Original artwork description:

Before I became an artist I was an archaeologist and I still have a deep and abiding love for the monuments and structures of Neolithic Europe, especially those found in the UK, so I've embarked on a series of monoprints depicting these enigmatic landscape features.

The Callanish Stones are an arrangement of standing stones placed in a cruciform pattern with a central stone circle. They were erected in the late Neolithic era, and were a focus for ritual activity during the Bronze Age. They are near the village of Callanish (Gaelic: Calanais) on the west coast of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Numerous other ritual sites lie within a few kilometres implying that Callanish was an active focus for prehistoric religious activity for at least 1500 years and predates Stonehenge. It has been suggested that the stones were a prehistoric lunar observatory. Critics of these theories argue that several alignments are likely to exist purely by chance in any such structure, and many factors such as the weathering and displacement of the stones over the millennia mean there can be no certainty of any alignments, original or otherwise.

This artwork has been created using a monoprint process created by German artist Paul Klee where oil paint (black, in this case) is painted onto one side of a piece of paper which is then carefully placed, paint-side down, onto a piece of watercolour paper and the image required is drawn onto the unpainted side, thereby transferring black lines onto the watercolour paper. The first sheet is removed and the image can then be painted over using watercolours, with the black oil-painted lines acting as a resist. Due to the nature of the process, small black marks and smudges are frequently accidentally transferred but this, together with the watercolour painting, only highlights the individual nature of each ‘print’. While it is quite possible to produce the image again, each one will be different as no two paintings will ever be identical.

This image is transferred/outlined with Winsor & Newton oil paint and then painted with Winsor & Newton Professional watercolours onto 300gsm/140lb Hot Pressed Daler-Rowney Aquafine Smooth watercolour paper.

DELIVERY INFORMATION
In order to avoid trips to the Post Office, I shall be arranging for delivery to be via courier (not Hermes!) and shipping charges will reflect this. As prices will vary depending on the purchaser's location, if the actual shipping price is less than that charged, I will refund the difference. I am happy to arrange collection.

IMPORTANT - Rather sadly I've decided that, following Brexit, I can no longer sell my artwork to purchasers in the EU. The customs/VAT regulations are an absolute nightmare and I don't want to risk purchasers having to fork out a lot of unforeseen extra money when taking delivery, and even if I agree to pay Customs and VAT upfront before sending out, the red tape involved just looks horrendous.

I will still be selling to customers outside the EU as there's been no changes there so everything remains the same. My apologies, all I can say is that I voted to remain.

Materials used:

oil paint, watercolours

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