What Flies Above

This is the story of a series - What flies above - inspired by the local Wash Common Burial Mounds in Newbury.

In June 2021 I visited the Mound site various times, and one of my first impressions was the sound of the rooks: kakaka… I cut plates that expressed the bird flypaths, the tree tops and also cut bird shapes and used the blue paper to write the sound of the birds themselves. The site was never quiet but filled with the sound of the birds, the wind above the trees, the leaves moving on the branches and the birds flying to and from their nests.

The print series combined these plates and bird shapes, playing with the birds flypaths in various combinations. The print above was finished with white ink markings to sharpen the movement of the birds amongst the trees.

Below, the practical order of printing, in two passes, with the chine colle (adhering the blue paper) with the tree tops on the first printing pass and overprinting with the second plate, with the rooks flypaths over it.