This is my latest completed reduction linocut print of a dipper I saw at Monsal Dale in Derbyshire. Anyone who is familiar with the area should recognise the old railway viaduct in the background over the winding River Wye. Me and my partner, Jack, had a fantastic sunny Spring Day, walking the meadow and looking at the frogs and birds in the water. We love to explore nature in the Peak District (and we ate lots of delicious desserts in Bakewell).
Design Process
I’m always inspired by my walks in the Great Outdoors. As we’re walking, I take photos and use these references in my preliminary sketches. We saw so many dippers, I originally wanted to put two in my composition, but there was too much detail to squeeze onto the size of the lino I had chosen to use. I then finesse the sketch on my iPad.
With this block, I wanted to push myself and do more colour layers than usual. I’ve seen artists create reduction linocut prints using up to 11 layers of colour. This is too ambitious for me! I decided to aim for 6, so each colour layer gets made using the same block of lino. A beige to light blue gradient for the sky, then blue, grey, red, brown and black. I printed from the lightest colours to the darkest, destroying or reducing the lino as I go.
I am so happy I managed to print all the layers without any problems. I work from home, in the corner of my living room. The prints can get left on the drying line for weeks at a time before I find the time to add another layer. Fortunately the paper didn’t warp.
If I could reprint the dipper, I would add more contrast to the grey and blue layers. Unluckily for me the brickwork pattern on the viaduct isn’t obvious. I’ve done a bit of photoshop magic for the greeting card version of the print so you can see the texture of the bridge more clearly.
Folk Style Linocuts By MStraccia Art 