Creating “Dark Water Clash” linocut
Original Print – Linocut on Paper
A bold ocean linocut inspired by the movement of big waves in deep water.
Whenever I'm at the coast and there's a big swell that's bumping into itself, I can watch it for ages. What I fascinates me is the movement, the force of it all, and of course the splashes and foam circles created.
I'm not a seafarer, though I do seem to have sea legs. But from the shore, the ocean is an ever changing magical thing to me. Maybe it's just my simple childlike wonder that's never gone away.
There was a time at the beginning of my art career, when I studied a sea painting book I found at the local library avidly – visualising myself as a seascape painter. So there's clearly something that draws me to make art inspired by the ocean.
Rich dark ocean blue and green subtly mix in this lino print (not captured by the illustration). The first two colours were applied by hand to the first lino block.
Then semi‑transparent inks were overlaid to suggest the fine mist boiling foam generates.
This was one of the largest ocean linocuts I've been able to put through my printmaker's press at the time I made it. Since I've begun to make modern prints in the style of my linocuts, I can be more ambitious.
This was a small edition of just 12 impressions, that sold out within a relatively short time. Each original print in the edition has much individual character, which is why collectors love them.
My collection is mostly focussed around landscape art, though I've a good number of seascapes, too.