I finally got started with a reduction linocut inspired by the icy reflections in a pond I found.
I loved that the reflections weren't mirror perfect like they are without the ice, the surface had so much substance and personality of it's own, it wasn't just a reflection of the land above it, it was a whole separate thing all by itself.
The colours of the grasses and bracken in sunlight always inspire me but I thought the oranges when paired with blue in the water would be stunning.
I chose Kitakata paper to print this on as it's a warm yet wintery colour. It always reminds me of winter skies when they have a hint of ochre. I wanted the natural paper to be the sky and decided to use it for some of the reflection as well.
I chose to tear the paper in half and make this a longer thinner view, without the sun in it, the sunlight is included only in the icy reflection.
I had made all these decisions yet I really struggled to get started with this. I found a lot of excuses and other things to do for several weeks before I finally got the lino out and cut it to size. I think the main problem was drawing the design. I really don't enjoy doing design drawings. I don't think there is really a way around this other than keeping the details to a minimum. I have found other ways to make interesting marks on the lino that I do enjoy. For example I use a dip pen to draw all the marks I need on the lino, this is especially useful for line work as I can vary the pressure and therefore the thickness of the line.
I used my dry-brushing watercolour technique to capture the distant foliage in two layers. I find this very effective, especially using a fan brush. It often takes a couple of goes to get the watercolour marks right.
I felt very stuck when I came to start cutting the bracken and grass areas on the bank above the water. I tried cutting vertically and horizontally using different size tools but it wasn't working. I had marked the areas in watercolour so knew where to cut but just couldn't get the shapes right and needed them to be different from the tree foliage above. I decided to use caustic soda to add to the marks I'd already made. I used a small brush and applied it very carefully as I didn't want to accidentally etch a tree trunk!
I left it on for 25 minutes and it seemed to work nicely.
Inking this layer was tricky as I decided to do the water at the same time. I put a very slight rainbow roll in the water so the blue is deeper in the foreground and lighter with slightly more extender further away. I was pleased with the green/brown colour I mixed. There was enough extender in it for the layer underneath to show through making it look far greener on top of the green and browner on top of the orange. I saved some with less extender for the next layer.
I decided to etch again for the next layer and will have to add some cutting to this as well to define tree trunks and the ridge of the hill.
This was etched for 30 minutes - slightly longer as there was no cutting within the etched areas.
So far I am feeling really excited with the progress of this print. I'm really looking forward to starting to drop in the details. There is a lot of cutting needed before the next layer.
With hindsight I'm wondering whether it would have been easier to approach this as a multiblock reduction using separate blocks for the foliage, tree trunks and water. I have still not tackled a multi block print and think I really should. I have 12 pieces of this paper left and an considering another version of this print using the multiblock technique.