From drawing to print

While working on the linoprint below, I started thinking about the difference between drawing and linocut and the challenge of translating pencil marks into carved lines. This resolved into the following list of contrasts:

Drawing (in pencil or charcoal) – carving lino

additive – subtractive

tentative – decisive

exploratory – definitive

swift – slow

spontaneous – considered

analogue (continuous) – binary (on-off)

Here are the two images.

Linoprint based on portrait drawingdrawing
Linoprint based on drawing
pencil portrait sketch
Pencil portrait sketch

Two recent linocuts

I seem to be on a theme of hands (there are always a couple available to draw). These two prints are both derived from drawings of my own hands, which were interesting challenges! For the first one, I posed my left hand against a mirror. The second, ‘Sanctuary’, was more of a memory test as, clearly, I could not keep the pose and draw at the same time. (Only after taking the prints did I notice a mistake in the anatomy of one of the palms. Hopefully it’s not too obvious or distracting!) They are shown hanging on the drying rack at the Marketplace Print Studio in Cockermouth.

Linoprint of a left hand and its mirror image with text: 'the looking through a glass darkly'
Linoprint: ‘Chirality’ 2025
Linoprint of hands with intertwined fingers above the silhouette of a small building
Linoprint: ‘Sanctuary’ 2025

A bird in the hand…

Here’s another linocut which I printed a few of today at the Marketplace Print Studio in Cockermouth. It is derived from a recent drawing of a bird skull (pigeon or collared dove I think) in my hand.

drawing
Source drawing
Lino block on the press

‘Is a bird in the hand worth two in the bush?’

linoprint

(The paper looks a bit wavy because it’s damp.)

Anagram poem

(Source text: All we like sheep have gone astray – all the lines below are anagrams of this quotation, Isaiah 53:6)

Aleph everlasting, holy see, awake
These heaps, revealing weak alloy.
Hover a while, angels – ay take sleep
Have, keep, stay, linger, seal a whole
Lone high peak, leave always trees.


Kelpie, eagles leave a thorny shaw.
Help like owl, raven has agate eyes,
Pale eyes, white shoal, graven lake.
Please gather shaven, aye like owl.
Sleep light, halo askew, a raven eye.


Weasel tale, reveal a high open sky,
A salve, only speak with eagle here,
Spell air, who eyes gate, haven lake.
Sell glaive, aspen, heather, oak, yew,
Keep hay, soil, vale, weather angels.


A wake, shape a severe lonely light.
What royal seal eleven pages hike,
Slave king, lee shore, he leapt away
Like three pagans weave sea holly.
Galley harken, wee lies, a vast hope.


Weave slightly keel, an ape, a horse
A whale ye hero gave silken petals.
Wheel, ye seek a hovel, a paling star,
Seek a hearse pavane, yellow light.
They keep lease in a shallow grave.


See, her paean wakes a lovely light
Swell, like hope, a garnet-heavy sea
Sky sea healing plover wheat a-lee
Valley water lake, hope seen – a sigh
Saga – ah yes – let never awe kill hope.

Linocut, sheep skull
Sheep skull, linocut – work in progress
(see Prints for final image)

Last exhibition of the year 2024 and other news

It’s been a busy year! Thanks to Daniel Ibbotson and the Proseed Collective, I’ve contributed to group exhibitions in Leith, and at Palazzo Bembo with the European Cultural Centre during the Venice Biennale.

Proseed Collective, Palazzo Bembo, Venice – (mine is the left-most painting on the second row down)

My second solo exhibition of the year will be opening at the Shipping Brow Gallery in Maryport on 27th November with a preview on 26th November and will be accompanied by some portrait drawing workshops. This exhibition continues until 22nd December. See below for more details:

Synecdoche – rough draft

What remains …

An impression of a trace of a relic
A skull – a drawing – a plate, a print

Whose remains?
a single bone dug out of the salty desert
defines a new (lost) species.

Glaciers scour the land – retreat
Seas fall and rise
Cultures too
Invade – retreat – colonize
Mine – extract – and fill – landfill
Plough – plant – harvest
Fertilize – exterminate
Re-form – deform …

What will remain?

Receding echoes
Fossil footprints in the ancient mud
A cryptic message in the sand
A ripple in the flood

linoprint
‘Nature morte’ linoprint

Upcoming exhibitions etc. 2024

Venice! I am taking part in @Proseed_Collective_Venice24 – a collaboration brought together by Carlisle-based artist, Daniel Ibbotson. We will be exhibiting at Palazzo Bembo, Venice, under the auspices of the ECC (European Cultural Centre), 20 April – 24 November.

Palazzo Bembo, Venice

Huge thanks to Daniel for including me along with 40+ other artists from Cumbria and elsewhere in the UK.

Edinburgh In addition to the Venice adventure, there will be an exhibition featuring some of the same group of artists at 24 Art Gallery, Leith, Edinburgh, 1–14 June.

Kendal I will have a solo exhibition at the People’s Gallery, Kendal Museum, including drawings, prints and paintings. Opens 15 August. Preview night 16 August. Exhibition continues until 21 September, opening days are Thursday to Saturday.

Letterpress

I had my first attempt at letterpress printing on an Adana Press at Linden Print Studio:

It was a very enjoyable and educational day. Many thanks to Vega! The results will be on show at Kendal in August/September – see above.