Michael Gage

This layer has just slightly darker versions of the colours that are on the previous layer.



That's the sky finished, at least. So far, so good. But it always looks good at this stage!

And we're off again: a new print starts.



I've cut out the pure whites, and printed a pale blue to pale brown gradient. (It's actually paler than it looks in this photo.) Even at this stage, the subject matter might be recognisable: can you tell what it is yet?

A few details in black on the tenth(!) layer completes the print.



Havana, Cuba. Reduction linocut, 30 x 24cm.

Dark blue over the entire picture consolidates the earlier layers.



Nearly there... One more layer to go.

The trees still aren't right, so I added another still darker layer just to those bits.

 

 (Stage 8?! How did that happen? Can this print get any slower? My next print will be of a tortoise on a glacier: that might move faster.)

The publication of a new book of drawings by David Gentleman gives me an excuse to write about one of my favourite artists.

David Gentleman is reckoned to be the artist whose work has been reproduced more times than any other artist. Even if you don't know his name, you've almost certainly seen his work. If you've ever been to Charing Cross station on the London Underground (Northern Line), you've seen his work:

 

(more images)

If you've ever been to a National Trust property in England, you've seen his work:

 

If you've ever bought a stamp in the UK, you've probably seen his work. He's designed more stamps for Royal Mail than anyone else has.

 

But the work that makes him the most reproduced artist is in the corner of that stamp: the little silhouette of the Queen. It's been used on every British commemorative stamp for nearly fifty years, and on numerous Commonwealth stamps too, adding up to hundreds of millions of reproductions.


Here's a short, but fascinating video of David Gentleman at work on a drawing for the new book:

 


Interview with David Gentleman: http://mikedempsey.typepad.com/graphic_journey_blog/2010/02/david-gentleman-stamp-of-approval.html

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Gentleman

I was hoping that the mid-dark blue that I put on the shadows of the building in the previous layer would also read as the shadows on the trees. But I don't think it's going to work convincingly, so I've added some darker green just to the trees.



(Bad photo: the dark blue looks lighter in this photo that it did in the previous one. But of course it's exactly the same.)

Darker layer of blue.



Now we're getting somewhere, and about time too. Stage 6, and I reckon there's still about three more to go.

A layer of mid-toned blue; things start to make sense.

Back on track today.

I needed to start adding some colour to the trees, but I didn't want the green to leak into the surrounding areas. So I made a mask and just printed those green bits.



Progress on this print is turning out to be painfully slow!

I should be printing. Made two magnets with rabbits on instead.



Raphael did something similar, but with less rabbits.

Pale blue over the entire block joins all the elements together, and the picture starts to make more sense. Still a long way to go yet though.