Original artwork description:

Time to Fly is one of a seascape series I've been working on which take their inspiration from Northern coast and islands. The seas and skies use broad gestural mark-making to give a sense of energy and movement. The birds were blocked out at the start of the process so that they would maintain a crisp whiteness. At the end I lightly tinted them with grey to give a sense of the shadows on them.

A monotype is a unique printed picture. I use rollers and dabbers to spread out the ink on a smooth plastic surface (like perspex or plexi-glass) then make marks with a cloth and other tools. I incorporate textured materials by impressing inked up wallpaper and fabric. The colours are printed in layers wiping away and using paper stencils each time it goes through the printing press to transfer the ink from the plastic to the paper. It's printed to the edges of the paper so the deckle (wavy) edge is part of the print. It is flat mounted onto acid free board with archival tape, wrapped in cellophane and carefully flat-packed in a specially made box.

Materials used:

Oil-based ink on Rives BFK cotton rag paper. Mounted on acid-free mount board.

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