With my previous landscape print, the artwork was revealed gradually as I printed it.
In an effort to show more of my ‘pre-print’ process this time, here is mostly completed Stage 1 of my next big print project.
This is a view looking east descending from the top of Blencathra. Scales Tarn and the much documented ridge of Sharp Edge would be to the left of this view, if you could turn to see.
My original reference photo is from a few years ago (and somewhere in my Insta feed) but it was always something I wanted to make a print of. I was really taken by the angles and the mix of hard and smooth lines, and the dramatic way the landscape slopes down. You get this sort of thing often in the Lakes: it’s not the actual summit nor does the rock formation even have a name but it’s a handsome little peak in it’s own right.
This is a digital painting but there’s a good mix of traditionally made textures and brush marks in there. I learned from my last print, I don’t actually need the initial artwork to be in colour: I just need the texture and the values. I’ll figure out the colours as I move onto Stage 2 and build this into screen-printable layers — which is a whole process in itself. I will definitely end up tweaking a few things as I go.
I’m really excited to turn it into a print and I really hope people like it. Though, I’m still unsure about adding the figures to this one. It’s rare I add people to my landscapes but they do convey the scale nicely. What do you guys think?
I’ve struggled mentally the past few weeks with a lot of the woes of the world. Making art has very much provided solace for me, so I really wanted to share this piece. Love and solidarity with people enduring or escaping hardship, protesting and resisting.
Make art not war.
