This weekend I did a woodblock engraving course with Kate Dicker at Badger Press in Bishop’s Waltham. Fantastic course! I was undecided at the begining of the weekend what to engrave. Flicking back through my sketchbooks I found a drawing that I had made that was inspired by Ravilious’ woodblock prints.
One key thing that I learnt that I think will influence my drawing is creating images without outlining shapes. I was really surprised at how ‘freestyle’ I got with the engraving. I really like the sky, which was a product of being rushed for time. I think that having to rush and not worry about it really helped. I’m also pleased with the water – it started off terribly – I was using wavy lines. However, with a little tuition about representing flat surfaces with horrizontal lines, it came out alright in the end. I actually quite like the slightly crazy, chaotic nature of the image and think that I might quite like to try the same image another time with brightly coloured paint.
Esther's OCA Blog 