Digging my way out of a hole

Following my last post I've been debating what to do about this print. Having completely messed up with the colour order during printing, I was tempted to abandon the print altogether. However, having slept on it I decided to continue and see if I can salvage something from it. So on with the next colour:

The foreground is now too dark, its going from bad to worse!

The less said the better

Don't know how it happened, but I completely forgot about this colour. It should have been printed as colour 2 or colour 3. I've had to print it a lot darker than originally intended so I am not sure how it will now affect the subsequent colours.

New Gallery

I dropped off some Linocuts at a new gallery for me. The Ryburn Gallery at Sowerby Bridge near Halifax. Further details can be found at : www.ryburngallery.com

First Greens

I've printed the first two greens and the landscape is begining to take shape.

Colour 3

Colour 3 - blue for the sky and the foreground river.

Starting the next print

I've started a new print and got the first two colours down. The first one a warm grey. And then a cooler blue grey colour.

Scraperboard Step by Step

I thought it might be of interest to show the stages involved in completing a Scraperboard engraving.

I draw out a pen and ink cartoon the same size as the finished piece. This drawing although dated March 2011 is based on a quick sketch drawn in 1987. This is then carefully traced onto the Scraperboard. In this case I'm using white board. I prefer to use white rather than black as I find it more versatile. I can ink up the areas which I want to be the darker tones and leave the paler tones white. I'm trying to to make a drawing that has its own character, rather than replicate a wood engraving.

I then start to ink in solid areas of black. These will either remain black or will be engraved into with a stylus to reveal the white board beneath the ink.

Having established the black areas with a brush I start to draw into the paler areas, mostly with a fine pointed mapping pen but also brushing some marks to represent different types of vegetation.

The drawing stage (above) is now complete, so I put the drawing aside to let the ink dry before engraving into it to bring out the finer details below.

The Road into Conistone-Wharfedale. Pen and Ink Scraperboard.103mm x 149mm.