Prints
The joy of my prints is that they are bold and direct, relatively inexpensive to buy, and democratic in the sense that they are multiple originals.
My prints are generally linocuts, which is a variant of a woodcut relief print. Linoleum is made of compressed cork and linseed oil. It is cut with a V shaped gauge to remove the negative areas, leaving the raised, uncarved surfaces to print a reversed image. They need little equipment to produce. Some of the larger ones are printed on a table top studio press, but they could all be printed with the back of a spoon pressing the paper onto the block.
Picasso and Matisse made wonderful linoprints.
I also have a great selection of small linocut cards such as this image of Chinese Whispers.
A Good Soak
A Good Soak – This is a reduction or suicide print.
All the colours are printed from one block, and there is no going back, no revision. After each successive colour is printed onto paper, the linoblock is cleaned and the area of the last colour to be printed is cut away. A suicide print needs careful planning. I always print more than the number I successfully finish, due to careless registration, and other human foibles. This image of my wife in her sister’s London bathroom has 5 successive colours printed, and only when the last black was laid on was I able to see that it had worked.
Reduction Linocut - Edition of 20 - printed on 315g Heritage White Paper.
- Paper size: 25 x 34cm
- Image size: 20 x 26cm
Price: £175
The Cobb in Spring
The Cobb in Spring – A hand coloured linocut.
This image is a celebratory view of the Cobb in Lyme Regis, which was built not just as a harbour to protect ships, but also to act as a breakwater to protect the town. As you see it is effective in manipulating the flow of the tides. First recorded in 1313, the Cobb is a very strange shape and really only looks graceful from this angle. It was of course where Meryl Streep braved the storm at the end of the Cobb to wait in vain for her French Lieutenant in the 1970s film. Rather than record her plight I show a happy couple down here on holidays, as this beautiful small Regency seaside town has welcomed visitors for rest and play for well over two hundred and fifty years.
Hand coloured Linocut - Edition of 200 - printed on 150g stock paper.
- Paper size: 45 x 64cm
- Image size: 36 x 57cm
Price: £225
Four Ways to Kiss
Four Ways to Kiss – An engraving.
This is part one of a lover’s manual on how to do it. You must show your marriage certificate to have access to part two. This was made for my wife and we give this print to friends as a wedding present.
Engraving - Edition of 200 - printed on 280g Fabriano Paper.
- Paper size 25 x 24cm
- Image size 13 x14cm
Price: £85
Full Moon over Lyme Bay at Christmas
Full Moon over Lyme Bay at Christmas – Linocut.
As I drew the bedroom curtains against the night on Christmas Day 2016, this is what I saw. I ran for my sketchbook before the racing clouds obscured the full moon, and I made a quick drawing in pen and wash. It was so dark that there was no outline of Golden Cap and the cliffs of Charmouth to the East, nor of Portland out and over the sea, only the pattern of wind on the waves and the silhouette of the roofs of Lyme Regis. It was several weeks later that I realised how to produce this image. It had to be an oval.
Linocut - Edition of 50 - printed on 315g Heritage White.
- Paper size: 35 x 59cm
- Image size: 22 x 32cm
Price: £125
The Craftsmans Contract
The Craftsman’s Contract – Linocut.
This is a multiple image celebrating the men and women who have learned a skilled craft and earn their living at their trade. They are often sole traders who work alone, and there is great integrity in their lives. Working with your hands is rich tradition to keep alive, and it feeds the soul. Their cooperation with one another is shown here in the actions of each craftsperson encouraging another by passing on a tool of their trade, while accepting a gift for their own use. Theirs is a self supporting community.
Engraving - Edition of 200 - printed on 280g Fabriano Paper.
- Paper size 52 x 74cm
- Image size 42 x 60cm
Price: £175
Restaurant
Table for Two? - Linocut.
My eldest son Jesse is a chef and restauranteur, running his own gaff at Parlour in London’s Kensal Green. I recommend it – it is bloody good English cooking. It is a riot of colour and noise and taste, and this is a reflection of the glories of delighting a hungry public night after night, with good food and a lively atmosphere. It is a gas, but – imagine – every night? I honour those who work in catering which is often relentless in its pace, and yet needs to be constantly sensitive to the needs of others. Jesse does it with grace and humour. This is a toast to the host.
Linocut - Edition of 50 - printed on 315g Heritage White.
- Paper size: 26 x 34cm
- Image size: 18 x 27cm
Price: £125