Printmaking
Printmaking is useful for making multiples of one image and as such it is useful to a maker of Artist Books. But what I really love about it is the surface quality, the experimentation and the unexpected discoveries that happen when printing. It’s great fun!
The methods I most often use are Collagraph, Lino printing and Monotype. I have also inked up and surface printed found objects, like plants, stones, wood and cork.
I have exhibited and sold prints in Bristol and the USA as well as major galleries in the North of England.
Monotype
Steep Hill SOLD Janet Allsebrook in the North
Monotype can be done in different ways. At the top of this section are traditional prints, made by drawing on a glass plate and then lifting the paper off. Below are some roller prints where ink has been applied directly to the paper on a roller. By using masking and scraping back into the paper, layers can be revealed. All the Monotypes are about mapping and landscape. Aerial views of landscapes in the Yorkshire Dales reveal layers of history in the form of prehistoric earth works, strange place names and industrial heritage. These are my subjects.
Nature Prints
I began Nature Printing while researching the methods of early Botanists, who sometimes recorded their discovered plants by printing their leaves and flowers. Above is a photo of a book in which this was done in 1840.
In the black and white set of 3 prints above I use the motif of a wreath to illustrate the decline of nature. The first suggests that the only remains may be found in an archive, Second is a reminder of the potential death of all we value in nature, including ourselves. Third is an appeal to the ancient relics and the saints to pray for us in the face of catastrophe.
The additional insects and snail are printed by spirit transfer, but the bird is a dead bird which I inked and printed.
The centre of the third print is a photo of a reliquary seen in a church. It contains a fragment of bone and the writing says ‘”Johannus Baptista Ora Pro Nobis.” John The Baptist pray for us.
