A mixed bag this week

Quite a bit of news to post this week. Firstly the latest copy of the Huddersfield Bird Report has been published and is now available to buy. Details can be found by following the link to the Huddersfield Birdwatchers Club on the right.


Following on from the previous post regarding bookplates, I used one of my recent holiday sketches and produced this scraperboard drawing of Lindisfarne Castle. Which should fit the bill for a bookplate design for an old friend from Northumbria now living in the West Country.



And now on to the next Linocut. I'm not going to reveal the subject just yet, for anyone familiar with the history of Yorkshire the identity of the castle should become apparent quite quickly. So here we have the first colour, as usual darker than I intended. I really struggle to get the tone right on the first colour!

The second colour goes down and now I'm a bit happier about the tone of the first colour.

Third colour down and I can move on to the foreground.

Bookplates

Someone suggested that I produced a set of 'ex libris' bookplates. After playing around with some designs I tried to cut a lino block but couldn't get the required detail. So after scrapping that idea I scanned an old scraperboard drawing and played around with it. If I can get the printing right it might be a worthwhile project.

Castles, Cobles and Kittiwakes : A week on the Northumberland Coast

A family holiday so neither a birding or a painting break but managed to do a bit of both.

1st August. (My Birthday). North Sunderland Point, Seahouses. 1000 am. Pen and Ink with watercolour.

Offshore; Black Headed Gull, Cormorant, Kittiwake, Sandwich Tern, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Herring Gull, Swallow, House Martin, Linnet, Mute Swan, Heron.


1st August. 1940pm. From the harbour Seahouses, looking north. From left to right; Bamburgh Castle, Monks House and Lindisfarne Castle. Watercolour.

If I had a time machine, this is where I would come; the mid 1950's and Eric Ennions bird observatory at Monks House.

2nd August. Lindisfarne Castle. Pencil.

2nd August. Lindisfarne Castle. 1030-1100am. Ebb Tide. Watercolour.

2nd August. 1115am. Ebb Tide. Coble and Lindisfarne Castle. Pen and Ink.

2nd August. Adult and Juvenile Kittiwake. Braidcarr Point. Seahouses. Pen and Ink.

2000pm. 10 minutes drawing before the rain started and the ink began to run.

3rd August. Craster Harbour. 1400pm. Pen and Ink.

3rd August. Dunstanburgh Castle. 1500pm. Watercolour.

3rd August. Black Headed Gull and Turnstones. Seahouses. 2000pm. Watercolour.

4th August. Herring Gull. Seahouses. Pencil and Watercolour.

Spent today wandering around Berwick and then up to Eyemouth. Highlights included a Peregrine circling over Berwick town centre, and feeding Grey Seals Mackerel halves in Eyemouth harbour.

4th August. Farne Islands from Seahouses Harbour. 2010pm. Flood Tide. Sea flat calm. Watercolour.

From left to right; Inner Farne, East Wideopen, West Wideopen, Brownsman and Staple Islands. Longstone is to the right but I ran out of room on the page!

5th August. Kittiwakes. Braidcarr Point, Seahouses. 0845am. Watercolour.

5th August. Bamburgh Castle from the breakwater at Seahouses harbour. 1930pm. Pen and Ink.

6th August. Ringed Plover and Dunlin in the rain. Seahouses harbour. 1430pm. Pen and Ink.

Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Eider, Redshank, Curlew, Kestrel, Swallow, Swift, House Martin, Gannet, Cormorant, Black Headed Gull, Kittiwake, Great Black Backed Gull and Herring Gull.

On the Coble Landing-Filey

SH 218 on the Coble Landing-Filey
Reduction Linocut (10 colours). 181mm x 270mm.
Edition of 6.

Finally finished the Coble linocut. I'd printed colours 6 and 7 before I realised that I'd forgotten to photograph the stages. So I pressed on and printed the final colours. Like Hornsea, Filey doesn't have a harbour. So the boats are dragged up the beach by tractor and parked on the landing, well above the high tide line. The boats have a rugged simplicity of design, reputedly derived from the Viking longships. Originally they were fitted with a mast and sail, now however, most are powered by engines.

Leeds City Art Gallery Artists Open Show

More good news this week with notification that my linocut Sunlight and Shadows-Malham Cove, has been selected for this years Artists Open Show at Leeds City Art Gallery. The exhibition opens on 8th August and runs until 19th September. Further information can be found at www.leeds.gov.uk/artgallery

The next two colours on the new linocut have now been printed bringing the new print nearer to conclusion. After printing the fifth colour, the image is begining to resolve itself as the shape of the coble emerges from the background colours.

Filey Coble Linocut

After the comings and goings of last week, collecting and delivering art work to and from various exhibitions. I've managed to begin work on printing the Filey Coble print.

The first colour above, a pale grey, followed by a pale blue below.



.....and then a light sand colour, which on reflection I should probably have printed before the blue.

This hopefully will not matter too much as very little of this sand colour will show in the final print.

Some Recent Sketches

Juvenile Dipper on the beck at Baliff Bridge, watching a Grey Wagtail fly overhead. And below, a Ringlet Butterfly in the garden. Another new butterfly record for the garden this week.

Not sure where these new butterflies are coming from. The house next door has been empty for the last six months and the lawn has turned into an overgrown field full of ragwort and willow herb. So may be this is encouraging a few new species to visit.

Yesterday was the last day of Holmfirth Artweek so in the evening we had to go and collect any unsold work. It has been quite a successful event for me this year. Four of my pieces sold which was a welcome surprise. I have mixed feelings about sales at large group events like this, whilst a sale is always welcome and gratefully received it can seem quite impersonal. There is no dialogue or feedback between artist and buyer. Do other artists/craftspeople regard this the same way?