The Early Bird - wood engraving

'The Early Bird' (wood engraving) features a thrush pulling up a worm for it's breakfast, while other mini beasts scuttle about and below the grass.

Printed on 51gsm Awagami Okawara Select paper (a lovely off white/subtle cream) with Cranfield Caligo safe wash oil-based ink. Signed on the front. This is an 'Artists's Proof' with only three copies being available. It was planned as an edition, but the two toned brown prooved too tricky to reproduce reliably. A future edition in a single dark brown may yet be produced.

Paper size: 26 x 21

Wood engraving is a type of relief print, meaning the areas intended to stay white are carefull carved out with specialist tools known as 'gravers'. These are designed especially for wood engraving and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Wood engraving lends itself to fine detailed work and as a result the prints tend to be smaller than some other print mediums.

Boxwood is considered a premium wood for engraving due the dense nature of the fibres. The wooden block is first prepared by smoothing the end grain surface and dyeing it a darker colour so that the engraved lines can be seen more clearly.

This print started life as a pencil drawing and was then transferred to the prepared block. This provided a rough guide to follow during the engraving stage.

As prints are made individually by hand please expect slight variation in detail and colour density, which makes every print unique.