Wild Blues

In August, I walked through the top pastures above my valley home and down along the field edges, and I was struck by the different blues in the landscape - the sky, the distant mountains and the wildflowers. It brought to mind a character from a book that I had just read, Stella, who collects and gathers about herself all things blue. This print is an illustration of my collection from my walk that day - Flax and Harebells, wild plums and a Raven's feather, black but with a sheen of metallic blue when you turn it towards the light.

I have deliberately created a soft painterly look to this print (it is a pair to an earlier print - Upland Hedgerow) using a light pressing between layers to allow the background colours to show through in places. The colours I have chosen represent the varied blues, with a silvery grey background to set them off. 

This print is a reduction Linocut, made by cutting and overprinting successive layers of ink from a single block of Lino, until it is reduced to the last few details. I make very limited editions when I use the reduction method, usually ten prints or less and when finished they cannot be repeated as the block has been destroyed in the making. 

I use water-based relief inks, blending them to achieve the colours that I like to use and I print onto traditional printmakers paper, either Somerset Satin or a French milled paper. The paper is a soft white with a velvety surface and may have the deckled edge on one side, depending on where it is cut from the full sheet. I use an old Victorian book press to take the impression or rub by hand with a Japanese baren if the print is too big to fit into the press.
 
Image Size 21 x 25cm
Edition of Seven