sketches

We spend a heavenly long weekend in Mull last sumer and while there I developed a new obsession with finding a way of illustrating the combination of rock and grass that covers the Island. I love how Francis Walker captures it in her screen prints. I may have to resort to screen printing as I just don't find relief printing subtle enough. Below are some sketches that will hopefully become prints.

Here is a view of Fionnphort. I love the yellow boat in the fore ground. I need to work a little harder on this composition. I put the colour of the rocks underneath and then the green on top with watercolour and picked out the detail with a pen.

This is an old croft I came across walking back from Erraid to Fidden Bay. Again I used watercolour and then added detail with a pen. I love the sense of dereliction found in old farm buildings. The old tin roof and landrover add enough colour to pique my interest. And of course the sheep!

Portobello take 2

Here is my latest Portobello inspired print.

Rockcliffe Jetty - the final cut?

Oh dear can't decide if I am happy or not. Not pleased with the far shore, too green? not green enough? too dark? too light? I am very pleased with the jetty. I used Somerset satin and velvet which creates different effects. I might have to do another colour to fix the far shore.

Nearly there

At this point I always get very nervous with a print and this one is no exception. All I can see are mistakes or opportunities missed. However I will grit my teeth and hope the final cut redeems.

Bass Rock Revisited

So here is my latest offering. It is a view of the Bass Rock from the John Muir Country park at Tyninghame. I have been mulling over a 'pebbly' scene for a while. I love how the pebbles have turned out.

I started out using a blend of brown, blue and greys to set the background. Then I set out the Bass Rock and highlighted the breaking waves with the green. Next came the brown and blues of the rocks.

The first 2 proofs used a dark blue on the base Bass Rock but stopped after the first 2 as I wanted the Rock to receed more.

Reduce, Reuse ,Recycle

So here is the fruit of all that kitchen floor cutting that went on earlier in the week.

I had the tree silhouette left over from a reductive lino cut. It seemed a shame not to use it again, so I recreated the back ground using 3 different blocks.

The first block i have cut in half and jigsawed together so i could do the sky and path colours in one go. I love wee cheats like that. The sky is created using blending which gives a nice graduated effect. The second block is the green, then third is brown. I think this one is too dark and I would use a more yellow colour next time. Lastly is the trees in a dark brown. The final print is good but I think i will head up to the studio and try and do it properly with oil based inks. I haven't quite got the hang of the water based inks and doing it at home.