sneaky peek

at some of the work I will be bringing with me to the Art Market on the 12th June. These pieces are part of a small collection of original lino prints in vintage frames. I've been scouring antique centres & fairs and charity shops for just the right frames to compliment some of my favourite prints. I've sanded, painted, waxed and hand cut new mounts. There are one or two that I would rather like to keep but we shall see how they go. If you're coming along on Sunday 12th do drop buy my stall and say hello!

presentation and display

We nipped over to Manchester at the weekend and spent some time wandering around the university museum. With less than a month to go until the Art Market at Holmfirth matters of presentation and display are playing on my mind at the moment, so for me it was the container as much as the contained that took my interest on this visit. I like the the way old museum exhibits become something more than just the poor bleached-out specimens, the way the sepia-toned pickling liquor, the custom-made glass vessels and the hand written labels all become integral to the exhibit. I think the curators have used this to great effect in these displays. 

newt love #3

Over the last couple of days I've stippled, brushed and wiped my way to a completely different version of Newt Love (see here and here for the original single colour versions). It was achieved by overprinting from the same lino block, first a flat rolled ink layer in lime green, after this had dried selective areas - the newts, frog & lily pads - were inked by brush with an olive-green. The when this layer was dry, I inked up the water areas of the lino block a green-blue and ran it through the press for the third time. I thinned the inks a bit so that the original lime green shows through. It was much more time consuming and fiddly than the flat rolled versions but I rather like the result.

Newt Love - linoprint

A little window into the life of a Peak District pond, newts courting, tadpoles wriggling, & skaters skimming the surface. Last year's reeds shelter a frog and new spears soar skyward. Blossom petals from an overhanging crab apple tree float gently down and sail away. I could have sat and watched this little world all day.

You can see my original sketch here,  the simplified drawing here, and the marked up lino here. It is available here and here

Newt Love - transferred to lino

I've printed out a flipped version of my simplified drawing and traced it down onto the lino. I've alsomarked out very roughly the areas to keep (black) and cut (yellow) on the print out for when I inevitably lose concentration. Once I started carving I remembered why I don't usually buy this brown lino - too gritty and crumbly - i prefer the smoother textured grey stuff. The carving is nearly complete so hopefully i'll be printing tomorrow.