Wildlife with Pen and Brush

Last of the Illustrations

2012-02-12T20:32:00.000Z

Finished the set of drawings for the local bird report. Here are the final three...

Common Sandpiper

Pencil and Ink Wash. 100mm x 140mm.

Rough Legged Buzzard
Pencil and Ink Wash. 100mm x 140mm

Common Whitethroat
Pencil and Ink Wash. 100mm x 140mm.

Just got the cover to go now - watch this space!

More Illustrations

2012-02-05T20:24:00.000Z

Woodcock distraction display.
Pencil and Ink Wash. 100mm x 140mm.

Whilst cycling through Grass Wood in Wharfedale one afternoon this Woodcock flew across the road infront of me. It landed in the wood beside the road, limped off through the undergrowth, dragging one wing and making a call not unlike a Water Rail. The distraction worked as I was unable to find the brood of young it must have had crouched hidden nearby.

Dunnock
Pencil and Ink Wash. 100mm x 140mm

Reed Bunting singing from a Phragmites stem.

Pencil and Ink Wash. 100mm x 140mm.

Robin
Pencil and Ink Wash. 100mm x 140mm.

Illustrations

2012-01-29T18:43:00.000Z

Its that time of year again when its time to make my contribution to the local bird club report. As this is a labour of love (rather than one of profit), I don't have the usual restrictions of working to a brief. Other than making sure that what I illustrate, has actually been recorded in the club area during during the year under review. So I can rifle through my old sketchbooks and see what leaps out at me as being a promising image. Over the twenty two or so years that I have been doing this, I have managed to illustrate a fair proportion of the total number of species recorded in the area- currently 269 species. However looking back some species have been drawn more often than others (the usual suspects that I like drawing; cormorants, herons and various raptors). So this year I have decided to concentrate on some previously overlooked ones.

These drawings of a Common Gull were made late in the afternoon on 11th November 2004 at Denaby Ings. A couple of months later on 23rd January 2005 I was back there again, drawing this Gadwall and a small group of Teal.

From these sketches I developed the two drawings below. Both Pencil and Ink Wash.

Common Gull

Male Gadwall

Driving along the road that crosses the moors above Ripponden I saw this Little Owl perched beside the road. By the time I had found a place to turn round and then drive back I was sure it would have gone. However, it was still there and remained long enough to do quite a comprehensive drawing.

I altered the composition somewhat for the final drawing.

Little Owl.
Pencil and Ink Wash.

Littondale Panorama

2012-01-22T15:27:00.000Z

Finally finished this print. The stage above is with the first green added and the one below with the second green.

And finally a dark to bring it all together

Littondale Panorama
10 Colour reduction Linocut. 240mm x 362mm.

I have mixed feelings about this print. I experimented with the cutting in the foreground to try and give some feel of the grasses rather than using my more usual 'flat colour' technique. The effect I was after is there but I think I held back a little on the cutting. I should have really gone for it! Something to try next time.

Redpolls

2012-01-15T18:35:00.000Z

Goldfinch and Lesser Redpoll. Pen and Ink and Pencil.

Lesser Redpoll. Pencil.

Woke up this morning to a hard frost and a mixed flock of Lesser Redpoll and Goldfinches in the Silver Birch tree outside the kitchen window. They didn't stay long and soon moved off although a couple of Goldfinches hung around the garden all day.

Three more colours on the new print

2012-01-08T17:48:00.000Z

Forgot to photograph a stage so there are two colours here. Then the first green for the foreground hills.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T20:13:00.000Z

I know its supposed to have been a holiday, but I couldn't sit around for a week doing nothing. So after two days of enforced idleness over Christmas, I managed to steal a few hours in between entertaining visitors and making visits ourselves to relatives.

I'm working bigger than I normally do on this print, actually twice as big. As the prints are too big for my scanner I'm having to photograph the stages as I go along. For a change lets start with the cartoon, scaled up from the original A5 sized pen and ink field sketch. This is a classic view from the Yorkshire Dales, looking down Littondale from the moor above Halton Gill towards Wharfedale in the far distance.

First colour is a warm cream.

Followed by a darker tone made by adding a little purple to the previous colour.

Next up, a pale yellow/green for the freshly cut fields in the centre of the valley.

I'm not sure exactly how many more colours this will require, my original idea was to use eight colours but it will probably end up being ten or eleven.

Loch of the Lowes - Selkirkshire

2011-12-18T20:55:00.001Z

Loch of the Lowes - Selkirkshire
11 colour reduction linocut. 180mm x 270mm. Edition of 5 prints.

Finally finished the print, which looks like being the last one of the year. I have one I'm just drawing onto a lino block, but I'll not get that one finished before the year end.

This shows Loch of the Lowes in Selkirkshire. The viewpoint is near its out-flow into St Marys Loch, looking back up the lake towards the Dumfriess and Galloway hills.

With thanks to Sherrie York and Keith Tilley, both of whom suggested the subject would make a good print when I posted the original field drawing over a year ago.

Nearly there now

2011-12-11T22:10:00.001Z

With two more colours printed I'm a lot less despondent about this print now. The first of the two, above, a dark blue green to create some shadows on the left hand hill. The next, below, a darker green for the foreground. One final dark should see the print finished. Tune in next week.

Birds in Huddersfield

2011-12-05T21:07:00.001Z

Out now ..... well actually been out for quite a bit! I've been a bit remiss about posting this as I have had a copy for over a month now. Cover illustration by yours truly and black and white illustrations by Russ Boland, Mike Pinder and myself. It also contains colour photographs by David Tattersley and David Pennington. Copies available from the Huddersfield Birdwatchers Club by following the link on the right.

2011-12-04T20:21:00.001Z

What with one thing and another and various interuptions to the flow of work, this print seems to be going nowhere fast and has been progressing, if you can call it that. In a series of fits and starts. I don't like working on a print in this manner and to be honest, finishing it is starting to feel like a bit of a chore. However, we'll keep at it. Three more colours down :

A dark blue to create some shadows on the far hills.

A green for the foreground.

And a dark orange for the bracken on the right hand hillside.

This looks like its going to be the final print of the year. I have an idea in my head for a dales landscape print but nothing down on paper yet. Unless I can get away with being really anti social during Christmas week, I don't think I'll manage to get that one as well as this completed for the year end.

Beware the Art Scam !!!!

2011-12-02T20:58:00.001Z

I have had some recent e-mail correspondence which I have transcribed in full below. I have not altered anything, the poor english, grammar and punctuation are all as in the original e-mails only the italics are mine. Having done some research on the matter this apparently is one of the signs to look out for.

On 22 Nov I received this e-mail via my Folksy Shop site ;

Hello,
i want to make immediate purchase of your item,
what is the present condition?

do you accept PayPal as mode of payment?

what is the final asking price?

kindly get back to me with your reply to my private email:

hope to read from you soon.

The e-mail address given was a yahoo.com address. Use of free e-mail accounts (hotmail, g-mail etc) is another sign to look out for.

I thought this was a bit odd as the sender had clearly been on the Folksy site, even referencing the particular piece they were interested in. So they would clearly have seen the asking price and that Paypal was the method of payment. However, giving them the benefit of the doubt I replied with the price and packaging costs and pointed out how to make a purchase through Folksy.

I didn't hear anything else until yesterday morning at 0626am, when the following e-mail arrived, again through the Folksy messaging service;

Hello seller
Are you ready for immediate sales of your item?
do you accept PayPal as mode of payment?
kindly get back to me on (again giving the same yahoo address)
with your reply and the final asking price.

hope to read from you soon

Best Regard

This was getting a bit familiar.
Again I replied with details of the price and how to pay. I got the following reply at 1755pm;

Thanks for the respond. i am an oceanographer and am currently on the sea at the moment, i am buying the item as a gift for my mum,i want to make it a surprise gift for her,she won't know anything about the gift until they get delivered to her.So i want you to reassure me that the item is in good condition as you have described. I can only pay through PayPal. So please kindly get back to me immediately so i can proceed with the payment and after the payment has been done,i have a pick up agent that will come around to pick the Item up immediately after payments.

Regard

I replied stating that I would only despatch the item by first class post after receiving payment of cleared funds in full. At 2051pm I got this reply;

Thanks for the reply,as i have told you i have agent that will come over for the pick up so you don't have to bother your self about shipment,all i will need from you now is your phone number and the address where pick up is going to take place so i can book shipping with my agent,also i will need your PayPal ID so i can make the payment for you when am done with my agent,hope to read from you soon.

Regards.

Note the request for my PayPal ID. I haven't replied to this e-mail and won't be.
The sender signed themselves Tracy Michael. A name I subsequently found on a list of known internet art scammers. So if you get anything similar in your inboxes just delete it.

Next Colours

2011-11-27T16:08:00.001Z

Managed to get two more colours printed this week.

Colour 4, the first green.

And Colour 5, a blue green for the distant hill.

Colours 2 and 3 on the new linocut

2011-11-20T19:16:00.001Z

I forgot to scan the print after the second colour, (light blue) was printed. Followed this with the third colour, a tawny ochre colour for the hillside on the right hand side. Now to spend some time thinking and staring as I'm not quite sure which colour to go with next, either a second blue or the first green.

Back with some work to do

2011-11-13T18:23:00.000Z

After three weeks when I have barely had a pencil in my hand, much less produced any work with it. It felt good to have some work on the go and to be back at the printing bench.

Although so far there isn't much to show for it...

Just the first colour printed so far. A light cream.

Fieldfares Linocut

2011-10-30T15:28:00.000Z

Fieldfares.
8 colour Reduction Linocut. 190mm x 170mm.
The result of work made over the last week or so. I took a lot of time trying to work out the composition and came up with a number of different solutions playing around with the groupings and the sizes of the birds. So I may yet have another go at this print.

and the winner is....

2011-10-22T18:09:00.000+01:00

Had a very nice surprise today at the preview of the Doncaster Open when my print 'Evening on the Skirfare' took first prize. This is me with the Mayor of Doncaster.

Great Northern Diver

2011-10-19T21:53:00.000+01:00

Adult Great Northern Diver, Ringstone Edge Reservoir. Pen and Ink.

This bird turned up on a local reservoir almost a week ago. After a failed trip out on Monday to try and see it I finally caught up with it this morning. The views were a bit distant as the bird kept to the far edge of the reservoir. It also spent a lot of the time fishing and didn't remain on the surface much which hampered the amount of drawing I was able to do. Unusually for the time of year, it was still in full summer plumage.

Welsh Landscapes

2011-10-16T18:47:00.000+01:00

Its been a busy couple of weeks printing. I needed a couple of prints for submission to the Royal Cambrian Academy in November so I've been looking through some old sketchbooks for possible ideas. I came up with two prints and while they are both ok prints, neither has that 'extra something' that I was looking for.

First is a print based on a watercolour colour sketch made on holiday a couple of years ago.

Dryslwyn Castle. 13 colour Reduction Linocut. Edition of 3.

I started out with 5 prints but lost 2 due to sloppy registration on the last colour. I'm reasonably pleased with the top half of the print especially the treatment of the hill with the castle and the background hillside but there is far more green in the print than I had originally intended.

Next is a print based on a sketch drawn just after I had left college.

Low Tide- Laugharne. 10 colour Reduction Linocut. Edition of 5.

This is better but the boats pulled up onto the mud don't really stand out much. I should have used them to introduce an accent of brighter colour.

I'm not sure at this stage if I will submit either of the prints, there is still time yet to try another subject.

Exhibiting

2011-10-09T14:35:00.000+01:00

I have had two linocut prints accepted for the Doncaster Open Art exhibition. This exhibition runs from 22nd October until 3rd December at;

Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery
Chequer Road
Doncaster
South Yorkshire.

Telephone the gallery on 01302 734 293 for further information.

The prints accepted are Kilnsey Crag and Evening on the Skirfare.

Brown Trout Print Finished

2011-10-02T19:21:00.000+01:00

Evening on the Skirfare. Littondale.
9 Colour Reduction Linocut. 270mm x 180mm.
Edition of 7 prints.

A quiet evening beside the River Skirfare in Littondale with 3 Brown Trout lazily rising to take the first flies hatching.
A larger and more complicated version of the Brown Trout print made earlier this year and based on the same set of sketches.

Open Up North

2011-10-01T22:12:00.000+01:00

Today was the preview of the Open Up North exhibition at the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal. Unfortunately I was unable to attend as I had to drop some work off at Doncaster Art Gallery, in the opposite direction to Kendal from here. However, the Brewery Arts Centre has published a full catalogue for the exhibition which is available on line at http://tinyurl.com/newOUNCatalogue

Colour 8 and almost finished.

2011-09-26T20:17:00.000+01:00

One more colour should give us a little bit more definition and then thats it.

Colour 7

2011-09-25T14:26:00.000+01:00

Another darker tone and gradually the fish become a little clearer, I hope! Another two colours should see it finished. I've enjoyed playing around with the patterns but I don't want to make it too confusing.

New Galleries

2011-09-24T15:40:00.000+01:00

I delivered a number of prints today to a new (to me) gallery, the Craft Centre and Design Gallery in the City Art Gallery building on the Headrow in Leeds. This is a prestigious venue in a superb location so hopefully should be good for sales. http://www.craftcentreleeds.co.uk/

I also found out in this mornings post that one of my prints has been accepted for the Open Up North exhibition organised by the Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal, on the southern fringe of the Lake District. The exhibition runs from 1st October until 10th November. http://www.openupnorth.org/

Next weekend its off to Doncaster Art Gallery with 3 prints to submit to the Open Exhibition there.

Colour No 6

2011-09-23T17:53:00.000+01:00

Colour 6 printed and we are starting to get a feeling of recession towards the top of the print and the deeper water. The main colour of the fish is now established and the next few colours will see them emerge more clearly.

More work on the fish

2011-09-18T20:13:00.000+01:00

Colour 3 on this print, the base colour for the fish, is a monoprint blend of 3 tones dabbed on to the plate with a brush and then printed. Its a bit haphazard and as with any monoprint each one has come out slightly different.

Colour 4 begins to establish the shapes of the fish and adds the lightest tones to the river bed.

Colour 5 and we are adding more colour to the river bed. With the first attempt at this sort of subject matter, I printed the stream bed quite uniformly. With this one I want to give more of an impression of the water deepening towards the top of the print. So I am trying to keep the foreground quite light in tone.

On Line Sales

2011-09-17T17:25:00.000+01:00

My prints are now available to purchase on line at Folksy.com. Visit www.folksy.com/shops/StuartBrocklehurstPrintmaker or follow the link in the sidebar on the right.

A bit more work

2011-09-11T19:53:00.000+01:00

Added the second colour onto the print. Not much of this will show in the final work, just a few small patches. Its main function being to 'knock back' the blue, providing a neutral tone onto which the remaining colours can be laid. Regular readers may guess where we are going with this print (if it works!). As it is a more complicated version of an earlier print.

Running Around

2011-09-11T16:41:00.000+01:00

Its been a week of running around. Last Sunday we had a drive up the valley to Hebden Bridge to collect the unsold works from the Summer Print Exhibition. It was a very pleasant surprise to find that of the eight prints submitted, four had sold. In a group exhibition, where my work has to compete with that from a lot of other printmakers I would have been happy to have sold one. On wednesday it was over to the Ryburn Gallery in Sowerby Bridge with a copy of the Brown Trout print to replace one that had sold there. This has been a very popular print, there are only two copies remaining, one framed and one unframed both now at the Ryburn Gallery. Yesterday we had a trip to Kendal, to deliver two prints that have been shortlisted for the final selection process for a new exhibition organised by the Brewery Arts Centre.

So not much time for work, just this large rectangle in a nice shade of pale blue. A new print intended for a new (for me) gallery, I will shortly have my work available in the Leeds Craft Centre and Design Gallery but more of that later.

Painting

2011-09-04T15:38:00.000+01:00

Loch of the Lowes, Scottish Borders. Acrylic on canvas. 400mm x 500mm.

Haven't finished a painting in ages, so this is a bit of a rarity. You can see how much painting I've done recently by how clean the easel is! I had intended this to be a print (it might still be one yet),

Finished the Hosho test

2011-08-28T20:00:00.000+01:00

Dusk.
2 Colour Reduction Linocut. 180mm x 110mm.

Finished this simple two colour print and I'm really pleased with the Hosho paper. Now to try something a little more demanding.

Changing Paper

2011-08-25T22:36:00.000+01:00

Up to now all my linocuts have been printed onto smooth Winsor and Newton Cartridge Paper. The paper is quite heavy and it takes quite a lot of effort to handprint onto it and get good colour saturation. So I finally decided to jump in and ordered a batch of Hosho paper. I didn't want to do anything too complicated as a trial so I drew out a simple two colour design.

The first colour printed; a simple dark to light and back to dark blend. I hadn't realised what a difference changing paper would make. I applied far too much pressure with the baren at first and nearly went through the back of the paper. But I'm really pleased with the way the colour laid.

Recent Sketchbook work

2011-08-21T20:58:00.000+01:00

A selection of sketchbook work done over the past week or so.

11/08/2011. 2015pm. Pencil and watercolour. 3 Roe Deer in a cornfield beside the A1 north of Doncaster. Raining and almost dark.
These were seen fleetingly out of the corner of my eye as I was driving. With no chance to stop I drew the sketch from memory and imagination as soon as I got home. Will it have any value or use as a study for a finished piece, probably not but it serves as a record of the scene.

16/08/2011. 0830am. Pen and ink. Looking west across the Annan valley, Moffat. The far hills hidden in the low cloud.
A short break in Dumfries and Galloway, this sketch was made looking out of the window of our room whilst waiting to go for breakfast.

16/08/2011. Rockcliffe on the Solway Coast. 1700pm. Pen and ink.
Looking south west across the bay with the tide ebbing.

16/08/2011. Southerness Lighthouse with the Lake District fells behind. 1855pm. Pen and ink.

Southerness Lighthouse with the Lake District fells behind. Pencil.
Drawn from a slightly closer viewpoint than the previous study.

17/08/2011. Nuthatch. Moffat. 1300pm. Pen and ink.

17/08/2011. Loch of the Lowes. Scottish Borders.Pen and Ink. 1445pm. Overcast sky.
One of my favorite spots, I painted this loch from a slightly different viewpoint in August last year. On 1st January this year I drew this view from almost the same spot with the lake covered in a thick layer of ice.

17/08/2011. Grey Mares Tail Waterfall. Watercolour.
I climbed up to the bottom of the waterfall and started to draw.Then it started to rain, at first a light drizzle which soon got heavier. This started life as a pencil drawing but the paper got too wet and the drawing smudged beyond recognition. To try and salvage something from it I added the watercolour later after I'd dried out the book.

Art in the Pen

2011-08-14T23:11:00.000+01:00

Just got back from Art in the Pen this weekend. A very enjoyable experience . For those of you unsure about the set up, this is what you get. The day before I arrived this was full of calves!

This was my first time at this event so I had spent quite a lot of time agonising over how I was going to hang the work. However, with the help of a few cable ties from Poundland the work was soon securely attached to the railings.

With 64 other artists and makers exhibiting there was a very diverse range of styles, techniques and subject matter on display. Although there were only about five other printmakers we all worked in different disciplines so avoided competing with each other. The artist in the next door pen was an etcher which was good, between us we demonstrated both intaglio and relief printmaking techniques.

The weekend went very well and so I would like to say a big thank you to all the people who came and bought my prints. I had a great time meeting some very interesting people and some very talented artists. Check out the following :
www.braemoor.co.uk/ajc/
http://www.janisgoodman.co.uk/
http://www.janetbrownetextiles.com/

Art in the Pen Skipton

2011-08-11T22:37:00.000+01:00

Off to Skipton tomorrow to set up for Art in the Pen this Weekend. The preview is tomorrow evening from 7pm to 9pm. So if any readers are in the area either tomorrow night or over the weekend then please drop by for a chat. I will have a number of linocuts, both framed and unframed along with watercolours, scraperboards and some pencil and ink wash drawings.

Badger Prints

2011-08-10T21:26:00.000+01:00

Finished both of the Badger prints. Both of them have come out ok, but considering it was pretty much an after thought, I am especially pleased with the second one.

Autumn Badger.

7 Colour Reduction Linocut. 120mm x 75mm.

Moonlight Badger.
6 Colour Reduction Linocut. 120mm x 75mm.

More work on the Badger Prints

2011-08-09T20:55:00.000+01:00

Print 1. Colour 4. A dark russet brown colour for the dead bracken fronds.

Print 2. Colour 4.
A further dark blue colour.

Print 1. Colour 5. The final dark grey colour, mainly for the shadowed part of the animals body.

Print 2. Colour 5. The penultimate colour only one more final dark to go on this print. Print 1 will need a further two colours before it will be finished.

Print 1. Colour 6. A dark brown colour for the earth around the Badger, only the final dark to go now on both prints. Should be finished in time for Art in the Pen on Friday.

Badgers

2011-08-07T19:51:00.000+01:00

I've not quite given up on the mini print exhibition yet, so I've started another image. I printed this first colour and then had an idea. Inspired by the japanese woodcut masters, who often made multiple editions from the same blocks by using different colour combinations. I decided to make another set of prints from this block.

Print 1. Colour 1.

After printing the colour above I darkened the mix and printed a set as below.

Print 2. Colour 1.

Next stage on the print was a light yellow brown colour.

Print 1. Colour 2.

And on the second print a darker blue grey.

Print 2. Colour 2.

Third stage on the first print was a pale mauve grey colour.

Print 1. Colour 3.

And on the second print, continuing with a darker blue grey mix.

Print 2. Colour 3.

Recent Sketches

2011-08-05T22:24:00.000+01:00

I started this blog with the intention of it being a kind of sketchbook diary, hence its title. Since then though it has changed and developed and now contains more finished studio work than field sketches. Ten years or so ago, pretty much all I was doing was sketchbook work with very little, and in some years no finished studio pieces being produced. Now I seem to have turned full circle, with nearly all of my time taken up with studio work and very little time being spent outdoors. I need to redress this balance, ideally I would like to set aside some time each day for some serious observational drawing, even if only for half an hour or so. The following are some recent sketches made over the last month, actually they are the only sketches I have made over the last month. So you can judge for yourself how much time has been spent outside, (even some of these were drawn from inside the house looking through the windows!).

A dejected looking Dunnock in the back garden in a heavy rain shower.
6b Progresso Graphite Pencil.

A Heron sketched as it flapped lazily overhead as I sat in a supermarket carpark.
Rotring Art Pen.

Two Jays sat on the fence at the bottom of mums garden. Eyeing up the fat balls hanging from the birdtable, trying to work out how to get to them.
Rotring Art Pen.

A female Sparrowhawk drawn as it flashed passed chasing a Blackbird. The drawing on the left is all wrong the wing shape looks more like a harrier!
Rotring Art Pen.

This afternoon we had an hours walk around Winscar Reservoir on the northern edge of the peak district. This Common Sandpiper was on the edge of the shoreline, the Wheatear on the moor above the reservoir.

Common Sandpiper.
Rotring Art Pen

Female Wheatear
6b Progresso Graphite Pencil and Watercolour.

Waste not want not

2011-07-31T19:50:00.000+01:00

Sorting out some shelves I came across some small odd shaped offcuts of lino, and not wanting to throw them away. I decided to see if I could compose some designs to suit them. Thinking it would be easier I picked the largest of them (65mm x 282mm). This is what I came up with, a simple one colour print.

Swimming Otter. Linocut. 55mm x 210mm. Open Edition.

As this was a single colour print I printed it with a border, not something I do very often. I can't quite make up my mind about borders. I think they look great on other printmakers work but I've never been entirely happy about the few prints that I have made with a border around them.

Something you don't see much of nowadays.

2011-07-24T20:07:00.000+01:00

Waiting for Collection.
Pen and Ink and Watercolour.180mm x 125mm.

The porch of a barn in Littondale with three milk churns waiting for the lorry from the Milk Marketing Board to collect them.
Well not quite, I think its a long time since these churns contained any milk. Once this would have been a common site at farms all over the country. Now though the milk is piped from the farms into tankers and the milk churns have become redundant. These were actually full of dried dog food for the farm sheepdogs.

Mini Prints

2011-07-17T20:04:00.000+01:00

I came across a call for entries recently for a British Printmakers Council Exhibition, so I thought I'd have a go. I downloaded the entry form and requirements and then started doodling some designs. Then I read the entry requirements. 'Works should be no larger than 8cm x 10cm.' I read that and thought 'that seems small.' Then I drew it out and realised how small it is. I work bigger than this when I do thumbnail sketches! For printmaking the smallest I usually work is slightly under A5. Anyway, thinking that the simpler the better. I discarded my rather grand ideas for what I was going to do and drew out a design based on the Avocet sketches from a couple of weeks ago. I really struggled with this and couldn't get anything to go right. I needed an edition of a minimum of 10 prints. By the time I had finished I had 5 useable prints, and that was with only four colours! So for what its worth here is the result of my efforts.

Avocets
4 Colour Reduction Linocut. 100m x 80mm.

Back to the drawing board with a bit more care than I took with this.

North Landing, Flamborough Head

2011-07-10T20:48:00.000+01:00

North Landing, Flamborough Head.
11 Colour Reduction Linocut. 270mm x 180mm.

With the addition of the final dark colour this print is finished, and now I really have to buckle down to preparing for the art in the pen event. Prints have to be framed and then I have to figure out a way of hanging them in a cattle pen! So there may not be time for another big linocut before then.

Next Colours on the Flamborough Print

2011-07-03T22:20:00.000+01:00

Colour 7 is a dark brown for the shadows on the base of the cliffs and for a few patches on the beach to represent the wet sand left by the retreating waves.

Colour 8, a darker blue for the sea and top part of the sky.

Colours 9 above, and 10 below, two shades of green.

Which leaves us with just one more colour to go.

Elland Gravel Pits

2011-07-01T21:38:00.000+01:00

Had an hours walk around Elland Gravel pits this afternoon before picking the kids up from school. Or to give the place its new name ; Cromwell Bottom Local Nature Reserve. It used to be one of my regular haunts but its a couple of years since I last walked round it. I didn't have much time but still managed a few record sketches and a study which I may be able to develop into something more.

The two butterflies are Ringlet and a Small Skipper, birds are male Reed Bunting, Wren and male Whitethroat. All pencil, watercolour and pen and ink.

Further along the canal I came across a large shoal of Bream idling just beneath the surface in the shadows of the overhanging trees. These two were the tail end of a shoal of about 15 or 20.

Bream and Damselflies. Watercolour.

Its not turned out quite as I intended, I started to loose control of the watercolour. But the tone of the two fish is about right in relation to the darkness of the water. Its a useful starting point for further development perhaps.

Summer Prints 2011 Exhibition Opens

2011-06-28T20:41:00.000+01:00

The Summer Prints 2011 Exhibition opens at the Calder Gallery in Hebden Bridge on 30th June and runs until September. The preview is tomorrow night from 6pm until 8pm. Further details can be found at: http://www.caldergallery.co.uk/.

I have 8 linocuts in this group exhibition which promises to be an interesting mix of printmaking techniques and methods.

Flamborough Linocut

2011-06-26T14:43:00.000+01:00

Colour 4 on the Flamborough linocut. A darker sand colour.

Followed by colour 5, the first blue.

and then the first green.

Inspiring

2011-06-23T13:01:00.000+01:00

At a loose end this morning so spent it surfing the net for printmakers sites. After looking in on the usual suspects came across this: www.theartistsloft.com/prints and spent the next two hours mesmerised by the subtleties of the prints.

New Linocut - First Colours

2011-06-19T20:54:00.000+01:00

After the deliberations of last week I finally settled down to working on the next Linocut, in between mounting and framing my prints for the Calder Gallery Summer Print Exhibition in Hebden Bridge. See the link on the right. Everything is now all framed and packed ready to be taken to the gallery this coming friday. So for now at least I can concentrate on getting this print done, before I have to start preparing for the fast approaching Art in the Pen show at Skipton in August. Anyway, for now; colour 1.

....a pale cream colour. This is the Yorkshire Coast at Flamborough, so the cliffs here are Chalk rather than the Great Scar Limestone of the Yorkshire Dales. In bright sunshine they shine pure white with blue shadows, so I can't use any of my 'dirty' limestone greys here if I want to retain that summer brightness. Next colour is a blue grey.

The second colour always looks like I've printed it too dark (sometimes I have!), but this time I think it should be ok. It may not be blue enough though. Next we'll start to warm things up a bit.

A bit of golden yellow for the beach.

Doodling

2011-06-12T18:49:00.000+01:00

Since finishing the Kilnsey Crag linocut I've been at something of a loose end. I have ideas for prints but couldn't settle down to work on anything. I started with this thumbnail of Dent in the Yorkshire Dales.

It has potential but I'm not sure I can make a linocut from it - maybe a Scraperboard drawing.
I tried a drawing of the North Landing at Flamborough and then worked on some thumbnails of Avocets.

If ever a bird was designed for linocutting it has to be the Avocet. But therein lies the problem -trying to come up with an original design.

I then got distracted by this Dunnock outside the window, before going back to the Avocets.

Dunnock. Field Drawing.
Rotring Art Pen.

I then went back to the avocets before revisiting the drawing of North Landing Flamborough.

It looks like this is what we are going with - tune in next week.

Entering the World of Modern Communications

2011-06-05T19:59:00.000+01:00

With a lot of help from my teenage daughter (something of an expert on these matters). I now have a facebook page. See the link on the right. Just not sure what to do with it.

Kilnsey Crag Wharfedale

2011-05-30T21:44:00.000+01:00

Kilnsey Crag
10 Colour Reduction Linocut.
270mm x 180mm.
Edition of 6.

Finished the print off with the final dark on the crag. This lump of shattered Great Scar Limestone with its massive overhang, stands close to the road as you travel up Wharfedale. The road, just off to the right of the stream, passes beneath the crag and infront of the farmhouse in the middle distance. Shortly after it divides; one branch bearing left to take the traveller up Littondale, the other continuing along Wharfedale behind the hill in the distance.

I was tempted to use black as the final colour, but resisted the temptation. Using instead a dark grey made up from the accumulated leftovers of previous colours all mixed together and saved in an old ink pot. I've pretty much stopped using black as I felt it was too overpowering against some of the paler colours. Even the final colour on the Raven print was printed using this dark grey mix.

Almost Finished

2011-05-26T19:43:00.000+01:00

Colour 9, a darker green in a few areas, only the final details on the crag to add next and then it will be finished.

Lime Hawk Moth

2011-05-24T21:01:00.000+01:00

Lime Hawk Moth Mimas tiliae.
Pencil, watercolour and pen and ink.

A male I think, judging by its small size and strong colouration. However if anyone reading this knows better I stand to be corrected.

I found it dead on the path by the back door as I went out this morning. Possibly a victim of last nights strong winds and rain. A bit battered with its left antenna missing. It's the first one of this species that I have ever seen.

Kilnsey Crag Colours 6, 7 and 8

2011-05-22T19:47:00.000+01:00

Colour 6, the first green for the foreground grasses, and then colour 7, a darker tone of the same green.

Colour 8 below, a dark violet grey for the shadowed areas on the crag.

Kilnsey Colours 4 and 5

2011-05-18T20:42:00.000+01:00

Colour 4 is a pale blue green, mainly for the background fell, although some areas will also remain showing in the ripples in the foreground beck. It looks a little dark here but the additional colours should push it into the background.

Colour 5, a darker blue to finish off the sky and add further definition into the stream. The main structure of the crag is now shown although none of this colour will be used for the rockface.

Frustration

2011-05-15T20:50:00.000+01:00

Grey Mares Tail (study)
Mixed Media. 350mm x 270mm

I've been trying to do something with this waterfall for the last 12 months. I've made watercolour studies, I have an unfinished acrylic on canvas propped against the wall. I know there is a print here somewhere but I just can't get it all to come together in a composition that I am happy with. It probably needs another trip out to visit the waterfall and some more field sketches. So after a fruitless week messing about with it I finally started something else....

Colour 1. A very pale cream.

Then a pale violet grey

This should be recognisable for any rock climbers or anyone familiar with Wharfedale in the Yorkshire Dales.

And then the first pale blue.

Raven at Wessenden Head

2011-05-09T20:40:00.000+01:00

Raven at Wessenden Head
Reduction Linocut, 12 colours. 190mm x 170mm.

Finally finished the Raven print. The view is the Wessenden Valley on the northern fringe of the Peak District National Park, looking down towards the Colne Valley. The print was made for the cover of the Bird Club 2010 report and done about half up of the report size. Hopefully it will make a striking image when reduced.

Nearly finished

2011-05-08T20:42:00.000+01:00

Colour 11.
A dark grey brown, only the final dark to go now.

Next Three Colours

2011-05-07T20:46:00.000+01:00

Colours 8 and 9.
A mid blue to finish off the lake. Then the final green in the foreground.

Colour 10 below is a darker blue for the highlights on the Raven and the hill on the far horizon.

Only two colours to go now.

Colour 7

2011-05-05T21:06:00.000+01:00

Colour 7, the second green. So far so good, the print is starting to come together. The next few colours should bring the foreground out and give a nice feeling of depth looking down the valley. Well thats the intention anyway.

Next Three Colours

2011-05-04T22:16:00.000+01:00

Colour 3 is a pale tawny colour for the moorland on the distant hillside on the far side of the Colne Valley. Some areas of this colour will be left as highlights in the foreground grasses.

Next is a pale green for the lower slopes of the Wessenden Valley around the reservoir.

and then a darker tone of the earlier tawny colour.

Six colours down, probably another six to go. I start every print with the intention of trying to limit the number of colours used. I don't know how or where the figure came from but I seem to have got an ideal of 6 colours in my mind. Try as I might I can't get anywhere near this. Infact, with the last few prints I seem to be going the other way and using more colours not less! Does this matter though ? Is the number of colours used important ?

More Report Illustrations

2011-05-02T17:23:00.000+01:00

Another set of Pencil and Wash Illustrations. All 95mm x 135mm. The first two shown with the original field sketches on which they are based.

Field sketch of a Collard Dove pair, drawn as they perched in the top of the conifer at the bottom of the garden.

and below the pencil and wash illustration.

Above, field sketch of Black Headed Gulls drawn at Denaby Ings in black ink using a Rotring Art Pen.
and below Pencil and Wash Illustration.

Above : Juvenile Swallow
Below : Lesser Whitethroat

Illustrations and a new print

2011-05-01T21:07:00.000+01:00

It's been a busy week. With the 2009 Bird Club Report now published its time to start on the 2010 report. So here are the first set of drawings. All 6b Progresso Graphite Pencil with an ink wash and all 95mm x 135mm.

Golden Plover

Hawfinch

Long tailed Tit

Pintails

Siskin

I've also started a new print which will be the cover design

Colour 1 and the offset drawing gives the subject away.

Colour 2
and then Colour 3

Huddersfield Birdwatchers Club Report 2009

2011-05-01T20:44:00.000+01:00

Now available; well actually its been available for a couple of weeks I've just been a bit slow to post about it. Available by following the link on the right to the Huddersfield Bird Club.

Colour 11 and Finished

2011-04-24T20:57:00.000+01:00

Newbridge and the track to Silverdale-Littondale.
Reduction Linocut. 170mm x 260mm.
Edition of 5.

Not quite what I intended when I started out with this print, but considering the difficulties I have had with it I'm very pleased with the result.

Colour 10, nearly there now

2011-04-19T21:24:00.000+01:00

A dark green to give the trees and the darker vegetation on the hillside a lift.

My original interest in this view was triggered by the contrasting landuse being shown by the different colours of the vegetation. The fields in the valley bottom are used as pasture, and the grass grown, originally for a hay crop but nowadays cut for silage. On the hillside, the rougher pastures that are too steep to crop, gradually give way to darker coloured heather and bilberry moorland.

Blundering back on track

2011-04-18T21:32:00.000+01:00

Continuing this masterclass in how not to go about making a reduction linocut. As the foreground green is now too dark, I overprinted a light green.

and then a darker blue onto the river and the distant hill.

after nine colours we are nearly finished. Two colours to go now I think.

Digging my way out of a hole

2011-04-17T21:32:00.000+01:00

Following my last post I've been debating what to do about this print. Having completely messed up with the colour order during printing, I was tempted to abandon the print altogether. However, having slept on it I decided to continue and see if I can salvage something from it. So on with the next colour:

The foreground is now too dark, its going from bad to worse!

The less said the better

2011-04-16T14:55:00.000+01:00

Don't know how it happened, but I completely forgot about this colour. It should have been printed as colour 2 or colour 3. I've had to print it a lot darker than originally intended so I am not sure how it will now affect the subsequent colours.

New Gallery

2011-04-15T21:55:00.003+01:00

I dropped off some Linocuts at a new gallery for me. The Ryburn Gallery at Sowerby Bridge near Halifax. Further details can be found at : www.ryburngallery.com

First Greens

2011-04-14T21:03:00.003+01:00

I've printed the first two greens and the landscape is begining to take shape.

Colour 3

2011-04-12T22:21:00.002+01:00

Colour 3 - blue for the sky and the foreground river.

Starting the next print

2011-04-10T21:04:00.002+01:00

I've started a new print and got the first two colours down. The first one a warm grey. And then a cooler blue grey colour.

Scraperboard Step by Step

2011-04-03T22:03:00.004+01:00

I thought it might be of interest to show the stages involved in completing a Scraperboard engraving.

I draw out a pen and ink cartoon the same size as the finished piece. This drawing although dated March 2011 is based on a quick sketch drawn in 1987. This is then carefully traced onto the Scraperboard. In this case I'm using white board. I prefer to use white rather than black as I find it more versatile. I can ink up the areas which I want to be the darker tones and leave the paler tones white. I'm trying to to make a drawing that has its own character, rather than replicate a wood engraving.

I then start to ink in solid areas of black. These will either remain black or will be engraved into with a stylus to reveal the white board beneath the ink.

Having established the black areas with a brush I start to draw into the paler areas, mostly with a fine pointed mapping pen but also brushing some marks to represent different types of vegetation.

The drawing stage (above) is now complete, so I put the drawing aside to let the ink dry before engraving into it to bring out the finer details below.

The Road into Conistone-Wharfedale. Pen and Ink Scraperboard.103mm x 149mm.

Llansteffan Castle

2011-03-27T20:55:00.003+01:00

Llansteffan Castle from Ferryside. 13 colour reduction Linocut. 240mm x 360mm. Edition of 6. Printed the final two colours, a dark grey green and then a final dark on the old groyne in the foreground. I am pleased with this, its turned out to be quite close to my original design, which doesn't happen often with my prints. There is usually quite a lot of ad-libbing goes on before I get to printing the final colours.

Colours 10 and 11

2011-03-24T21:42:00.003Z

Although the last colour printed had brought the print to life, I felt that the colour was too dark on the left side of the hill below the castle. So I printed a paler green colour across this area and then a darker blue green on the trees below the castle and on the distant hillside. This part of the print is now more or less complete apart from some shadow areas in the trees. All that remains now is some very carefull printing on the breakwater in the foreground.

From despair to delight

2011-03-20T20:08:00.005Z

Started with the first two greens and then the final dark brown on the foreground beach.

1st Green

2nd Green

Final brown.

By this time I was starting to get a bit despondent about the print. I had printed 8 colours and was feeling that I wasn't getting any further. But then I printed the next colour....

Colour 9

..... and suddenly everything began to sing. Finally we are getting somewhere, the end is now in sight. A familiar view for anyone travelling the railway line between Llanelli and Carmarthen in West Wales. This is Llansteffan Castle seen looking across the River Tywi from the beach at Ferryside.

Progress on the new print

2011-03-15T20:57:00.004Z

Colour 4, blue for the sky and the base colour for the foreground river.

Colour 5, a darker sand colour. The next stages will be to develop the middle distance areas beneath the castle.

And now for something new

2011-03-13T19:10:00.005Z

For the last few months I've been working on designs faster than I can get them printed. Normally I don't work on so many editions at once. My usual way of working is to finish a print and then start to think about what I am going to do next. Recently though I've had blocks ready to carve as soon as I've finished the previous print. However, this unusual burst of creativity isn't going to last, once this particular print is finished I haven't a clue as to what to do next.

This one is bigger than I usually do, and because the prints will not fit in my scanner I'm afraid you're going to have to put up with some dodgy photography for this set. So lets begin.

Colour 1. Linoblock and printed colour. A pale creamy yellow for some clouds and a bit of sand in the foreground. (Gary, if you are reading this you should begin to recognise the location).

Colour 2

A cool grey for the darker clouds and for the castle. However, once I had printed it I decided that the castle walls needed to be a warmer grey in the sunlit areas so I warmed up the same grey and printed colour 3 below.

Trust me it is a warmer grey, I know it doesn't look like it on this photo.

Brown Trout

2011-03-07T20:50:00.002Z

Brown Trout
Reduction Linocut. 180mm x 120mm.

I've added the final dark and I think its time to call this finished. On the whole I'm quite pleased, although as usual there are a few things I would change next time. I don't usually revisit a print once I have finished, but with this one I'm tempted to have another go and try and make a more overtly decorative interpretation of it. We'll see.

Art in the Pen Skipton

2011-03-06T20:31:00.002Z

I received word yesterday that my application to exhibit at this years Art in the Pen event at Skipton Auction Mart in August has been accepted by the selection panel. The show will be held on 13 and 14 August from 10am-4pm each day with a preview on Friday 12 August from 7pm-9pm. The next five months are going to be really busy getting enough good work together to exhibit there.
Further details can be found at www.artinthepen.org.uk

Brown Trout next two colours

2011-03-06T20:11:00.003Z

With these two colours I am trying to establish the detail of the stream bed without overpowering the fish.

Just one more colour after this should see it finished.

Coming together, Colour 5

2011-03-02T21:40:00.004Z

The fifth colour is a light sand colour to establish the ground colour for the river bed, it also develops the final shape of the fish as it rises from the depths to the surface. From here I want to develop the pattern of pebbles on the river bed. But, I don't want to do this too much or it will overpower the fish. Rather than going overtly decorative I want to keep a naturalistic feel and correct depth; the blue ripples on the surface, the fish in mid water and the river bed below.

A bit too ambitious ?

2011-02-27T21:04:00.002Z

I'm not too confident that linocut is perhaps the best medium for the next subject. So having said that and not wanting to waste a piece of lino on what might be an unsatisfactory result, I'm working quite small about 180mm x 120mm. However now that I have started, it might have been easier to work a little bit bigger! First colour is a pale blue with a few highlights cut out.
I forgot to scan the next colour after I printed it but this is the colour printed on its own.

Next stage is a blend of brownish orange and brownish grey, and the subject is fairly apparent. It doesn't look much printed on its own.

These are the first four colours printed together. So far so good.

Snowdrops

2011-02-20T20:37:00.002Z

Fair Maids of February

4 Colour Reduction Linocut. 180mm x 118mm. Edition of 8.

Finished the Snowdrop print and in only four colours. I deliberately kept this much simpler in both design and the number of colours used. The next print on the way is something much more complicated. The title comes from an old country name for the flower.

Snowdrops Colour 3

2011-02-19T16:06:00.003Z

Only one more colour to go. Should have it finished to post the final print tomorrow.

Snowdrops Colour 2

2011-02-13T20:26:00.004Z

I am deliberately trying to keep this print much simpler in both design and execution than in previous ones. I've printed the second colour and now all is becoming clearer, only two more colours to go, a darker green and then a final dark for the background. The ghost of a drawing on the print is from the chinagraph pencil that I drew the image onto the block with. That should disappear after the next colour is printed.

Ferens Art Gallery Open Art Exhibition

2011-02-08T21:43:00.002Z

I received word in todays post that all 3 of my submissions to the Ferens Open Exhibition in Hull have been accepted by the selection committee. This was a big surprise it's a prestigious exhibition and very competitive with a lot of artwork submitted. I would have been delighted to get just one of the pieces accepted.

The three works are shown below. Two of them have previously appeared in the blog but the first of them below I haven't posted before. It's based on a collection of shells and pebbles picked up by my children and heavily influenced by Sherrie York's work over at Brush and Baren. Follow the link on the right to see more of her outstanding prints.

Beachcombings. 8 colour reduction linocut. 120mm x 180mm.

Safely Ashore-Hornsea. 5 colour reduction linocut. 150mm x 240mm.

SH218 on the Coble Landing Filey. 10 colour reduction linocut. 181mm x 270mm.

Endings and Beginings

2011-02-06T18:38:00.003Z

Rose Hips and Snow Shadows.
7 Colour Reduction Linocut. 180mm x 270mm.

With a burst of productivity I printed the final colour on the Rose hip print and then started the next one. After looking back to winter, the next print looks forward in anticipation of the coming spring.

I expect you can guess where we are going with this print. In 3 more colours it will be finished.

Almost Finished

2011-02-05T20:57:00.000Z

Dark green printed and only a final dark to go now.

Colour 5

2011-02-02T21:13:00.002Z

Finally two spots of colour to provide a point of interest. Only two more colours to go now.

4th Colour

2011-01-30T19:13:00.002Z

The fourth colour is down with no hiccups, 3 more to go I think. Next colour will be two small areas of red for the rose hips. This should be finished this week then I can begin printing the next block. Unusually, I have three prints at various stages of development, all on the go at once.

Third Colour

2011-01-26T20:13:00.003Z

With all of the blue removed, and the third colour printed to establish the base colour of the branches. Just how much of the block has been removed becomes apparent. From now on only small areas remain to be printed. There is very little room for error and the registration has to be spot on. But with some careful baren work the printing wasn't as difficult as I'd imagined. (Touch wood!)

Next colour will be a light green for the grasses down the left hand side and a few leaves poking through the snow.

Ideas for prints and designs I want to work on are coming thick and fast. As well as this print, I have another block already carved to print the first colour once this one is finished. Another print I have at the design stage may be a bit ambitious. The subject is one I keep returning to in other media but haven't tried as a print. What I want to do may be a bit too subtle for a linocut. We'll have to wait and see.

Second Colour

2011-01-24T20:46:00.003Z

If I really knew what I was doing I would have thought about this before diving in head first. It was only after I had carved away all the first colour, that I realised just how difficult I had made things. With so much of the block gone, there was very little left inked up to hold the paper. Not so much of a problem if I was using a press, but rubbing with a baren there was always the chance of the paper slipping. Anyway with some careful printing so far so good.

Jumping on the Snow bandwagon

2011-01-23T21:05:00.002Z

Its that time of the year, so here is my offering.

After what turned out to be quite a lot of carving I printed the first colour. Another five or so to go.

Oystercatcher

2011-01-16T19:27:00.004Z

Oystercatcher at Winscar Reservoir.
Reduction Linocut (9 Colours). 190mm x 170mm. Edition of 6.

Finished the Oystercatcher print for the 2009 Huddersfield Bird Report Cover, and delivered it on the promised date. For a change I managed to print the entire edition without any registration problems. Started out with 6 sheets of paper and finished with 6 prints.

Eight Colours down- One to go

2011-01-09T21:26:00.003Z

Printed the main blue for the dark plumage of the Oystercatcher and so far so good. Only the final dark to go now. I know most printmakers, when asked in interviews will say that cleaning up is the thing they hate most about the process. I quite enjoy cleaning up between colours, it gives me time to think and plan the next move. For me, I find printing the final colour the worst part. With a reduction print so much depends on getting the last printing right. Get it wrong and there is no recovery.

Oystercatcher, progress on the next 3 colours.

2011-01-03T19:39:00.005Z

Colours 5,6 and 7. Although the light green printed as colour 6 is out of order. I should have printed it as colour 4. Hopefully it will still work out.

Only two colours to go now to fill in the black plumage of the bird, so it should be complete by the end of the week. Then I can go back and finish off the trawler print.