Making a Winter Design

Where it all started, on a cold November day on Exmoor. I spied a Red Deer herd sitting amongst the Hawthorn trees. With my fingerless gloves and hat on, a chunky 2B pencil and tattered sketchbook in hand. I drew this wild deer family.

I absolutely love to make colourful prints with carefully chosen earthy colours. Above you can see the two linocut blocks that I carved and designed to overlap each other. The centre right print is what’s called a keyblock or main design. I kept the picture simple so that the shapes of the deer in black and white interlocked with one another. When a design has a balance of shapes and interesting patterns I feel that it speaks of the peace that can be found in nature.