Part 2: Project 6: Single Colour Linocut: Abbey View (or How We Used To Live)

I’ve been aiming for the perfect print, but have yet to achieve this. The following are the best I could manage on Zerkal 120gsm Printmaking Paper.

I shall be submitting the above prints to my tutor as Task 2 (Project 6) for Assignment 2.

I had a couple of attempts at using Fabriano UNICA 250gsm Printmaking Paper which is quite textured. These had patchy results:

Abbey View on Fabriano 250gsm Printmaking Paper

I am very pleased with the composition. Perhaps, given the opportunity to redo this image, I would not cut outlines of trees as I have done so here. Instead of spikey white outlines, I would make the tree line more gently undulating. I think the image has impact – especially in black ink – and just enough in the way of contrast. There’s enough to keep the eye entertained as it travels top left down to bottom right. There is a noticeable diagonal too in the line of vegetation separating the solitary angler from the potential busy-ness of the allotment.

The theme of place has been met here by the significance of the location of what I have entitled “Abbey View” It was taken from a view of St Albans Abbey from the Alban Way – a much-frequented highway for pedestrians and cyclists alike (plus the odd skateboarder) – in leafy Hertfordshire. The reference photo was taken between lockdowns in 2020. It holds significance for me as it represents those freedoms, in our own back yard, which we take so much for granted. Our naturally “green and pleasant land” appears to have sent forth sentinels in the form of a virus, as though in an attempt to keep humanity in check.

Meanwhile, we try to go about our business as usual. We walk our dogs, pursue our pastimes; if so inclined, we visit places of worship full of the hope that this too shall pass.

I was tempted to call this image “How We Used To Live” after an old educational TV programme we used to watch years ago at my junior school in the mid 70s. But I decided against this as it felt far too portentous.

This piece is about how things are, how they once were, and perhaps, if we’re lucky, how they shall continue to be. It is my hope that this isn’t too fuzzy an explanation for the reasoning behind choosing this scene. On the surface it is a depiction of a scene of tranquility. Though I am no Christian, I hoped to convey, by the looming image of the Abbey, that a higher spiritual force is at work, and for this, and our environment, we as a species aught to be showing more respect.

Update on Project 6

I returned today to my single colour linocut of the View of St Albans Abbey. Using a flipped photo of my last proof, I drew onto a printout of this using a white gell pen. This gave me an idea of how dense my mark making should be around those areas I had highlighted yesterday. I made further cuts accordingly. I then took a proof as follows:

The unfortunate splodges are caused by remnants of vegetable oil used to clean the plate. These had become trapped in the grooves of the cuts and bled out onto the paper whilst in the jack press. I resolved, in future, to use white spirit to clean the plate itself, whilst still using the oil to clean the tools and equipment. However, this proof was sufficient to give an indication of where to go next.

I made more cuts in and around the vegetation at the bank of the stream and behind the dog walker, as well as the roofing on some of the huts. I then took a further proof as follows:

I shall make a few more cuts tomorrow morning concentrating on the allotment and the area of the stream. I am happy with the rest of the composition – except perhaps for the speckling effect on the treeline in the background – but on the whole I feel it is a successful image. I intend to proof one last time and then set about producing final prints in blue, blue-green and in black ink to submit for assignment 2.

Part 2: Project 6: Single Colour Linocut (Task 2)

I started with a photograph I had taken last summer – a south-eastern view of St Albans Abbey including some allotments. I’d decided my picture was going to be about the simplicity of a rural scene but depicted during these complicated and interesting times. This scene was captured last summer sometime after the first lockdown. Masks were not yet de rigueur. There were signs up to warn people to maintain their distance. I have included figures in my scene to lend interest to the foreground.

I had been careful to think about transferring the drawing onto the lino and how it would become mirrored. In order to avoid this I first flipped the image on my phone. I then drew the above. Then I attempted to transfer it onto the soft polymer lino using graphite paper. However, when this failed to work, I simply drew a version of my drawing onto the plate with a black sharpie pen. When I’d finished, I realised I had drawn the incorrect orientation of the image. However, I looked at both versions and eventually arrived at the decision to leave it as it was, as the resultant print would likely depict a better composition and therefore an improved outcome. This would be due to the western convention of reading an image from top left to bottom right. The first thing to notice is the skyline with the Abbey itself. The eye then meanders its way down the image and exits via the pathway leading to the bottom right hand side. As it was also not that well known a view, I didn’t think the orientation would matter that much.

First cuts (incorrect, though preferred, orientation for printing)

Using my first test plate from Project 5 as a reference tool, I chose a Pfeil No 11 “v” shaped tool and cut outlines to key areas, as above.

I then took an initial proof onto newsprint.

I made some decisions about how to proceed, and cut a little more using a Pfeil No 5 “u” shaped tool. These Swiss tools are very sharp and sit nicely in the hand making light work of the butter soft polymer lino.

At this point, I have decided to be a bit bolder about creating areas of contrast in the foreground. But I hesitate – slightly nervous of making a hash of it. I feel that my attempts at a “mackerel sky” are more evocative of an apocalyptic one. I shall take further steps to create slightly less texture in the sky and draw more attention to the foreground area, thus:

The coloured outlines surround areas for development. I’ll utilize varying degrees of contrast using more contrast than I had first intended

More tomorrow.

Part 2: Project 5 (task 1) Preparing a Test Linocut

I cut the following (roughly A4) piece of lino using decent cutting tools.

I made the following notes as I cut:

To clarify, in the top third of the 24 boxes in the grid, I have cut lines of varying depth and pressure using Swiss Pfeil tools numbered 5, 7 (wide), 7, 9, 11, 12 and 15. The wide and shallowly-curved Japanese chisel tool has been used just before the last Pfeil tool (No 15). It created some interesting zig zag lines when swiveled left to right as I cut.

Using this same sequence running from left to right on the next, or middle third, this time I have created various gouge marks. The Pfeil No 7s were very leaf-like when doing a zigzagging gouge. Pfeil No 15 is reminiscent of flames, I thought. I was intrigued to see how it printed.

Again, using the same sequence, I used all 8 tools to create cross hatching effects for researching “shading” purposes. I feel that the v shaped blades are most useful for the purpose of highlighting areas, but where not too much light is in evidence, rather than cutting a whole area of lino away entirely, which would suggest a very strongly lit area.

I learned much from this Exercise. I shall use this to inform my texturing on the next Project (6), aka Task 2. For this, due to COVID-19, I shall be falling back to a sketch I did recently of “Bottle Alley” in St Leonard’s-on-Sea sea front.

Update:

Change of plan. I shall hold back on using bottle Alley and save it for the multi-block print Exercise for Project 7 (task 3). This is because there is more scope for colour variety and layering on Bottle Alley which would add to interest. Instead I shall be using a sketch from the summer for the single plate linocut as follows: