“Yew”

The carefully clipped Yews are the tell-tale sign of a classical garden. Could there be statues of cherubs, and boys with winged feet, near ponds pluming with beautiful fountains? Is it a fairytale castle? It could be.

There's a real place that inspired this print. It's called Burton Agnes Hall. I have other artworks on this website ignited by the same Elizabethan house and its wonderful gardens. I think it's a romantic place, so of course 'Yew' has that 'something' that special places have.

I made this print for a prestigious annual exhibition of miniature original prints. Prints had to be no bigger than a very small size! Unfortunately, it took me so long to make it, I missed the submission date!

Though my collection is mostly landscape art, there's always a place for its near relation:garden art. No doubt my garden collection will continue to grow.

The challenge of miniature prints

The print has been printed using four colours – blue, dark green, full green and soft pale yellow‑green.

Each colour involved cutting tiny blocks of lino. Then, after mixing each ink, the fiddly blocks needed positioning so the colours would sit perfectly in place over each other. My oh my, it was intricate.

Winding the press was fraught too. Even a light pressure could all too easily move the small blocks of lino out of place.

Altogether, I'd been a bit ambitious, given the time I had before the deadline, and the difficulties of working so small. An ambition too big for the art!

I should have kept it simple, and stuck with one or two colours only, like the other artists who exhibit in the show. Well, you live and learn! I'd never attempted such a small print before.

A grand experiment

So this grand house in its classical gardens, containing neatly trimmed Yew shrubs, wakes to the early sunlight – or is that settles at the end of the day? It could be either.

Making this fine art was a grand experiment. No wonder this miniature original artwork has a grandeur all of its own.