Developing an image for a woodcut print

Off and on since February I've been struggling with this print of 3 vertebrae from a poor old sheep that didn't survive the harsh winter up on the moor.  Its a companion piece to the curlew's nest.

I started off with a blurry photo taken in a hurry (I wish I'd brought the bones home with me but had nothing to carry them in and didn't fancy 'contaminating' my pocket).

Here's the original drawing I showed in an earlier post.

My usual process is to make drawings in pencil or pen to understand the subject. The problem I find with these initial drawings though is that they're the wrong way round in terms of positive and negative.

So the next stage is developing the image on black paper with white paint. To me this makes far more sense as the white marks replicate the cuts and gouges made in the wood with my tools.  The white on black is great for exploring mark making and getting a feel of how the final print might look.

I always darken my printing blocks before cutting and use Royal white graphite paper to transfer the reversed image. The white transfer paper isn't that common but I know you can get it mail order from the Heaton Cooper Studio here

Originally the image was just the bones and the crowberry plant but this ended up looking too starkly emblematic so I needed to add the grass. But then the bones lost their impact and I had to rework them to increase contrast.

This is the final black and white proof of the print.

Ultimately the plan has always been that both the bones and the eggs are to be part of the Enfolding Landscape series and will become folded 3D objects (Turkish Map Folds).  I'm still working on the covers and other details but should be able to show you soon.

Curlew Sex!

On the way home from delivering work to Masham and a recce to Grassington for the festival Art Trail, we were whizzing down the big road from Skipton to Keighley this afternoon when over in the field what did we see - mating Curlews!

All I can say from the brief viewing as we flashed by is: it seemed to involve careful beak placement, precise balancing and a lot of wing flapping, as you might expect.

Alternative Curlew Dance

Can't decide if I prefer this one or not.  Constructive criticism welcome.

Curlew Dance

Playing around with  photos taken this morning on High Brown Knoll.  A lovely walk but sad to see the remains of some Curlew eggs predated by crows.  The harsh side of nature.

Busy, Busy, Busy and Too Near The Bone

Hard work these past few weeks, getting work finished and framed for an exhibition at The Gallery in Masham called Close To Home starting on 19th May.

I've chosen to interpret the theme in terms of uplifting and contemplative landscape features near my home.  I thought about including the new woodcut of sheep vertebrae lying amongst crowberry on the moor as it provides a counterpoint to the Curlew's eggs and reflects on the eternal cycle of life and death. However, I decided not to as the exhibition is helping to raise funds for Herriot Hospice Homecare and an image of death might be upsetting for supporters who are feeling vulnerable - a case of too near the bone.

The exhibition poster has a lovely teapot print by Helen Peyton bringing thoughts of domestic cheeriness and the preview is on Friday 18th May 2012 at 7.30 - 9 pm.  Well worth supporting if you're in the area.

Grassington Festival 2012 Art Trail

By 10 am on Saturday morning I was at Leeds Art Gallery with a group of other artists. We had the delightful task of each choosing an artwork to take home!

I'm taking part in the Grassington Festival Art Trail, a collaborative project with Grassington Festival, Leeds Art Gallery and fifteen artists.

We will all be developing new artworks for a sculpture trail at Grassington Festival in June.
Using original artwork from the Leeds Art Gallery picture lending collection, each artist selects and takes home a piece of art and uses it as inspiration to create new work in response.

Members of the public can see the artists’ responses installed around the village during the Festival in June and they can also enjoy the original artworks inside local Grassington shops and businesses.

I swore I'd choose something small and easily transportable but was very taken with this lovely austere etching called Black Landscape by Printmaker Norman Ackroyd and had to have it.

The frame is about A1 size and heavy so thank goodness I didn't have to catch the train back to Hebden Bridge or my arms would be dislocated by now! The trudge up to a distant car park was bad enough but luckily I was fortified by numerous cups of tea and croissants provided by the charming facilitators Bryony Pritchard from Grassington Festival and Ted Wilkins from Leeds Art Gallery.

Grassington Festival is on from 15th - 30th June so I now have 6 weeks to make my response - the overall theme is Tracks and Trails which fits in well with recent ideas - looking forward to a new challenge and seeing what others get up to.  You can follow progress here as my work develops and also on the Facebook group set up for the project: http://www.facebook.com/groups/389873544386001/

I just want it to stop raining ...

Feeling really studio bound as I just can't face going out drawing when its so wet outside. Haven't heard a curlew in weeks now.

Curlew Nest Woodcut

Finally managed to complete the woodcut of a curlew's nest on High Brown Knoll started earlier in the year and posted about as a demonstration of the woodcut process.  The printed image size is around 24 cm square.

This framed print is going to the Manor House Art Gallery and Museum in Ilkley as part of an exhibition titled 'Moor Views'.  The show is connected with the Watershed - Inspired By Landscape project I was resident artist for last year and includes work from the photography competition.  A little bird tells me that my friend Angelika Freydank is one of the prize winners - well done Angelika!  Opening times and details are included on the invite below:

Sadly, I don't think I'll be able to make the preview as I'm taking part in an activity at Leeds Art Gallery on that day, as part of a project with Grassington Arts Festival.

Easter Eggs

A quick watercolour study of the Ring Ouzel helps me understand its form better.

I don't think I've quite got the shape right but you can get the general idea of how it differs from a blackbird.  They both belong to the Thrush family. I wondered what their eggs are like and my trusty Observer's pocket book of Birds' Eggs reveals:

Although its lovely to briefly see birds eggs in the wild if you stumble on them by chance, I'm happy to look at either illustrations or photographs to satisfy my curiosity, rather than risk any harm, though as the Ring Ouzel is a disappearing species in Britain  it would be marvellous to view its nest as that would mean potentially more Ouzels. I love that name, but can't seem to find much info on its origins yet.

This is a charming little book and also very useful.

Green Lizard at Widdop

I love Widdop Reservoir for its wild, bleak nature and like many places here in the South Pennines there's
a sense of austerity where wildlife sightings seem hard won in a sparse environment. So it was great to find this common lizard sunning itself in bilberry on the rocky outcrops above the reservoir last week.

During the same walk we saw a lovely male Ring Ouzel zipping along the shore, the first time I've ever seen one of these rare visitors - a mountain blackbird with a distinctive white crescent on its breast. No chance to photograph it unfortunately.

Curlews and Larks

I'm very happy to have seen my first Curlews and Larks of 2012 up on High Brown Knoll on Sunday.  Both species were being very active and vocal in the spring sunshine, no doubt pairing up and scouting for nesting sites.

The blue sky and sparkling light also highlighted a favourite aspect of the tops for me - the tiny pools that form amongst the rushes - so peaceful and remotely beautiful.

28 sculptural drawings

My complete collection of 28 Drawings Later, arranged on the plan chest in a somewhat random manner, showing the hastily built temporary white walls created as a kind of booth for taking photos of the artwork - all held together by bits of string, bulldog clips and insulation tape.

A book by Jane Hyslop

The Leeds book fair was up to the usual standard and I enjoyed a good wander round the tables stopping to chat to artists and handle books that took my fancy.  There's almost too much to look at so I always seem to do an initial trawl and then go back to about 8 tables for a thorough view.

I bought a small book by Scottish artist Jane Hyslop.  I've seen her work on-line at her website whilst idly Googling and liked what I saw so it was good to find something I could afford and take home with me.
This ones called Edinburgh a visual handbook - I love the colours, the drawing style and the way every things put together.

15th International Artists' Book Fair at Leeds

Tomorrow I'm off to see the Artists' Book Fair at Parkinson Court, University of Leeds.  Its on for 2 days and I prefer the Friday when its less hectic.  If you like Artists' Books then this is not to be missed as there's always loads of lovely, inspirational work to see and books to handle.

I've 'borrowed' this photo by Paul Laidler from the website of Book Arts at the Centre for Fine Print Research UWE  http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/about.htm, its from the 2010 Fair where the exhibits extend beyond the circular reception desk and into the distance.  Admission is free by the way.

28 Drawings Later - The Fourth and Final Week

Here's the drawings for the final week of the challenge.   It was even harder than the third week, trying to do something different each day. My normal way of working is quite slow with a lot of thinking and playing around with an idea so it was exhausting keeping up the pace.

I decided to allow colour in, for a change and one day I also had to break my self set 3D rule as I could only manage a flat drawing.  The final drawing is a reiteration of the 26th with Photoshop additions, using masks and adjustment layers that take me a long time to do skilfully.  A sunset over water has to be one of the all time landscape art cliches, but you do see an awful lot of them round where I live and hopefully the diorama element gives it a different slant.

28 Drawings Later - The Third Week

I don't know if anyone else felt the same but I found the third week of this project to be challenging. Making a 3D drawn object each day became all consuming and I've been neglecting other things I ought to be doing... One thing thats become very apparent is the importance of well thought out lighting when taking the photographs of the drawings, and that in itself has also been time consuming.