January 7th Polzeath Beach after 4pm, short winter days and the sun already setting. My first time here and it's a beautiful place. I took lots of photos for inspiration. Look at those purple and blue striped rocks!
I always put my photos on my instagram Photo page, which is separate from my instagram Art page if you'd like to see more of my inspiration.
I went with this one in landscape format for a change.
My first time at a linocut sunset and WOW was it complicated! 18 colours altogether and this is how I did it.
flipped and drawn onto the lino
The only white on this print are some very tiny white pebbles on the beach which aren't seen until I start putting colours down onto the sand. Which is something I love about lino printing, how things start to appear and work out as you go along.
The first colour is a very pale yellow covering the setting sun and the wet sand reflected area. Ink on lino
and printed
a 2nd pale yellow ink on the lino
3rd colour is the sun's beautiful orange sky. There are actually 3 colours down on the paper here bad lighting and the first yellow is so subtle.
4th colour is a pale blue covering the whole image. It's the colour of the water flowing down the beach and the base of the wet sand reflections.
5th colour a blue grey, beach, rocks, sky.
printed
6,7 & 8th colour. I put three on together. The mauve on the horizon, and a green and blue base to the rocks on the beach.
cutting detail of the lino. I draw on with a white crayon the bits I want to cut out next as I go along.
9th colour is the blue of the distant sea, the sky and some reflected water on the beach
update on the lino cutting
and me cutting in my studio, prints hanging to dry behind me.
10 & 11th colours, blue to sky and sea, grey to beach
12 & 13th grey to sky and headland, brown to sand
it's getting complicated, cutting the rocks on the beach
14,15 & 16 a dark grey on the rocks, dark blue distant headland and a purple. Oops I must have taken this photo later in the day with the lights on but you can see what's been added.
17 is a grey on top of the purple
All that is left on the lino is to be printed a very dark grey almost black, everything else has been cut away
18th colour
Ta-da... my finished print
Sunset from Polzeath Beach looking towards Stepper Point and in the distance Trevose Head Lighthouse. I have no idea what that little island out there is called?
edition size 10 (variable)
image size 60 x 45cm
paper size 76 x 57cm Somerset 250gms
I made a little stamp of a couple which I added to one of my prints it could be added to another if it's a success.
They are here
The £400 from my first sale was dedicated to uk4ukr My friend Chris Bear Rossi has been going out with them delivering essential and medical supplies.
