Hot off the press August 2023! I've been away from printmaking for several weeks because of a serious shoulder fracture, so this edition marks my return to production. (After that significant setback, your support would be much appreciated.)
'Mud Flats' came about because I came across an image with a silhouetted row of seagulls standing on mud flats. The image immediately suggested linocut to me.
So this is a two-block original limited edition linocut print on 130 gsm Clairefontaine Simili Japon acid-free paper.
The first block (which is printed last, using dense-black artists' quality oil-based printing ink) depicts the row of birds in silhouette and also more gulls wheeling about as they come in to land. I have deliberately left some of the 'chatter' on the block (ridges of lino that pick up ink, and print marks) to suggest the movement of the seagulls in flight, and reflections in the mud flats.
The second block (which is printed first, using water-based artists' quality printing ink) provides a background of textures in a paler colour. It depicts the watery ridges of the mud flats and suggests a distant industrial skyline, with its flues and stacks.
So the subject is saying something about nature's resilience in the context of an industrial environment.