For this print I used a sketch I made of a Nuthatch which I saw and sketched in the Spring of 2013 at NWT Lower Wood, Ashwellthorpe an ancient woodland managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.
I planned the print in the back of my sketchbook using gouache watercolour. I tried to use as few colours as possible and to see if new colours could be made by over laying other colours... blue, orange, grey and black...
Black for the "key block" is printed last of all, but it is cut first to help make the other blocks. It is printed on a sheet of plastic and then off-set printed (a re-printing from the sheet of plastic to reverse the image back again) onto the other blocks to lay out the image. The next colours can then be cut in the correct alignment.
The first colour printed is the blue-sky background...
Next is grey, a colour for the feathers. I allowed this to print over the area of the tree, too, and also to create an effect of shadow on the underside of the bird...
The brightest colour is the orange. This gives the diagnostic colour of the Nuthatch but printed over the grey of the tree bark creates something like a brown for the bark...
The last colour is the black.This make the image 'pop'. It gives contrast and details, too...
Here is the final result...
A good print is selected, signed and dated, and mounted in a card window-mount, ready for a frame. Nice!
After I finished the printing, I notice that the lino-blocks were not all the same size, which is why they don't perfectly match up in the print. But, I like the result. It is imperfect and has the appeal of Naive-Art, which I love!
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