This is my first etching for quite a while. I have gone over to washable etching ink now as I was making a hideous mess with the other one. The result is just as good to my eyes although there are probably some traditionalists who don't agree. I only have blue and black ink at the moment but I will get some more colours soon. I must say I am very pleased with how this has turned out and I don't say that very often with my etchings, being a beginner to the medium. I am definitely finding the inking up the most difficult part of the process but I have the same problem with linocuts too. Hopefully that will come easier as I get more experienced at printing. I will probably have a dabble with my copper plates soon.
This is called Blessing The Hare
This is the etching on the perspex plate. It is clear. The brown paper behind is so that it can be seen easily.
Tree Guardian Blessing The Autumn - I drew this quite a while ago as a pen and ink drawing but decided to add a touch of digital colour. I still have the pen and ink version though.
These beautifully complex landscape wood engravings are by the English painter and printmaker Garrick Palmer. He was born in Portsmouth in 1933 and taught at Winchester School of Art at the same time that I lived in the town. These must have taken him many hours of painstaking work to complete. You can see more of his work at Emma Mason here (3 pages) and also here at Old Stile Press.
Fields
Sun and Trees
We went on a geocaching visit to Haddenham village last week. It is the quintessential English village with houses grouped around a huge village green complete with ancient parish church and duck pond. The sort of village the producers of "Midsomer Murders" love. and oddly enough, I recognised this very village in one of the series which I got from the library. I have since read that it has been used as a backdrop by them no less than eight times. The village itself is Anglo-Saxon in origin and the present church dates from 1200's although there was undoubtedly a Saxon church here prior to that date. Haddenham is one of three wychert villages in the country, which is a method of using white clay and straw to make walls and buildings. As for the geocaching; that was great fun and we found all the caches.
The church has lots of lovely green and healthy looking lime trees everywhere. Very photogenic.
This lovely old cottage was right up beside the church. They have some huge hollyhocks and I bet they have a wonderful cottage garden on the other side of that wall.
This lovely old house was on the other side of the church.
A couple of the residents of the village duck pond
and finally a wonderfully textured old doorway of a deserted house in the village. Not sure I would want to live there though. I notice it is number 13.
Josephine Broekhuizen is a Dutch artist who married and settle on Arran in Scotland where she has a large studio and smallholding. I love the subtlety of her oils and still lifes and those Marans' are gorgeous. She has also produced linocuts and collages. You can see lots of her work here and you can also see her earlier work archive here.
Maran Chickens
Field Fares
Three Men In A Boat detail
I love this beautiful pen and ink hare and green woodpecker by Anne Mieke Lumsden. Originally from Holland but now in Somerset she works mainly in ink and oils. Her hares are lovely and you can see some more here at Fountain Fine Art.
Beaded Wool Berries
Jacobean Flower Wool Work
Rose Clay's Etsy shop is a delight to browse. It is called Three Sheep Studio and you can find it here. Rose is a very talented fibre artist who uses beautiful wool to create her lovely designs. She then enjoys embellishing them with various hand embroidery stitches, glass beads etc. She also creates traditionally hooked rugs and dyes her own woollen fabrics for sale. A lot of the designs are available as PDF patterns. My favourites have to be the Urban Chicken series, of which three can be seen below.
Beaded Wool Berries
Jacobean Flower Wool Work
Posts
16 comments:
Blessing the Hare is wonderful and what a lovely looking village! I also really like the chickens with buttons!
Such a delight!
Of course, because I'm a rabbit lover, I'm especially fond of Blessing the Hare.
Great photos of the church and surrounding buildings. Is that one roof composed of thatch? So well trimmed and shaped! Beautiful.
The maran hens remind me of our Dominiques and Plymouth Rocks.
Cathy, you have the best things on your blog. Your angels are lovely and I like their connection to nature.
The cottage made my heart go pitter-patter. When I was a child I believed magical being lived in cottages.
Looks like you're progressing well with your etching Cathy! I didn't realise you were using a persepex plate - that seems much more userfriendly and also using those washable inks must be a lot less messy to clean up. Interesting that you have some hares this week as I've just started working on one myself! Love those Maran chickens too. Have a good week!
Your 'Blessing The Hare' is great - love how the perspex plate looks too - must have taken a lot of work! Recently saw a hare for the first time since I was a child - they are amazing creatures! G
Thanks Juliet. The chickens with buttons are lovely are't they? Very folk art. I enjoyed doing the angel etching. It is the first full A4 etching I have done.
Hi Melissa. Yes it is a thatched roof. There are lots of thatched buildings over here, particularly the old cottage type. They have to have a wire overlay to stop birds nesting in them and pulling the thatch off to make their nests.
Hi Colette. What a lovely idea about cottages you had as a child. I like the idea that magical beings might live there. A cottage in the countryside is eveyones' dream. Glad you like the angels.
Hello Caroline. Looking forward to seeing your hare when it is finished. I love hares and their mythic connection to the land. Etching on perspex is good as you can see through to your drawing. I will be trying out some of my copper plates soon though.
I have only seen about a dozen hares in the wild in my entire life Gillian even though I have nearly always lived in the countryside. They are a lot more scarece than they used to be, and very hard to spot as they are so secretive.
The etching took ages as a lot of it was very finely cross-hatched to produce a tone. I think I may darken the tree a bit though to provide some contrast.
I love your angel blessing the hare and thank you for the link to Josephine's gallery - there was a lovely picture of eggs and snowdrops which was beautiful.
Hi Chrissie, thanks very much. Josephine's work is beautiful isn't it?
beautiful angels and intricate work!
Thanks very much Artist. I really love angelic images.
Catching up with your posts is like browsing through a new book with a cuppa tea. Love your tree guardian .... and wish so much that we were going into Autumn. I also enjoyed Josephin's work.
That is nice to know Robyn. I often sit with an afternoon cup of tea and look through my favourite blogs too. I would love to send a bit of our coming autumn over to you. I love it when the leaves change colour. Distinct seasons are one of the great things about living in England.
Post a Comment