Stalking like a Rook

Sylvia Plath's poem 'Winter Landscape, With Rooks ' is a difficult poem to read because of the deep  sadness and despondency it evokes and yet the words

                                               feathered dark in thought, I stalk like a rook,

                                               brooding as the winter night comes on.'

 

sound wonderful to me. It almost conjures up a picture of someone growing feathers as they stalk along the hedgerows hunched up against the cold as the thin winter sun goes down. 

Perhaps my imagination is getting the better of me as the recent  weather turns from very hot to cold in the space of 24 hours, and a hint of autumn is in the early morning air. The combine harvesters are working all night if they can before the rain stops them but the blackberries and sloes are plumping up nicely because of it. I think the wood will provide plenty of berries for human and avian foragers alike this year.

I printed the rook by press rather than by hand and thought the results were interesting, as their is no clear outline around the carborundum, making the rook blend softly into the background

 

 30cm x 15cm Monoprint

 

Each print will be different because of the way it is inked up on the plate, areas of light and dark can be manipulated by hand with careful ink application and removal 

 

 

30cm x 15cm Monoprint with pen and ink

 

 

 

Monoprint with pen and ink

 

You can already see the difference with these three prints and that's something which makes the whole process very demanding but also very interesting, not to mention time consuming........