Behind the print: "Monet's Garden"

Diana Croft on how she made her new six-colour reduction linocut, inspired by a long-awaited visit to the impressionist artist Monet’s garden in France.

"Monet's Garden", a reduction linocut by Diana Croft

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to visit Monet’s garden at Giverny in France.
 It’s a place I’ve long wanted to visit, but I have always been put off by the idea of huge crowds and being herded around and not seeing it in a conducive atmosphere. 
However, when I realised that it was just a few miles away from where we’d been camping, it seemed silly not to try and visit. We managed to book a slot at 4.30pm the next day, as that was the only one available. This turned out to be something of a blessing, as although it was busy, most of the coach tours were leaving and I’m sure it was quieter than usual.


It is a truly magical place and the gardeners have done a fantastic job restoring Monet’s original planting scheme and adding to it so that there is year-round interest.
 Monet was a great collector of plants and really set about creating the type of environment he wanted to paint.
 Of course the lily ponds are the most famous and are stunning, but the avenues of rose arches and sculptural alliums and irises were equally wonderful.
 The wisteria was out when I visited, twisting around the famous Japanese bridge, and the whole place had a wonderful feeling of spring abundance of new growth.

Diana's iPad drawing to plan out the colour layers

I knew I was going to be inspired to produce numerous pieces of artwork as a result of my visit to this wonderful garden, and I’ve since made several paintings as well as this linocut.

It was impossible to sit and draw on site, which is what I would have preferred to do, but by using a combination of several photographs and my memories of the place I eventually came up with a design I was happy with. I wanted to convey the feeling of verdant foliage, the delicate spring colours and to make it calm and peaceful, so I removed all the people, apart from one woman standing on the bridge wearing a hat, who could have been from almost any period in time.

I work in reduction linocut, which is a method where all the colours are printed off the same piece of lino. This requires a lot of planning and also thinking in reverse as the final print is a mirror image of the lino block.
 First I draw the whole design onto the block with an indelible waterproof pen, then I cut away everything that is to remain white.

The first colour is then rolled onto the surface of the block - I usually work from light to dark, so the first colour is often a pale yellow or green. At this stage I have to print the number of pieces of paper that I want to end up with, usually around 20.

Above: You can see the white areas have been cut away first. The second layer (lilac/blue) is being printed over the first layer (yellow).

Then I cut away everything I want to keep as that first colour and print the second colour on top, and so on, ending up with the darkest colour remaining as the final colour, which tends to be the one with all the fine detail.

Above: Diana adds in green mid-tones, using a blended roll of different greens to create depth in the image.

Above: The darkest layers of colours are printed last, adding the fine details and contrast.

This linocut has six colours printed, so there is a lot of work involved in creating the final piece. The registration is of critical importance so that all the colours line up perfectly - I make a card window mount that fits the lino perfectly and the paper is carefully lined up each time to two marked edges. I print on my etching press, which gives a good even pressure and keeps me fit with all the turning of the wheel. It is certainly a very physical way of producing an artwork.

There is always an element of jeopardy with this process as there is no going back and making a correction, and if you cut the wrong piece away it is impossible to correct it. Because of this it is also known as the “suicide method" as you are gradually destroying the block as you cut more and more away.

Despite these constraints I enjoy the technique and particularly find the cutting of the lino very absorbing and ‘mindful’ – you can’t think about anything else while carving the lino block, that’s for sure.

Diana's linocut "Monet's Garden" is available in the gallery, along with lots of other gorgeous linocuts by her and other members. For more information about Diana and more of her work, visit her website and our online shop.

A slightly different colour way of "Monet's Garden" by Diana Croft