Printing with the sunrise, rolling waves of ink, breathing
Oh it felt good to be back in the studio this morning. A 4am phone call to my husbands phone. Number not-recognised so not answered. The sun was only just starting to think about waking up. The rooster across the way making his morning presence known. I lay and listened to the birds come to life, layers of sound as the sun rose higher above the treeline.
Nope. No chance of getting back to sleep … so lets print!
My favourite time of the day to print is in the morning. The rest of my world sleeps. The sun starts its daily routine in my sky. My avian friends flit about their morning routine. There is nothing mundane about this time of day. The only mechanical sound I can hear is the spinning of my ceiling fan in the studio. Its warm in here this morning as the sun hits the studio walls.
Its a gently time of day. Look. Listen.
It has been a couple of weeks since I have given myself the time to print. So much going on. I am behind my self-imposed deadline for this print, but after a career driven by deadlines and the expectations of others, I’m giving myself permission to let the print dictate its own deadline around the busy-ness of life.
I am referencing a photo taken by a friend that caught my attention last year. Attention to colour and movement in a moment. I was not in the moment in flesh, that was for the photographer’s pleasure, but her generosity with sharing allowed me to create my own.
As I am want to do with my reductive linoprints – I relive my own moments of contemplation, elation, fun, or whatever that moment meant. The nature of the reductive process, carving, inking, printing, carving, inking, printing, carving, inking, printing, lends itself so well to indulging and re-engaging my senses in that moment. That memory.
And so the day moves along…
Technically speaking
This print has given me the chance to try some new inking techniques, and play with a colour palette I’ve not worked with before. My journey with colour has been an interesting one, and pinks and purples are certainly not colours I would normally work with; but they are the colours that attracted me.
I have printed 11 colours over 10 layers so far.
It looks like there will be another 6 colours to go.
It was fun to play with this image a little – I have stylised some areas of the reflection, and held detail in others. It will be interesting to see how the elements work together in the finished work.
I am starting to explore ‘colouring outside the lines’, albeit it in baby-steps. The side edges are not straight, on purpose. I still want good registration, but I am wanting to break out of the parallel lines that encase my landscape oriented work (unlike the cutout background of my bird prints – Watching, Ruffled Feathers and Guzzling). I think I may be moving into some new territory to explore. I wonder where I will go?
Very interesting Kim. Want to come play.
Thank you Delia. I’ll be sorted for January for some play time. We all need some more play in our lives x