Tucker Hill's monotype prints

"Champe Plain Valley near Etlan, Virginia, August, 2005"

2010-01-31T14:23:00.000-08:00

I was driving home, up this beautiful valley where I live, when the clouds parted and light cascaded down illuminating the base of Old Rag Mountain and much of the floor of the valley. Pulling off, I made quick sketches and photographs in the few moments I had to witness this scene. I don't usually make more than one monotype of a single time and place, but this remarkable event has inspired me to make at least five. One found its way on the cover of a CD by the wonderful group known as the Possum Ridge String Band. Get a copy and enjoy their old time and Celtic music: http://www.possumridge.org/ (five by six inches, printed on Stonehenge paper)

"Bohannon Road, August 3, 2009, 10:16 a.m." monotype printed on December 9, 2009

2010-01-31T14:14:00.000-08:00

Here's a scene on the same road as the photograph of me walking, shown at the top of this blog! In spite of the monochromatic sepia color I use in the monotypes, I think and I print in "full color," just as classic black and white photographs evoke all the spectrum of nature's beauty. Ah, summer! (five by six inches, printed on Stonehenge paper)

"First snow on Etlan Road, December 5, 2002, 10:55 a.m." monotype printed on December 9, 2002

2010-01-31T14:05:00.000-08:00

I am not a fan of cold weather which tests my resolve to head out for a four mile trek every day, but on this walk, I was rewarded by coming upon this pasture entrance, transformed by a couple of inches of snow as Red Oak Mountain fades through the snowflakes. The monotype has a nice 19th century quality to it, I think. (five by ten inches on Stonehenge paper)

"The Robinson River near Banco, Virginia, February 24, 2002" monotype printed on February 25, 2002

2010-01-31T13:58:00.000-08:00

This late winter scene along side Hoover Road reflects the quiet beauty of late winter in Madison County. I like the way the sepia color warms up this otherwise cold moment. (five by ten inches on Stonehenge paper)

"Etlan Road, July 17, 2006, 8:45 a.m." monotype printed on July 19, 2006

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As with many of the scenes in the prints I make in this beautiful but changing place, this copse of trees with sunlight outlining the leaves and branches, the essence of summer, is now gone. (five by ten inches, Stonehenge paper)

"Etlan Road, June 3, 2009, 9:49 a.m." printed on June 5, 2009

2009-12-29T14:02:00.000-08:00

Two months of routine downpours have produced a lush June landscape in the western Piedmont, and this Paulownia Tree alongside the “Blue Grass Field,” knee deep in vegetation, looks like it might be in the tropics. Indeed, its distinctive heartshaped leaves seem to melt into the humidity. No summer would be complete if I didn’t print this stretch of roadway where acres of pastureland seem to collect and toss golden light everywhere. (12 by 16.5 inches, printed on Stonehenge paper)

"Memorial Day on Etlan Road, May 25, 2009, 10:38 a.m." printed on May 27, 2009

2009-12-29T13:54:00.000-08:00

On this overcast but bright Memorial Day walk, the mix of refracted and reflected light falls gently through the Tulip tree colonnade on the left and the forest of Oak, Tulip, and Locust on the right, creating a nave of peaceful beauty. While I’m inking in the oil color two days later, I wonder if this story of filtered light is too simple an idea, but ultimately I discover its simplicity to be the print’s strength, not its weakness. (12 by 16.5 inches on Stonehenge paper)

"December 1, 2008, 4:11 p.m. on Etlan Road" printed on December 8, 2008

2009-12-29T13:50:00.000-08:00

I dread the arrival of “Dark December,” but on this 45 degree afternoon about a mile up the road from where I live, the late sun suddenly shoots bolts of yellow light straight down Champe Plain Valley, illuminating the trees and weeds in its path. The intense pleasure of this moment takes me by surprise, and I make photographs and notes with plans to see if I can revisit this simple event in a monotype. The “blue winter sky” is made by brushing the oil color across the acrylic sheet, then tapping it down with a stencil brush to get the soft “lithographic” effect. The twigs and branches, are then painted in with a thin brush and touched up by pencil tips wrapped in scraps of paper towel. As I paint in the long shadows, the print begins to take on a life of its own. (12 by 16.5 inches, printed on Stonehenge paper)

"April 23, 2009, 10:14 a.m., on Leathers Road" printed that afternoon

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By the time I climb the gravel sloped backroad to this high ridge of land, I’m already two and a half miles from my front driveway and a bit winded. But the photographs I took accurately record the grand moment, as light bounces around everywhere, and the shadows are dynamic. Back in the studio later that morning, I flip the digital photo to reverse the image, and draw my pencil sketch to guide my application of the oil color on the clear plate. In other words, I paint a backward image on the print plate so that when I peel the print off of the plate, the image returns to the “reality” I saw that morning. (12 by 16.5 inches, printed on Stonehenge paper)

"June 27, 2009, 11:48 a.m. on Leathers Road" printed on June 30, 2009

2009-12-23T06:01:00.000-08:00

I have walked along Leathers Road many times over the years and done some very nice prints before, but this year, I printed this stretch of gravel road over and over again (and continue to do so this winter from photos and sketches made last summer). The titles I use are from the first photo I take of this moment from which freehand sketches are made which guide the inking up of the plate. High summer has reached this remote road and I can stand here almost forever without seeing another person. The woods are in full leaf and the sun’s angle is steep, and where these elements collide, the light expands like dozens of little supernovae. After laying in the tree trunks, branches, the lights and darks of the foliage, mundane tools such as Q-tips and wads of paper towel scraps pick out these explosions of sunlight, all tempered by the stencil brush’s steadying influence. (12 by 16.5 inches, printed on Stonehenge paper)