On With the Old Fencing

Once I had a good number of the fence prints (and given them time to dry) I cropped them down to 3.5x3.5-inches and began to mount them on 5x5-inch notecards. I like working in a square format and cut (and sometimes fold) my own cardstock.

Finding a good composition and highlighting the knots and wonky grain is the most fun. And I really enjoyed using random colours to build up the layers of ink. I never quite knew what I would get and that surprise appeals to me.

I add a mini-print to the back of each card and then give them a good “squish” in a book press (or I weigh them down with stacks of old magazines) and leave them overnight.

For the Heritage Series I’m using Strathmore Printmaking Cards (approximately 5x7-inches) that I buy in bulk. The soft, absorbent paper in Natural White (a warm white) is slightly textured, pre-scored for the fold and looks good with brown paper bag envelopes. The envelopes that come with the Strathmore stock I pass onto friends who work in that size. And in the next post I’ll show you what I do with the off-cuts of card. Nothing goes to waste!

 

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.