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...

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.

apple green

Pigeons

Now I am rather fond of birds but the sight of these pigeons sent me a bit Tippi Hedren. Not so my son who delighted in seeing them off. Love that green iridescence though – I can see this is going to be a green week.