Life Drawing

No new prints to show yet as I haven't been able to spend much time in the studio recently, plus I've been demobilised by flu for the past dew days. I'm recovering now though, so hopefully I can get back to the big monotypes soon!

Before the sickness I had been grabbing half an hour some evenings to draw Polly in charcoal and chalk. I used to do quite a lot of these (examples here and here), having been inspired by Nicola Hicks's big animal drawings on brown paper, and I was reminded again recently of life drawing's importance by the great Louise Pallister's work.

My model remains my dog. Partly because she's the only animal available, but also because she's a lovely shape. I love her muscular legs and long nose.

Three more goats

 

Getting into the swing of it now. The last photo shows the plastic plate and the lino.

Experiments with a goat

These goats started off as a linocut, but when I printed it it didn't look finished. I liked the way the beard and horns balanced each other in an S shape though so didn't want to scrap it completely. I thought about doing a monotype background, but wanted a more unified image than two separate layers (monotype then linocut), so instead I combined the two by printing the lino onto the plastic plate, using brushes to alter it and add other textures, and then hand printing the ink from the plate onto damp paper.

These are only my first attempts, but it's worked very well so far. I wouldn't have been able to make such a detailed image with monotype alone, and it's made some interesting marks and textures that wouldn't have been possible with either medium used separately. It also means that each print is different, which I like.