Violet Woodslino print 4 x 6
I have been chipping away at lino when some ideas came to mind. Some headed for the trash can but this one appealed to me. Last summer, I wandered through a shady section of Bowring Park. It was early morning and the sun was filtering through the maples and oaks, producing strong shadows and glittering pieces of light on the damp grass.
I loved the shapes and strong contrasts of the light and shade and took some photos. From that, I've played around it, breaking down the complex scene of leaves and light into something that I could carve out of a lino block.
The first image is the original print, not tweaked much. It looks a little sparse in places, but that is more the ink colour than the level of pigment on the paper. I created a beautiful violet colour that didn't dry as vividly as I'd hoped, but still is lovely. Soft, an almost sepiaed version of violet if that is possible. I had put a strong violet in the middle of the brayer to add some colour variance to the piece and that is the lighter shade.
This piece is a second print, scanned and darkened slightly in Photoshop. I will try some other variants of colour with this. I'm thinking a deep rich green to mingle with that luscious violet colour...
6 comments:
Beautifully cut landscape, Jeanette. Unfortunately I can't pick up the colour on my screen. I've never tried inking multicoloured lino prints. It looks like fun.
I can see just a vague shimmer of purple in the center of the print.
Lovely dappled light. Virtually abstract in design - very effective!
Jeanette,
I was immediately attracted to this work because it brought me back to the many hours I spent in Bowring Park in my late teens. I was always drawn to the less travelled parts of the park, the shade, quiet and the close connection to nature.
The high contrast and hard edges of linocut are challenging when trying to achieve softer effects, but I think you've made it work well. You get the dappled light feel of the woods. I like the first attempt, colour imperfections and all. It's so much easier for the viewer because we don't know what it was "supposed to be".
Robyn, this colour is sooooo difficult to reproduce on screen. I've photographed it and scanned it and still can't get it. Imagine sepia with a rich purple added and you'll have it.
Anita, yes it is very abstract. I was thinking that as I cut it. I showed it to someone else not artistically inclined and they said 'trees' right away so I knew I was on the right track.
Margaret, that park is full of little quiet spots that, in the right light, are quite magical.
i'm glad you think it works. The decision making process around cutting alwayss leaves me a little stressed, wondering how it will turn out.
I like the untouched version too and its imperfections help add texture to the image I think.
even though its mostly dark it has a great sense of light (if that makes sense). I think the green would go really well with the purple, which shows up on my monitor. Its a nice hint of colour
Its good to experiment with colour and see what works besides basic black or some other monotone. I think I'll try white on black and see what that looks like too.
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