Vote for Newts!

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This print has been shortlisted in the Jackson's Art IMPRESSIONS OF NATURE PRINTMAKING COMPETITION . Public voting is open until the end of April and can be accessed here .

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.

Newt Love - simplified drawing

I've now rationalised the rather woolly first sketch into some nice solid lines which will translate more easily into cuts in the lino. In this case I've used the low tech route, tracing paper and a brown pen. Occasionaly I digitise a simplified version  of my sketches on screen in a graphics package, but frankly this is too similar to what II do all day so I prefer to use pen and paper. Now I can take stock of the design and see that some of the discrete bits of weed  blossom and tadpoles all look a bit too regularly placed but these minor adjustments can be made later. This version already has a new frog patched in because my first attempt was unidentifiable!

I think these are Palamate Newts, which fits the moorland location of the garden and ponds in which they were observed. Apparently they feed on small invertebrates including frog tadpoles so no wonder the frog looks miffed!

Newt love - sketch

We spent a lovely Monday at the in laws in laws on the edge of the Peak District. They have a fabulous garden with several linked ponds, which are brimming over with life at the moment. As well as squillions of frog tadpoles we saw a fair few courting newts, hence this sketch. I plan to post about this work as it develops into a  lino print, but don't be surprised by the snail's pace of progress! Everything seems to take weeks at the moment but fingers crossed it will be ready for the Art Market on the 12th June.