The Brook, Yelling

At last, a new linocut :-)

I started out by making a simplified sketch of my 'out and about' sketch from a couple of weeks ago... I traced this and transferred it to a soft-cut lino block. Printed area is 6 by 8 inches.

 First pass was a pale grey for the reflected sky, the next a darker grey for the water. I'm using a Chinese paper which is a yellowy creamy tone.

I've carved out the sky holes, and the next step is a blend. I don't actually own a roller big enough to put the ink down in one go, so I used two rollers for this:

 And this is what the inked block looks like:

 And here's the print so far, was pleased with the way this turned out, there's a nice smooth gradient:

Next I inked the tree, another blend:

 I have done more but don't have photos yet... will update tomorrow...

A couple of cat sketches

Hello again

I'm currently painting a big picture for my new niece's nursery, so not much going on that I can show at the moment, but here are a couple of ink and wc sketches of my old cat Sophie, plus a quickie of my dinner the other evening (gotta keep my hand in somehow!). Hope you like them :-)

Out and about again, at last

Hello all! Well, finally the weather here seems to be improving. Today was lovely and sunny, if still a bit n the chilly side, so I took my sketchbook out for a walk. First Out and About sketch of the year. So nice to get some fresh air!

Quick watercolour and ink sketch of the little brook that goes through the village, sketched from the footbridge.

Looking forward to more clement weather and more sketching opportunities!

Fox in the snow

Another piece inspired by the vulpine visitor of a couple of weeks ago.

This is ink and watercolour, cropped in slightly from a quarter sheet, Fabriano Artistico NOT paper. Click the image to see it a bit bigger!

Fox linocut, the finish

Hi all

Here are the final stages of the fox linocut. First I carved the block some more to add a russetty colour, to define the fox's body shape more clearly. Then the final dark colour was added via a stencil - I cut the shapes from a piece of acetate, and dabbed the ink through using a cotton bud.

So there we have it - a snowy foxy print, inspired by an encounter with a fox on a snowy day. Haven't decided on a title yet though...

Fox Linocut WIP next stages

Some more work on the fox linocut...

 Printed a darker grey for the distant hedgerow...

...and next was an orange for the fox - Zerkall paper on the left, Chinese hand-made rice paper on the right.

Fox linocut WIP

Hello! I've been in the creative doldrums the past couple of weeks, but the snowy walk (see earlier post) and a surprise garden visitor have conspired to get me going again...

I've been pondering compositions for a linocut, and based on my snowy sketch plus a photo of a fox that visited the garden. I have come up with this:

A while back I bought a mixed pack of Chinese paper for printing, to experiment with. I thought that one of the sheets would be perfect for this snowy print:

I'm also using Zerkall 210gsm, which is what I've used before. So, first colour - grey. When I went out walking I was struck by the monochrome colours of the landscape - grey sky, dark hedgerow, white snow. I've also carved the block further for the next colour here.

And a close-up of that yummy paper:

That's all for now... well, maybe a quick look at the star of the print...

More to come over the weekend, I hope!