‘Wildlife artist of the Year’ submission 1 of 2: Hippo & calf

Hippo & calf © Peter Gander

The inked hippos await the roller press

The whole background is ready for inking

Adding shellac to prevent ink soak-up

The lino is registered onto a paper template

A pencil rubbing checks the linework (in reverse)

Cutting the image out with a craft knife

Carving the lino (detail)

I have just finished and entered two very different prints for the David Shepherd ‘Wildlife Artist of the Year’ open art competition. Both, however, are combination prints, using the same techniques as the previous post; King Crow. That is, using both Japanese vinyl and cardboard printmaking in the same print. Both use the vinyl for the main images and cardboard for the more textured backgrounds. Hippo & calf utilises the black paper to full effect in that the paper becomes the linework. In other words, the cut lines, rather than the areas conventionally left to print by cutting away all BUT the lines, are revealed by the background paper. So what looks like a 3-colour linoprint (for the hippo itself) is actually a single (graduated) print on black paper. The ink was mixed on the roller in this case. The carboard background was printed seperately, flecks of white paint added by hand too. Every print is unique as each one is coloured up seperately and is effectively a bit of a mixture of collagraph and monoprint. Oil-based inks on 200gsm black card.

Work-in-progress: The Crow King (vinyl & board print)

Continuing my corvid phase, today I used a lino-like material called Japanese Soft Cut vinyl that I bought online from Intaglio Printmaker.co.uk It’s floppier and shinier and softer than lino, though I think lino still has some way to go to be beaten. The vinyl I found much ‘stickier’ than lino, with the end of the cutting stroke often rebounding or not finishing in a clean manner. However, if you are not planning anything too fine in detail, it’s lovely stuff and very easy to carve.

Carving fine lines is tricky with vinyl

The pencil ‘rubbing’ to check progress

Mixing a two-colour gradation on the roller

Ready to roll. Note the card registration blocks at the top

The first ones drying

Inking the card background

Once my design is carved, I make a ‘lino rubbing’, placing a sheet of thin cartridge paper over the lino/vinyl to check that all is well with the image. Then I cut out the shape with a craft knife (easier to do than with lino) and stick it onto a board to keep it stable for printing and to register it properly. Rather than use a solo black for the crow, which after all, have irridescent feathers, I opted to mix a blue and black gradation on the roller. Then it’s just a case of testing the roller pressure and away I go. I tend to try out different paper colours as artists prints (AP’s) until I find my preferred one. In this case it was a humble brown paper. On to the background. Sometimes the background simply doesn’t warrant the efforts of lino/vinyl cutting or I simply prefer to use a different substrate for its unique texture. As was the case here - I cut out the negative area left by the crow from card, the kind you find on the back of layout and cartridge pads. It’s not as soft or corrugated like cardboard and being made of pulp, reveals interesting textures when inked up, not a dull smoothness. Use shellac or PVA to prevent the inks from seeping too much into the absorbent card though. Once this has dried and the cut-out married up to another board and registered, make the second colour print-run. The main photo reveals the final print, which I am very happy with! Seawhite (of Brighton) waterbased printing inks on (Paperchase) recycled ribbed brown Kraft paper (A4: 297mm w x 210mm h).

Crow I (adapted monoprint)

Crow I © Peter Gander

I confess I tried hand-colouring this black-only monoprint but sadly I made a hash of it. Thus with a bit of Photoshop magic, I saved the piece, though now that it has been digitally enhanced, I can sadly no longer say it is a monoprint, of course. But the 1940’s-style colouring looks good. Original: water-based ink on Neutral Daler-Rowney Murano Pastel 160gsm paper.

Winter salmon monoprint

Winter salmon © Peter Gander

Following on from my previous ‘Leaping salmon’ post, I printed a few copies onto Raven (black) paper in white and pale blue inks. Tonight to one of these prints I added a background of stylised wintry riverside branches in hand-painted brush with Winsor & Newton white ink. I think I owe the design style of the branches more to the curly wrought-iron gates in front of our house more than anything else. The flowing fine lines of the trees make a nice contrast to the textured block printing. Once printed onto the Raven paper I immediately thought that the fish looked like an icy cold pescatorial ghost, like a ghost koi carp, I was just waiting for some inspiration to take it further. Monoprint - hand-painted white Winsor & Newton ink and two-colour cardboard print on Raven black paper.

Leaping Salmon

The final two-colour print © Peter Gander

See today’s previous post to see how this was made...