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.

Progress - Colour 4

Decided on the blue.

A lot of cutting to do now as the sky is more or less finished apart from a few darker areas. The next step I think will be a strip of pale green for the grasses in the sand dunes above the beach, then a strip of darker yellow colour for the wet sand above the receding waves.

New Print

The first colour is a very pale yellow, just darker than the white of the paper. Nothing much is given away about the subject matter, just a few vague cloud shapes. Lets ink up the block for the next colour.

A very pale blue grey which gives us...

More idea of the sky, a bit of beach, some waves and something in the centre that appears to be obscuring part of the sky. Not much cutting away before the next colour, although as this only appears in the lower part of the image I'm only inking part of the block.

Apologies for the shadow of the window blinds across the picture. You can't really get a good impression of the colour from this. Its a nice sandy yellow colour.

Time for some thinking now. Not sure what I'm doing next - pale blue or another, darker browner yellow.

Workshop

I spent last weekend teaching a reduction linocut workshop over in Rossendale at Alan Birch's Prospect Studio. It is always a pleasure to work with the artists here and although we only had two days. Some really good work was produced.

Chloe's Harpist

Jo's Building

Kay's Macaw

Pete's Seascape

Severine's Landscape

Alan's Landscape

Interrupted Work

I started this print around Christmas time and then had to put it to one side to complete other work, Finally got around to finishing it. And although I would rather work on a print from start to finish in one go, despite the interruption in work I'm quite pleased with how it has worked out. These are colours 7 to 11.

Colour 7

Colour 8

Colour 9

Colour 10

All that's left of the block after printing the final colour

Ripples
11 colour reduction linocut. 170mm x 267mm
Edition of 10 prints.
£110.00.

If you would like to buy this print it can be purchased from my Folksy Shop

Buttertubs Pass

Rain over the Buttertubs Pass
12 colour reduction linocut.
265mm x 170mm
Edition of 10

Another completed print, recently delivered to the Craft Centre and Design Gallery in Leeds. This shows the Buttertubs Pass between Wensleydale and Swaledale on a typical winters day. Grey sky and a grey landscape.