There's a lot I can write about this pumpkin print - a long string of interwoven events are a big part of how it came about.
During lockdown - Stuart and I decided to dig up the rest of our lawn (there wasn't much left of it anyway) - we decided to experiment and transform the garden into a mini allotment. We planted beetroot, carrots, potatoes, beans, cucumbers, spinach, sweetcorn and more. We are lucky the soil in our Cirencester town garden has always been rich, dark and productive.
One of my Friday evening highlights is Gardeners World on the telly - and Monty Don enthusiastically demonstrated how you could grow pumpkins vertically up a frame. This seemed like a fantastic idea - in previous years I've grown them, but they sprawl all over and take up loads of space.
Stuart went to nearby Hailey Wood Sawmill and came back with various posts and bits of wood for a great price. Perfect! - we shopped local and didn't have to queue to get on a DIY shop website and then try to work out how to click and collect. #gardenersworld #TheMontyDon #haileywoodsawmill #verticalgardening #growingpumpkins #lockdownproject
After some hammering and a little grumbling, the frame looked great! We planted the young plants that had been grown from seeds in the greenhouse. I chose two varieties, 'Small Sugar' and 'Expert F1', the latter grew as big as beachballs. (Note to self: next year stick to the smaller varieties!) The pumpkins soon started to grow up and thrive. As you can see, it's a verdant and dramatic transformation.
I studied the details of flowers as they bloomed, tendrils as they twirled seeking support and the fruits as they grew and grew! These are some of the simplified drawings on which I based my print.
The colours also inspired me - so many different greens and slowly turning to an incredible bright orange. The pumpkins were heavy and had to be supported with 'hammocks' they grew a lot bigger than expected - enough to keep us in soup for years probably!
I transferred the finished drawing to plywood and carved out the design. I planned to print the background sky in shades of blue to help show that the plants were growing vertically, I used Photoshop to rough out how this might work. It needed to be a reduction print, which is a destructive process, carving and printing from the block in stages. In this case, printing everything blue, then carving away what I wanted to stay blue, then printing the green leaves on top. This makes it a true limited edition because you are destroying the block as you go. I wanted to create about 20 or so prints - I thought there would be mistakes and wastage along the way.
Now for some colour on the pumpkins and flowers. I would usually use cut paper for this - but I also tried a new method, a stamp pad. I cut the shapes as a stencil and dabbed through with the ink pads - nice and easy and effective. The colour lays flat so it's easier to print the next layer on top. #reductionprint #versamagic #stampads
With the blue bits carved away, I then mixed up some green ink to finish the design. There are three blues for the sky and two greens for the leaves to give different effects across the set of prints - I ended up with 25 Editions, all now uploaded to my web shop.
I hope you agree the finished image captures the energy, vitality and joy of growing the pumpkins and creating the print. Take a look at the results here https://www.ballardcreative.co.uk/produce
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