It's been a very busy year, with one thing and another, but I found the time to get a small 5x7 inch seasonal print produced which I'll be sending out photomounted to a card this Christmas.
The colour and style is inspired by woodblock sketchbooks by Hiroshige who produced some amazing images with just a couple of blocks. A real inspiration.
The main challenge I gave myself on this print was the cutting and printing of the black lines. In every print I've produced I've wanted to get the linework finer and although I've a long way to go, I'm pleased with the result.
It's called "Sally, George and a view of the Valley" and depicts a slightly stylised rendering of a view of Pendle Hill, the small town of Clitheroe, where we live and Clitheroe Castle. (No little English town is complete without it's own castle, and Clitheroe can boast to having the second smallest Keep in the UK.)
Pendle Hill dominates the landscape around here, and looks different every day. In an odd way it's my Mount Fuji, and I'd like, at some time, to produce a series of images in a similar vein to Hokusai's 36 Views.
I used 2 Magnolia blocks, one key block and one blue which I printed 2 impressions from. The first was a pale blue, and the second was a Bokashi effect in a darker blue at the top of the sky and over the figures in the foreground.
The seal in the top corner reads (so I'm reliably informed) "Let your heart fill with wonder".
All the prints (around 45) were trimmed and photmounted onto slightly silvery matte cardstock and will be posted out over the next few days.
7 comments:
Beautiful in its simplicity! Nice job on the thin keyblock lines.
Very nice print here, one more in a find body of solid work. I find your work inspiring and the harmony of your images is spot on.
Let me ask, what materials are you using for mounting and do they present any special difficulties?
Cheers
Hi Eli and thank you so much for the kind comments.
Regarding mounting, I've taken a leaf out of David Bull's book. The prints I've bought from him are always set onto a firm piece of card or mount board using self adhesive photomount corners. It means that the print is held in place and kept flat, but can be removed at any time without causing any damage to view the reverse, or to transfer into a frame for hanging. The print is the important thing, and I don't want to damage that by glueing (tipping in) it to the backing board.
With the prints I do that aren't mounted onto a greetings card I also attach a thin washi cover sheet to the mount board that folds over the print. It doesn't add to the protection of the print, but creates extra interest when the viewer exposes the print. A similar pleasure I remember when removing an LP from the outer and inner sleeves.
Hi Annie, Thanks for the comments. All the kind words mean a lot to me.
I love it! I can't do it, but I still love it. Awesome.
Hi Daniel, cheers for the comment.
I get to a stage part way through printing when I think, "Aghh, I can't do it!" so I know exactly what you mean.
What a lovely print!
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