. . . and Dandelion Clock

Dandelion Clock
original linocut © Teresa Newham

Having had such fun creating Cow Parsley I decided to make a second linocut print using the same materials. I already had some field sketches from Harpenden Common, and I also looked at photos of dandelions on the web, before roughing out some ideas:

drawing dandelions
 © Teresa Newham

I drew a design onto the block with pencil, but soon abandoned that in favour of 'going with the flow' and trusting what came to me as I cut into the lino.

the design taking shape
© Teresa Newham

Soft cut holds ink very well, and the block looked attractive before I'd even pulled a print, inked up with Naphthol Red and Light Orange Caligo Safe Wash Relief Inks:

the lino block inked with two colours
© Teresa Newham

I dried the prints on an old clothes airer - a low tech solution to the age old space problem - and I'm looking forward to framing them ready for Herts Open Studios in September.  That's only a few weeks away, so it's time to get organised!

finished prints on the makeshift drying rack
 © Teresa Newham

Cow Parsley . . .

Cow Parsley
original linocut © Teresa Newham

It began with a walk on Harpenden Common, where this year the Cow Parsley (or Queen Anne's Lace, as it is more elegantly known) has been blooming profusely in the damp weather.  I made some little sketches, took photos, and drew up a design or two at home.

original sketches & photos
© Teresa Newham

My idea was a quick and simple monoprint - roll out one or two colours onto the inking glass and draw the design straight into the ink as we'd done in the first ever printmaking workshop I attended years ago.  Place paper over the ink, apply the usual pressure to the back of the paper and Bob (as they say) would be your Uncle.

rollering ink for the experimental monoprints . . .
© Teresa Newham

Except it didn't quite work out like that.  Maybe I just hadn't recalled the technique correctly; or perhaps I was expecting too much. I either produced pieces of paper so heavily inked that no design was visible, or with a background so faint that the images were almost useless.

. . .  which didn't work that well!
© Teresa Newham

But not quite useless, because the design was there.  Several designs, in fact:  so I cut my favourite into a piece of softcut lino I've had lying around the studio since I retired nearly three years ago (as happens so often, I'd never quite got round to trying it out).  The block itself looked pretty good, especially after the prints had been pulled . . .

the design carved into a lino block
© Teresa Newham

. . . and the prints themselves were just what I'd been trying to achieve!

the final, successful prints!
© Teresa Newham