Taking A Risk

Today was Puffins day. Picking up on where I had left off with the Puffins....it has been a while....the first task was to lay down the next layer of grey. I thought I was being very careful getting the right tone and everything looked good as I was mixing it.

Mixing grey

I inked up the plate and away I went. 20 Puffin prints were gradually being rolled off the press and at first I was pretty happy with the results but I can't help picking over the results so by the end of the print run I was starting to think the grey was just that bit too dark and way to dark for the birds white chests. So a bit more head scratching.

Result of the grey

Detail of a foot

After a couple of days thinking it through and trying to work out what to do next I decided to jump in and take a risk. I managed to make a space between the wet canvases, re-cut the stomach of the puffins whilst still trying to keep the form, then mixed white with a lot of extender to allow the  grey to show through.

Creating form on the white

White and extender over grey

And voila, a very strange looking group of puffins but I am feeling quietly confident that my maverick exploits will pay off as I start to put down the next layer. Unfortunately the prints are very wet and the air has been damp this past week, so I will have to wait another week before I can put on the next layer, but that's OK as I can spend that time working on my Cornish paintings.

Beaks, Feet and Stencils

Carving away at the beaks and feet didn't take too long so it's been quickly onto the next layer giving those beaks that distinctive bright orange.

Carving out the beaks

Bright orange was mixed using vermilion, yellow ochre and a small amount of extender.

Bright orange

Stencils had to be recut and positioned individually but with a little tweaking they did their job.

Inked up and ready to go

The stencils lasted well enough for ten prints before having to be replaced.

Stencils in action

The next step was to do a fiddley bit of carving on the feet and then pull the next 20 prints.

Deep red for shadows

Vermilion red and a touch of didn't dilemma form the shadows on the feet and bring out some of the textures.

Feet just waiting for some rocks

The feet do look a little fuzzy but this will get tightened up as the next layers go on.

Detail of feet

Next will be a series of Grey's casting shadow and making textures on the feathers and rock.

Orange Beaks

The orange layer of beaks and feet have now been pulled. The orange was an equal mix of yellow, yellow ochre, extender and a touch of vermilion to warm the whole thing up.

A touch of orange

More stencils had to be cut which took a little time but once I was organised I was up and running. 20 puffins prints were soon hanging up drying in the studio.

Lino inked up and stencils cut

The extender made the beaks much more tacky than I expected.there was a fine line between too much ink and no ink at all, but as a lot of it will be covered by a dark orange I think the overall effect should work quite well.

Close up of orange beaks

I recently fitted my studio with day light bulbs, which is wonderful while you are working, but it is causing havoc while trying to photograph my work so the colours are a little off and yes that is my shadow in the right hand corner. It's becoming mildly irritating as no matter where I stand I am always casting a shadow across the work but you can get an idea of how far the print is progressing.

Very grey puffins

Next step will be to cut yet more stencils for a darker orange then onto the rest of the birds. Everything is looking very unbalanced but as the final ink layer will be black I know the whole thing will pull together in the end.

Feet and Beaks

Having spent the evening cutting out stencils, which I thought were pretty accurate, I found I had to cut them out again as somewhere in the distant past I must have slightly changed the composition from the original drawing. I salvaged it by cutting the paper up and strategically placing it over the lino which seemed  to do the job.

Stencils being re-cut

So on with the yellow ink. I went for a pure Dairylide Yellow and extender which will form the basis of the feet and most importantly the beaks.

Inking up with yellow

The yellow looks quite alarming against the pale blue and grey but hardly any of this will show by the time all the other layers are over the top. One thing I have learn't about this process is to not get swayed or diverted by weird things that go on in the middle of the print. As a painter I would never make this decision so there is a certain amount of trust (or nashing of teeth) in the printing process itself.

Yellow against the blue

Next step will be to print shades of orange so more stencils and more shocking colour combinations, but this will make the distinctive beaks that give puffins so much character.

For those of you who have visited my Etsy shop, you will have seen my last Puffin print, 'First Catch', which is a small dry point print, hand coloured to show off their distinctive beaks.

'First Catch', Dry Point Etching

Starting Something New

It's been a few weeks since I've been able to get back in my studio. After a bit of a clear out the remaining boxes are back on the shelves, the printing press has been re-installed, ready to go and the desk is clear for painting to begin.
My first task is a bit of a mammoth one...to lay the first layer of ink down on my Puffins print.
Imagine a rectangle of white and you're pretty much there, followed by a transparent powder blue...followed by a blend of blue/pale blue to finish off the sky.

Ready for an evening of carving

With the white background already done, I spent the evening carving out the white on the puffins. Just to make life easy I marked out everywhere I wanted  to keep crisp (and it helped me sort out which direction the feathers were going).

The palest blue

Now time for the ink. Try as I might this photograph does not show the right tone of blue. It is very pale but in real life it looks a lot bluer. The idea of making it so pale is simple enough. I want to lay a blend over the top to give more depth to the sky.

Inked up and ready to go

Twenty prints later there is the emergence of Puffins. It was a good day in the office as the composition is looking OK. Once this little lot has dried out, the next challenge will be to get the blend to balance....

Just visible - pale blue Puffins