Original Seascape Prints in Progress: From sketch to finished print

At the end of May 2022 l released my new collection of seascape prints for sale. I was so excited to get them out into the big wide world so I thought I’d let you in on how the printmaking process developed.

By now you’ll know that the seaside is a very special place for me. It’s where I go to find calm in an otherwise crazy and busy world. It’s a mixture of listening to the waves, watching the waves come and go and walking along the beach to find shells and pebbles. 

Sometimes I do this alone and sometimes I go with others but I always feel restored after a visit. We are totally spoiled with the beautiful clean beaches in the North East - my favourites being Tynemouth Longsands and Whitley Bay. This is why I had to celebrate the wonder of these places by using them as inspiration for my newest collection - Seascapes.

I loved creating the reduction prints last time so I have continued with that but this time I have gone even bigger! I went so big that I had to head to Northern Print in the Ouseburn Valley to use their electric presses for the largest pieces. Here’s how the design process works…

Sketch From Life

Sometimes I doodle in my sketchbook but, as a general rule, all of my Lino print collections start with me drawing from life, or at the very least a photograph that I have sourced. The Seascape collection is no exception. I went for a walk along the promenade at Tynemouth and perched on a bench looking down over Longsands beach. It’s a place that holds amazing memories for me - not least that it’s where our wedding photographs were taken.

Stylised Sketches

Once I’m happy with my subject then I start to add my own flair - whether that’s making the colours bolder or reinterpreting certain lines and shapes. I make it my own. In the case of these seascapes, I created some mini compositional sketches thinking about more abstract geometric ways to frame the waves that I had been watching. These are some of the examples.

Refine Sketches into Workable Lino Block Designs

My social media followers will recall that at this point I shared some of my sketches on stories and asked them what their favourite was. That helped we to narrow down the ideas that I pursued. From there, I enlarged the compositional layouts to around A3 and worked on the finer details, such as the glint of the sun on the water and the areas where I wanted to add depth.

As I wanted to use reduction print, this was also the stage where I isolated which colours I wanted to use and considered which order I would do them in. In this case, I decided to create the smaller print in its entirety to test out the process and be sure that I was happy with the choices I had made before moving onto other pieces.

Carve & Print the Seascape Print Blocks

As these are reduction prints, there are multiple carving sessions for each piece. With a reduction print, you carve the block for the largest area of colour and print it. Then you carve more away and print again - repeating until all of the layers are printed. In the end, you after left with gorgeous prints and a Lino block with hardly anything left on it.

Quality Check

Not all of the prints make the cut. There may be blemishes or smudges that render the piece a ‘misprint’. In this case, I either keep it for myself or I use it to create collages - transforming it into to something else beautiful.

Name & Sign Each Piece

Sometimes the names come easily and other times I just keep it simple and say what I see. All of my pieces are numbered to show their limited nature and signed by me.

Want to know when the collection is released? Make sure you’re signed up to my VIP list by clicking this link! VIPs will be getting first access to the collection.