Morning Light is a 7 colour linocut presenting a full length female nude standing on a dock of a lake with the sun rising beyond. This print draws on the tradition of the female nude through art history, coupled with the wonders of landscape and nature. In this print I combine flat colour as is seen in many of my other prints, with tonal colour for the sunrise. 
 
Inspired by 'The Birth of Venus' by Botticelli, 'Morning Light' contains echoes of this famous painting.
 
The central nude stands contra-posto on the dock of a lake, replacing the shell. The setting is inspired by a photograph I took of a landscape near my hometown in California.
 
While the nude throughout Art history has had many different associations, from eroticism to demonstrations of beauty and the sublime, for me the nude is instead a suggestion of our essential being. It represents us at our most open, vulnerable, and strong. It’s what’s left when we strip away all of the external stories and expectations that are placed upon us. It’s freedom. 
 
Prior to becoming an artist I spent my undergraduate years studying Art History in Rome. Years later while living in London I began to make linocut prints and recalled the Greek and Etruscan black figure vases I so often encountered in Roman museums. These delicate depictions of gods and mythical creatures in black silhouette with elegant lines and patterns lent themselves so well to linocut. I began creating my own nudes in dark gray and blue silhouettes.
 
As all prints are hand pressed, each will have some minor differences, which I believe adds to the character of the print. I cannot guarantee that you will receive the edition featured in the photo.
 
36"x 27.5" linoleum print hand printed on a 46" x 31.5" sheet of Awagami paper. Limited edition of 10.
 
£950