First test print of a 10x10cm wood engraving in progress - part of the ruined 12C monastery of Rievaulx, N. Yorkshire. There is still work to be done.
Many hours in I realised I had forgotten to reverse the drawing. The print is therefore the mirror image of reality. This is the first time I have made this mistake and hopefully the last. I can reverse a digital reproduction, but anyone who gets an original print will have to live with an alternative reality.
@JohnAltringham It's an interesting question whether anyone not familiar with this monastery would have noticed that it is mirrored? There are no obvious clues like letters.
Very strange: when I saw the wood block I was immediately transported into Umberto Ecos "The name of the rose". There is probably a place in my brain where I store things related to medieval monasteries ... Your engraving tells, in a gripping way, a story of a societal fossil, vestigial order persisting in a world that has descended into chaos. Something bad has happened, and we want to know that story.
John Altringham
Daniel Hoffmann 🌼