'Cutting ley on the Rhins' - new lino print

'Cutting ley on the Rhins'

This print captures a moment in time on a late summer day on the most southerly tip of Scotland. The farmer had just cut the ley and the cutters had laid it out in big fat stripes up and down the fields.Within hours the ley was hovered up and taken back to the farm and the scene had changed again.

I am fascinated by the way farming practice impacts on the colours and textures of our landscape - from the most intensive arable cultivation to the most sensitive grazing regimes.  Some changes are instantaneous and dramatic - turning pale golden stubble to rich brown clods with the turn of the plough. Others develop gradually like the fine brown till that slowly becomes the vivid green of germinating cereals. I am always thrilled to see the silvery blue of a flowering linseed crop and (for the first time this year) phacelia.

'Cutting ley on the Rhins' is a five colour lino print created from two different plates, one for the sky and road grey and the other for the yellow through to dark green. The yellow/green plate was gradually cut away so each print had to be inked and pressed four times.

'Cutting ley on the Rhins' is available to buy in my Folksy and Etsy shops. 

Phacelia