.

Printed across the top and bottom parts of the block leaving the band across the middle free of ink.

This gives a little more interest in the sky and a base colour for the sea in the foreground. Now for a couple more browns to define the areas on the beach which have been washed by the receeding tide. The sands here are wetter and appear darker than the sand higher up the beach. Again I am only inking up the relevant parts of the block

The first shade and then darker and finally the main subject of the print gets some ink on it.

Looks a bit of mess. This is the time to keep faith, trust the plan and hope that the next colours will pull the whole print back together. Another darker blue.

In case you've lost count this is colour 10.

Not quite there yet, another two or maybe three colours to go.

Colours 5 and 6

Some careful inking for the next couple of colours, two greens in a narrow band across the centre of the image. First a lighter green.

and then after a little cutting a slightly darker green.

this has given some form to the grasses in the sand dunes.

Now to give some attention to the sea in the foreground. Next colour will be a slightly darker version of the blue already used. This will be printed over the entire block and as well as adding colour to the water will also add some further shadows to the green areas and give some form to the large shape in the middle. Hopefully.