Woodcut – a beginning

I have long admired many practitioners of woodcut, woodblock and Lino cut printing, I’ve thought for a long time that if I tried it, I could get really obsessed with it.

In the last few months I have attended three print-making workshops. The first was at the Tate Modern, taught by the Illustrator Lizzy Stewart  www.abouttoday.co.uk. I enjoyed it immensely.

Lizzy suggested we each bring a piece of text or a poem which might inspire us to make illustrations of that text, mostly using simple mono-print techniques, using just black ink and metal or glass plates.

I took Robin Roberstson’s poem “At Roane Head” to work from and made this. It was to be one of four illustrations in a long thin book but I did not have time to finish it. I must do so one day.

I have also taken part in a woodcut ad print workshop with Jonathan Ashworth at the London Print Studio in Maida Vale.

I loved cutting the wood plate, really tried hard to create an intricate and accurate double image, to be printed in two colours.

It took longer than the time available but I did make some interesting images and have made several more prints at home since then. Jonathan is an excellent teacher.

This is actually a test piece, trying out the tool for the first time to see what marks I could make. It was then printed in blue in one direction and then pink in the other producing an interesting range of imagery.

I have lots more prints in various stages of refinement and in various colours, to be continued . . . .