Start of the Heritage Series

Our woodworking neighbour passes along off-cuts of salvage he thinks I might find interesting – such as weather-scoured fencing and remnants of cattle feeders blackened with age. I wondered if I could capture some of the fascinating grain with a print.

The grain in this old wood was so pronounced I was disappointed the first pulls (while replicating the look of the grain) didn’t give the feeling I was going for – that sense of nostalgia for a rural landscape that is always at risk of disappearing. 

I experimented building up layers of random colour, mostly using leftover mixed inks I had on hand.

I was so happy with the outcome. The fencing came from a local horse race track that was being torn down and I imagined all the paint and stain those boards had witnessed over the decades. I’m sure they weren’t the original fence but they had been in use a very long time.