artichoke flowers

I couldn't bring myself to fell the artichokes for eating and one by one they burst into the most amazing purple flowers. They were short lived though and this is the only one I managed to photograph. I'm now wondering if I should make a companion piece to this print...

Artichokes

A few snaps of my finished artichoke print, available here and here

Artichokes - work in progress

 I thought I'd share the progress of my artichokes lino print...

First plate cut

Plate for second colour being cut

First and second colour plates inked up for a test print

test print - not sure about the colours

I've run off a test print from these first two plates just to check the overall balance and registration. The only requirement was that one was a darker shade than the other and the colours I've used here this test  were just what I happened to have on the ink slab at the time. These greens are a little more muted than I had planned for this piece (see the original sketch in previous post) but now this slightly seventies palette feels just right. I'll have to lighten it up a bit though because there is a nice splash of purple to come too,  what do you think?   

print or paint

preparation for lino print  - colour pencil on tracing paper over initial pencil sketch

I've been tempted to move away from the rather pared-back style I've had of late (see Morston Quay, Pied Wagtail and Oystercatchers) by the verdant lushness of the garden. Encouraged by much of the falling-from-the-sky-wet-stuff and my lassaiz faire attitude to weeding, most parts of the garden are looking pretty crowded, and I do like it that way. I was quite put out the other day when a bloke knocked on the door and offered to cut back my weeds sweeping his point through the cow parsley, self-seeded aquilegia heads and ox eye daisies poking through the tall grasses.

Miraculously in one corner of this chaos I have managed to sustain a small group of artichokes from last year and one has a pretty good choke on it already. This little group have provided the perfect subject for a more complex piece of work. I've photographed and sketched and now have a colour-coded plan (see above) as the basis for a 3-colour print, but I am wondering if I shouldn't tried it in watercolours instead...