Morning catch

This latest print from my series on lakes is actually Baker lake, with part of Mount Shuksan in the background. I find myself increasingly drawn to the power of the eagle, indeed a majestic bird. I have heard sad stories, that sometimes eagles will grab a salmon too heavy to fly off with and once their talons are hooked in, they cannot let go and will drown in the struggle to maintain their catch, I trust I did not give him too large a prize.

I began by drawing the mountains in with a dip pen and Indian ink straight onto the lino  There is something so old fashioned and satisfying about using a scratchy nib and as I use oil based inks it doesn’t come off when I clean my block with spirits.

This reduction print was quite a challenge. I firstly wanted to add some soft whispy clouds to the sky, these I first painted onto the Lino with watercolor and then carved that out and printed on top of my blue sky. Next came several layers of differing shades for the hills.
Tackling the water was hard because the bird was in the way and I had to wipe ink away from the eagles silhouette with every pass, tricky that. Here’s a couple more shots as I progressed

The thing about reduction printing that is always such a challenge is deciding the order of print layers. Usually we print from light to dark but not always. I will say the hardest part of this print was the water splash. I looked at so many photos of water droplets you wouldn’t believe it. I hope it looks convincing but after all that thinking it will have to do.

I also used a little bit of silver ink on the salmon belly to add some iridescence.

Morning Catch

9” x 12” reduction print. Oil based ink on Reeves BFK 100% rag paper

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