Finishing a print, starting another and exhibition news

I've added two further darks to the Tynemouth print but still haven't made my mind up about it yet. There are some things I like about it but the print looks (to me) overworked and I can't decide if I'm completely happy with it. I'll give it a couple of weeks in the bottom of the  plan chest and then pull it out and look at it again with fresh eyes.

Colour 10

 Colour 11

In the meantime back to a fresh piece of lino and a slightly different approach. First colour is a blended roll from light grey to yellow ochre.

Inked block

and printed

2nd pass is another blend; light blue through blue grey to a darker ochre colour.
Inked block.

and printed.

October has been quiet for me with no art fairs or exhibitions since the Macclesfield Print fair in September. November is going to be a bit more busy. This coming weekend I will be at the Corn Exchange in Leeds for the first Leeds Printfair from 10am until 6pm. The following day it's quick trip up the A1 to Masham for Crafted by Hand at Masham Town Hall. My first time exhibiting at this event which I am looking forward to. On Saturday 15th November, I will be at the Sheffield Print Fair at St Marys Church and Conference Centre on Bramall Lane, Another new event for me. The following weekend I will be back at Holmfirth on 23rd November for the Art Market.

Hitting a wall

Struggling a bit with this print. I'm working on 300gsm Somerset Satin paper, and whilst it is lovely paper to print on, especially using the baren, I've had some registration problems which I can't explain. On the face of it it looks ok, but a close examination of the left edge shows that the second colour is out of registration. It's fine everywhere else, top, bottom, right hand side, it almost looks like the paper has stretched lengthways. This means that some fine white lines across the darker bit of sand in front of the waves have now disappeared.

Colour 7

Block inked for colour 8

and printed

Colour 9 inked up

and printed.

Only another one or possibly two more colours to go but the jury is still out on this one.

Catch Up

Since my last post, work on the latest print has been progressing slowly. I haven't had much time to work on the piece continuously so I've only got three more colours printed.

Colour 4. The first pale blue

The block inked for colour 5. A second blue.

and printed.

Colour 6 is the first pale green and just maybe the subject is identifiable now.

Linocut Workshop

Next years arts courses at Malham Tarn Field Study Centre in the Yorkshire Dales are now on line to book. I am running a linocut course on 13th-15th November. For anyone interested details can be found here

Stage 2

Following on from yesterdays post, here is colour 2 printed.

Followed by the block cut and inked for colour 3

A darker version of colour 2 printed in a small band across the bottom of the print.

Next colour will be a pale blue across the whole of the print to pull it all back together, but first there is some cutting to do.

Next Print

October is a quiet month, no fairs or exhibitions so I have a chance to get some new work done in time for a full calender of events in November. So here we go.

Colour 1. A warm cream to cool grey blend from top to bottom.

The block inked and placed in the registration jig. The colour blend doesn't show very well in these photos.

1st colour printed.

After a bit of cutting the block is now inked and ready for printing the second colour. A darker  yellow printed across the bottom of the block only. Unfortunately the photo of the printed colour taken under artificial light doesn't show very well. So I'll have to wait till daylight to take a better one to post.

Something Big

It's been a long time since I last posted anything here. Not because I've been sitting around with my feet up doing nothing. I have been busy for the last month or so on a commissioned work which, now it has been delivered to and happily received by the client. I can reveal on here.

The brief was for a large (and by large I mean around A2 size) print showing the 4 wind turbines at Marr village just off the A1 near Doncaster. Much larger than I would normally choose to work and completing the print was quite a challenge which stretched me well out of my comfort zone.

Registration of a print this size was a bit of a problem. The block was bigger than my printing jig and I had to cobble together a more Heath Robinson arrangement with mount board and masking tape. In the end I lost 2 out of an intended edition of 5 to sloppy registration.

Block cut for the first colour and placed against the registration marks.

The finished print

Turbines at Marr
17 colour reduction linocut.
400mm x 600mm
Edition of 3