Michael Gage

So here's the block that I have been working on for the last week. It's all inked and ready to go through the press.


Hold your breath as it goes through the press...



It's always a bit of shock when you take the first proof off the press, and see the image the right way round, after all that time staring at the reversed image.

But I like what I see. The clutter of buildings in the top right corner is working (there's a nice play of white against black against white). The foreground right corner perhaps has too much detail, and the left side needs more definition.

But it's going in the right direction. Back to the cutting board to complete the details.

I've spend about eight hours cutting this block. Every mark affects the next mark. In a linocut, the mark is either there or not there. To define a black shape, it must be surrounded by white (so you cut that bit out); but then to define that white shape, the next area must be black. The very first cut on the block decides the entire image.


I've done as much to this stage as I think I can; it's time to take the first proof.

I've been so busy working on the paintings and prints that I haven't done any life drawing recently. Just started again, and the lack of practice shows in these 30-minute sketches...


(But what a good model!)



Each charcoal and chalk on coloured paper, about 50 x 50 cm.

I've started work on a new linocut. It's 30 x 24cm: the largest block I've worked with, so far.

This is the first stage: I've sketched the design in pencil, and then gone over it in detail with a Sharpie marker. (The best sort of marker to work with on lino! It doesn't lose any of its definition when you clean the plate -- all other "waterproof" markers that I've tried fade in the washing.)



This stage took about three hours... It's going to be a long night.

We've started our own post office. Just stick one of these stamps on your envelope, and it will be delivered to the burrow of your choice!

Stamps are denominated in "c" for "carrots". A blue 1c stamp will get your letter all the way to the end of the next field.

Someone's eaten all our carrots! We need a detective to find the guilty party!

Shall we call Sherlock Holmes?


Shall we call Hercule Poirot?


No! There's only one team who can do this job...

Starsky and Rabbit Hutch!

I've started painting Ashdown Forest again. This is the view from Camp Hill, looking north.


Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 30cm

I like the colours in this painting (ultramarine, cadmium yellow, red oxide, and a bit of cobalt in the sky, all over an underpainting in burnt sienna); and I like the perspective of the path leading you to the distant hills. On the other hand, I think the blocks of colour could do with more variety: some softer edges maybe in the distance, and some scruffier bits in the foreground.

I have been trying to explore the themes of my recent paintings (combining landscape and abstraction) in some linocuts. I've already done one linocut using elements of the landscape.

Now I've taken this a bit further. This print extracts basic elements such as a horizon, hills, paths, sun (moon?), grass, and field patterns, and then recombines them. The aim is to create an image that is recognisably a landscape, but not a specific place.



Two stage reduction linocut, 10 x 10cm approx.

I think I like the way this has turned out. As mentioned in some earlier posts, I'm slowly learning to use the white of the paper as an important part of the design.

Here's another recent painting, based on the patterns to be found in the landscape.



Acrylic on canvas, 50 x 50cm.

The inspiration for this is the Iron Age fort on the summit of Mount Caburn near Lewes. At the top right of the picture is the outline of the fortifications is at the top right; then paths and groups of trees follow down the hill to the A27 and fields at the bottom. I like the combination of a feature that has been in the landscape for thousands of years with the new road, which has been recently remade.

Have you ever looked at potatoes? Looked at them properly?



Acrylic on canvas, 15 x 15 cm.