A few posts back I included a rough drawing of Saint Kevin and the Blackbird that may one day become a painting.
It hasn’t yet, but over the weekend I did cut a lino-block from which this afternoon I pulled this proof.
My haste to proof the block shows in the uneven pressure at the edge of the print. Tomorrow I’ll ink up the block more evenly and print off a small edition. Click on the image to view a high definition version that you can zoom in on.
Oh, I only realised now that this was not a recent post! Never mind, I’m still very glad I saw this print.
I love this print, Clive, you’ve used the medium so boldly and imaginatively. I like the way textured areas flow into solid spaces, creating ‘colours’ . Linocutting suits your style, I trust you’ll do lots more? How big is this image?
Hi Natalie. You’ve been exploring the Artlog archive. This post went up in 2009. The print measures 20 x 28 cm. I love cutting lino-blocks, though I haven’t done any for quite a while. However this week I’m cutting an image for a book cover, so I’ll be sharpening up my blades on my Arkansas stone!
You know, Clive, I’m not particularly artistic. I appreciate art, yes, but I can’t make art. I hardly can find my way from mauve to purple and back to red. But I’m delighted to read your work here, to see it, to gain some understanding of the process that makes beautiful things that I can scarcely imagine creating yet love to set my eyes upon.
This post is especially endearing to me. The initial work before and the next step after gives me at least some insight into the process. And what a marvelous process it is. I really like the proof. Sure, you might find imperfections in it, but I find a certain sense of enlightenment in it. Thank you for letting me watch this process. It’s a gift for someone like me who can’t sketch a straight line without years of drafting classes.
Re. sketching a straight line. Jason you may not be able to do that but you have a great gift for capturing the natural world in your lens, not to mention a masterly skill with words when writing passionately about what moves you. I’m glad that you’re enjoying this blog. Consider it a small repayment for the pleasure, inspiration and wonder I experience when visiting your own Xenogere. (Readers, do drop by to visit Jason’s site. His photographs are ravishing and his writing illuminates.)
Love it, Clive! Especially the blackness and almost abstract shape of the bird – its curves, and those of the eggs and nest, in such contrast to the rigidity of the motionless figure of Kevin.
Thank you Beth. I’ve so enjoyed the process of cutting this block. Be sure to send me some images when you pick up your gouges again! Don’t put the moment off. Sharpen up those blades!
Clive, I bought honing oil on Monday and got out my stones and blades, after reading some refresher-instructions on sharpening (and looking at some German expressionist prints – my favorites – oh!!) No big problems with the sharpening this time,and the tools seem in good condition. I think it will be after the holidays when I have time to do anything, but never fear, you will be the first to know! Do you have any tips on sharpening round gouges? Do you use a rounded stone or just turn the gouge from side to side?
Well done Beth. Glad to hear that you’re polishing up past enthusiasms. Re. sharpening the rounded gouge. Just do the blade in sections to bring the edge to sharpness. I greatly look forward to seeing some results when you’re ready to show. And yes, German Expressionism. The BEST!!!!!
i love all the patterns in this! i almost see ghosts in the top right-hand corner. making his hand a perch for the bird instead of the nest makes his patient stillness even more of a considered choice–he chooses not to disturb the quiet home-base, almost guards over it, respects the process that must unfold and does not interrupt it with unnecessary motion… “for he has forgotten self.”
I think that Heaney poem has gone deep into your psyche Zoe. I like to see it come back at me through your observations.
The print is a trifle really, cut fast and dirty. Like a sketch but made with steel gouges instead of charcoal or pencil. But when working at speed and by making an image indirectly through the process of block-cutting, I find the subconscious can take a hand. I like the surprises that spring from the process. The lino looks unpromising as the gouges slice away drifts of fine brown curls. Yet when inked and printed, with luck the block will yield a dynamic image. I’m not a print-maker, though when I get going with my tools I love the process.
I like the idea of the ghosts.
Also, the shape of the bird is perfect.
Thank you. I like the way she’s leaning toward the seascape. It makes her look confident and interested in what’s going on out there. Didn’t think about that when cutting the block. Sometimes prints just take on a life of their own.
Wow, I like this! The textures in the landscape are especially appealing, and I like the switch in orientation (possibly becasue I’m right-handed — it looks better to have the outside view on the right). Moving the nest out of Kevin’s hand seems like a radical development, though it makes sense compositionally.
Hey Dave, you’re quick off the mark! I’d barely loaded the post. Glad that you like the switch of orientation. (I rarely mind the mirror effect when printing as I work with both hands and so my eye quickly accepts the reversal.) Moving the nest became the solution to wanting to try a slightly wider composition, though as small lino prints are not too time-consuming to produce, I’ll probably try another one reverting to the square option and placing bird and eggs back in the Saint’s palm. That’s the great thing about working to a theme. There doesn’t have to be a definitive version. A sound idea can be used to embrace many variations.
That’s a point we poets could stand to remember. Telling the same story in multiple ways shouldn’t be something reserved for the avant-garde.
(I responded quickly because the emailed subscription service sends out right away, I guess, and these days I tend to keep my inbox window open.)