Summer in the studio

I’d like to give you an insight into my work in progress in the studio this summer. I’ve spent a couple of months working on a new etching that I will reveal later in the year when editioning is completed. Meanwhile...

During the long, slow etching process, my thoughts were racing ahead to my next series of monotypes. As usual, I had multiple themes I wanted to explore but I finally chose to begin by developing the large woodland images I’d tried earlier in the year. There’s always room to improve and experiment with an idea in printmaking.

This video shows me working on the first of these: a large autumn woodland with the sunlight streaming through the trees. My goals here were to have a great sense of depth using three levels of tree trunks and to vary the colours laterally on every layer to indicate warm light pouring through the trees. You’ll see in the video that printing with paper stencils is an intensely rewarding experience as the colours print so crisply and evenly.

The second monotype is a re-working of the flooded forest idea I’ve tried before. This time I wanted to included more colour variation and layers of branches and tree trunks. When I’m working on a piece like this, the colour and shape relationships can become quite abstract and move away from realism.

Lifting away the stencils was really exciting with the final black layer when I finally got to see the main tree shapes. This monotype is now drying flat prior to adding the thinner twigs and branches using the trace monotype method.

Both these originals will be offered for sale in Sept/Oct but please get in touch if you want a heads’ up for first refusal.

You can call in at my studio during the summer to see me putting the finishing touches to these monotypes. Please check my opening times as I’m working irregular hours due to family and holidays.

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Have a great summer – keep cool!