“Whitby Sands”

Whitby is famous for many things, including Dracula, Captain Cook, a distinctive harbour, glowering abbey, and grand fish & chips. There's also a church on a hill with, reputedly, 199 steps up to it that features in the Dracula story, too.

The beach to the North West of the harbour, shown in this fine art print is wide and long, stretching all the way to Sandsend.

Like all the prints on this website, this is a limited edition print. That means that an edition of, say 23, means there are only 23 prints in existence. And there'll never be any more. So once they're all sold, they're gone.

Each print in this edition contains much character, because like all original prints, they're individually printed by hand. No plugs or on/off switches are involved in making linocuts.

I bravely experimented with hand painting into ink on the lino block. I also contrasted 'dry' and solid ink on the reduction-cut lino, creating different subtle textures in the print's layers.

I say 'bravely', because there are no second chances with the reduction𔆅cut method of printmaking – sometimes called the 'suicide' method!

You only use one lino block, and cut it away a little more for each colour, so there is no going back. You can't stick the cut away lino back on!

It all worked really well, and these finished prints have a great deal of merit. So much so, I intend to use the same approach for future original prints.

This landscape makes a fine pair when displayed with Scarborough South Sands print