Sussex art Print, Devils Dike Round Headed Rampion, Pride of Sussex

Description

‘Sussex art Print, Devils Dike Round Headed Rampion, Pride of Sussex.’

Print description

A Sussex art print of the famous view of the Sussex Weald from Devils Dyke in bloom with Rampion flowers.

Print details

Panoramic format. Print size 124 x 30.5 cm approx. Signed print from a limited edition of 100. From original ink drawing to which I apply colour digitally. Printed on fine art paper using archival inks.

Sussex Art Print

Picture yourself lying on the grass in this spot looking at the distant landscape through the immediate growth of Rampion flowers. ‘Playteuma Orbiculare’, ‘Round Headed Rampion Flower’ or as colloquially known ‘The Pride of Sussex’. This flower is actually a cluster of small flowers that open looks like a sea anemone, a herbaceous plant from the family of the campanulaceae with large erect stems. You can find Rampion Flowers in most of Europe though it thrives in the Downs grasslands chalky soils. In the language of flowers, the campanula means gratitude.

Devils Dyke was formed during the Ice age; it is England’s deepest and widest dry valley nearly a mile long. Described by Constable as ‘the grandest view of the World. The view I portray looks down onto the Sussex Weald confined by the South and in the distance the North Downs and even the Isle of Wight that can be seen on clear days.

The print making of this flower screen started with charcoal drawings and kitchen lithography. Kitchen lithography means stone(Lito) printing( graphy) in the kitchen. The name is given to the fact that all the materials for a production of a kitchen lithograph can be found in an everyday kitchen. The process is based on the same principle as traditional lithography that water and oil push each other. French Emilie Aizer developed this technique in 2009. It replaces the harmful chemicals turpentine and nitric acid. On a piece of kitchen foil a design is drawn with oil pens, chocolate or soap, once the designed is completed Cola drink is poured on it as a corrosive element to alter the water retaining properties of the foil; cooking vegetable oil is then used to wipe and clean the foil. The result is a plate that when made moist and then inked with a roller, the ink attaches to the design. Finally a wooden press is used to transfer the inked plate into paper.