‘Lake Isabella I’, monoprint, acrylic & ink, 35x30cm

This is one of a couple of prints from a sideline to my Kernville/CA commission from a few months ago, now made available here! The challenge here was to try and replicate something of the extraordinary light on the horizon and across the water from this photo that my friend Luke sent me, of his dogs by the side of Lake Isabella in California.

I set aside 2 of the blends/base prints that I ultimately used for my latest Ash Dieback prints, and then added a perlacryl deep yellow to begin the process of creating the reflection. This light, which is so specific to the West coast of the States, I felt could only be rendered well using metallic inks – I went with an iridescent pearl, a silver, also using a hint of gold and a wee bit more of the perlacryl.
After a somewhat ‘messy’ start – I continued to use masking fluid to start off creating the mountains and closer landscape – I was pleased with the results. The final touches were a hand-cut stencil for both dogs, an ultra-fine Techpoint pen for the sticks/flotsam in the water, finished off by a painted-on gloss for the lake; and some light spatula/brushwork for the clouds.