The Botanist Linocut

This linocut is developing slowly. It is made from 2 blocks, one for the blues and greys, the other for the yellows. This is so I can keep the colours cleaner and to avoid muddying which can occur with linocuts with 8 or more colours such as this one. This causes its own headaches with registering the 2 blocks and deciding which colour to print next. There are only 3 or so colours to go so should be ready by January!

Hedge laying Linocut

The hedgelayer

Following on from 'The Botanist' post this linocut will be called 'The Hedgelayer' In the foreground are the tools of the trade laid out on a table. The topmost is a Staffordshire or Warwickshire billhook, below this an English pattern axe and then a generic Southern Counties billhook. In the background can be seen a hedge laid in the Midland style where the cut stems or pleachers are offset from the upright stakes and finished off with woven hazel known as hethering.

I intend to make the print from 2 blocks, one for the blues and greys and one for the yellows and browns.

New linocut ideas

I have decided to make a new series of prints that are about pastimes and craft skills. This is the first attempt to trial the process and is called 'The Botanist'. On the table are some of the tools of the trade, starting top right with the stereo microscope, then clockwise are forceps, identification book, hand lens, voucher specimen page and dissecting knife.

The print is made using the reduction technique where one piece of lino is used and is cut away for each colour. This technique needs accurate registration, and at the moment I am using the Kento method of registration developed by Japanese printmakers.

Because I want some of the colours to be quite clear I have decided to go for separate plates for each of the main colour groups, so in this case one for the yellows and one for the blues. Hopefully this will have the advantages of using separate blocks and single reduction method.

New linocuts

Penderyn Church Collage

Its along time since I first visited Penderyn Church and ended up making a large collage of the place based largely on drawings from memory. I decided recently to rework the original image (now on display at the Coliseum Theatre in Aberdare) using collagraph and linocut with collage.

Red Church mono/lino/collagraph/cutout

Each print is a lot smaller than the original but hopefully has some of its character. This one is in red but I have done another in blue. As well as the monoprints there is another smaller reworking of the original as collage

New collage detail

Bwllfa farm painting

Developing ideas, perhaps for future linocut print.

Sketch of Pen y Fan from Dare Valley

Pen y Fan

This is a fairly distant view of the Mountain from near Aberdare. Pencil and watercolour on mountboard. Experimenting with base materials that won't warp. Approx 4 inches x 2 1/2 inches.

Darren y ysgol walls

Sheep folds mixed media

Beautiful old dry stone walls near Dare Valley Country Park, gradually collapsing

Bwllfa Dare

Bwllfa Dare cottages with Farm on left

Mixed media  sketch.

Bwllfa Farm

Bwllfa Farm at Dare Valley Country Park

Plein air sketch of Bwllfa farm from opposite side of valley. Mixed media, wax resist and acrylic ink.

Wind Farm above Bwllfa Dare

This plein air sketch was made a couple of weeks ago. Oil on hardboard approx 7 x 5 inches. Yellow ochre ground (PY 42 pigment).