Prints - a selection
These are not 'reproductions' but images made by the artist and printed from the original plates or blocks.
In relief printing the ink is
transferred under pressure from
the top surface of a block to the paper,
all that has been cut away does not print. In intaglio
printing, usually from copper or zinc, the
top surface of the material remains clean and the printing is done out
of the lines etched, bit or
incised into the surface of the plate. The ink is forced
into them under heat and pulled out
of them by damped paper under great pressure. Wood-engraving
is made with hardwoods, usually box.
It is always end-grain, the surface is highly polished and engraved
with special tools. The images
made from box can show fineness of detail with deep contrasts of blacks
and whites. Wood and linocuts
are made by cutting the image with a knife or gouge. The
wood can be anything from plywood to
sycamore to oak, etc.. The relief printer can also use found
objects from which to print.
The prints on these pages are ones free
of specific texts and are in
signed limited
editions.
Others have been made with particular texts but can also stand on their
own,
these are also in
signed and limited editions.
Shown here are just a few examples
of more than 300+ relief prints and etchings.
Further enquiries, go to ‘contact’.
Swan and Fan, wood-engraving, 1989
The Lonely One is Evermore the King; and The Quest of the
Sangraal, 1974. Wood-engravings. These are two of
seven engravings illustrating R.S. Hawker's poem The Quest of the
Sangraal. They were commissioned by
Christopher Skelton (1925-1992) of Skelton's Press (1968
-1985), but were never published.
From JOYS, passages from the works of Thomas
Traherne, The Old
Stile Press, 2004.
Wood-engraving, hand coloured. "The corn was orient and
immortal wheat, which
never should be reaped, nor was ever sown. I thought it had
stood from everlasting to everlasting ... "
Wood-engraving, 9x13.5cm, 1977, Salmon Fishing
Fish and Butterfly. Coloured aquatints, two of 4. The others are Bee and Anemone. 1970, 20x20cm each
Etching/aquatints, each 26x35cm, 1976 Sleeping & Awakening
The Hunter & Hunted Are One, I & II,
etching aquatints, 1974 (details)
Woodcut with calligraphy, 46x60cm, 2004, My Son
David (Border Ballad)
Calligraphy:
Oh what’s the blood it’s on your sword,
my son David ...?
Oh I’m goan awa in a bottomless boat,
In a bottomless boat, a bottomless boat,
An’ I’ll never return again.
Oh when will you return again,
My son David, my son David,
When will you come back again?
When the sun and the moon meet in yon glen
Hey lady Mother, ho lady Mother,
When the sun and the moon meet in yon glen
For I’ll return again.
Woodcut from the book A
Christmas Sequence,
The Old Stile Press, 2008
Joseph dreams of Gabriel
Over the Tweed, woodcut, 2002, 30.5 x 43cm
Light in the City, wood and linocut, 1996
“Some say their continual Sadness is because of their pendulous State …”
woodcut from Secret Commonwealth, by Mr Robert Kirk of Aberfoil, 1691
Published by The Old Stile Press, images and Afterword by AL
Sister Wendy – Contemplative Linocut with hand colouring
The Lion and the Unicorn Linocut with hand colouring
The Traveller Wood-engraving
Montage of wood and linocuts from Jubilate Agno 2012
The Dream of the Rood, woodcut, hand-coloured, with a linocut text,
an excerpt from Kevin Crossley-Holland's translation of the poem.
Below: Four hand-coloured engravings:
The 1st engraving, The Ship of Fools is an ancient image: a boat going nowhere.
The 2nd engraving, The Rider, Death and the Ghost, is after Durer's The Knight, Death and the Devil.
" ...Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ..." the rider is calm, she looks ahead.
The 3rd engraving is inspired by Durer's famous engraving Melancholia - he comes to himself.
The 4th engraving is The World Tree, it is Yggdrasill, the cosmic tree.
In all four engravings there are mountains in the background.
1. The Ship of Fools 2. The Rider, Death and the Ghost
3. Melancholia 4. The World Tree
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