The Terrace, Lino-gravure

My terrace : photo by Mary M Payne

This is a picture I took of my terrace.... it shows the two silver rocking chairs made from teak that I bought from Silvia before she moved out of her mas ( large french country house) . They are featured here as is their little table where Monsieur and I have our tumbler of water each morning after our walk and our breakfast in summer. 

There are several ways to cut a piece of linoleum for printing and this time, with this photo as a guide,  I wanted to try to create different values by the lines themselves and how close or far apart they were.  

So first I cropped the picture to what I thought would give it more interest.   My thinking is that the brain should work a little bit to figure out what the picture is...it makes one want to move into a picture.  That was the idea of why I cropped it this way. 

   I  like the shadows that are created and I wanted to emphasize those too.

Photo by Mary M Payne

Here is the finished print:  I use the cut lines to create light, medium and dark values.  I used a different cut to indicate the garden but left out any sign of the balustrade.  

The terrace, linocut by Mary M Payne

 This, I think, is my favorite of the prints that I did this year.  Ironically, you won't see it in the end of year exhibition at the school ( although you will see three of my other works). 

 The instructor felt that there weren't enough "darks" in the print and that she couldn't figure out what it was!   I would be interested to hear what my readers have to say about it.  Did you recognize it as a terrace with two chairs?  Does it matter that you recognize what it is ? 

   Art is so subjective, now isn't it? ...... or as was written in 3rd century Greece:  "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".