DEMONSTRATION

Prospect Cottage

I began by selecting one of the many photographs I have taken of Prospect Cottage, one that includes an abandoned boat so as to contrast the soft colours against the sharp black of the tarred buildings and are a great way to start lino cutting.

Essdee take great pride in ensuring they do their part to look after the environment. They generate 70 per cent of the electricity they need from 104 solar panels that were installed on the roof of Essdee HQ in 2019. Their lino is made from natural ingredients, including linseed oil and wood flour and their inks are water-based and free from toxins. Essdee has joined programmes to recycle their waste Lino and SoftCut back into the manufacturing process and continue to make ecofriendly changes where they can.

The location of my artwork choice, Prospect Cottage, Dungeness, is within a Special Area of Conservation and the importance of its surrounding environment, and all the UK’s coast and countryside, means a great deal to me. I look forward to creating artworks that celebrate all I believe in and all I continue to enjoy.

STAGE ONE

Having sketched the reversed image on to the lino I used the finest of my cutting tools to etch out the cottage, boat, wooden posts and, very loosely, the shrubs. Having marked out the skyline I added sky blue and Prussian blue inks to my mixing tray. Starting with the sky blue I then gradually mixed in the Prussian blue very loosely as I like the application to be ad hoc rather than solid colour. I also added a little white to lighten the ink. Having rollered the area of sky down to the rooftops, not worrying too much about the accuracy, I offered up the paper to the lino and checked the registration. After using the brayer I left the print to dry

STAGE TWO 

Next I mixed white and yellow with a little Prussian blue and black, again very loosely, before applying to the ground area. I used the lighter mix very inaccurately on the boat and then added a little more Prussian blue to the shrub area. I registered the paper to the lino and, using my brayer, worked the paper over the areas targeted. Again I hung the print to dry

STAGE THREE 

Having inked the yellow for the windows and doors directly to the print I used a wide cutter, with my safety guard, to remove the sky area of the lino that meets with the rooftops and the top of the shrubs. I made sure to leave a couple of the power line posts for effect. I also removed a little of the vegetation and the definition of rocks to give a little depth when further inks were applied. I mixed turquoise with white for the boat and a yellow, Prussian blue and white for the vegetation. I then added a mix of white with a touch of black to the boat. These were very loosely applied to the print which was then accurately registered to the lino. The print was peeled back and hung to dry overnight

FINISHED LINOCUT 

Prospect Cottage, Essdee ink on Bockingford watercolour paper, 140lb (300gsm), 11¾311¾in (30330cm).

I was at the exciting stage of adding definition to the work. I cut out the areas of the boat I wanted to leave as currently printed and did the same for the cottage. I mixed a grey from white and black and applied it to the lighter ‘dark’ areas before rolling on pure black. After peeling the print back off the lino I get my first view of what I have created.