Spring '25 Collection
By Alexandra Buckle
Limited edition reduction lino prints
Framed
In order as above:
Bluebell Arrival - Framed £320
Size: H: 44cm x W: 54cm
Bluebell Memories - Framed £240
Size: H: 44cm x W: 34cm
St Paul's & Peach - Framed £240
Size: H: 44cm x W: 34cm
Hellebore Light - Framed £95
Size: H: 29cm x W: 29cm
Hellebore Shade - Framed £55
Size: H: 24cm x W: 24cm
These new prints by Alexandra are, as ever, extraordinary in their detail, technical brilliance and complexity of process, as well as beautiful in their colour palette, composition and lighting.
We have chosen five works that focus on the beauty of spring - whether it be woods, flowers or one of the iconic buildings of London bathed in a peach light.
They are reduction linocuts; a relief print formed with layers of colour which are cut and printed from the same block of lino. The block is cut away, gradually, in the process.
ABOUT ALEXANDRA BUCKLE
North-Oxfordshire-based Alexandra is technically and creatively excellent at her technique and has been teaching it to eager students since 2013.
Her chioce of scene is often inspired by dog walking in local woods, as well as holiday visits and far-afield travelling. She is versatile enough to deal equally brilliantly with forested glades, moving or standing water, cliff-top views, decorative or historic buildings and architectural or hard landscaping features.
"A favourite local place to source good reflections in St James's lake in Brackley. I am also lucky to have several great National Trust gardens nearby, Stowe, Waddesdon and Claydon. The majority of my work is inspired by places local to me, unless I've been lucky enough to get away on holiday. Generally, I'm attracted by any scene with an interesting combination of colours or dramatic light."
Linocut is a relief printing technique where an image is carved into a block of lino, or vinyl, using gouges and chisels and the remaining surface is inked up and an impression is taken.
Although single colour prints are typical, it is also common practice to create work with layers of different colours, either printed from several carved blocks, known as multi-block, or using just the one block, known as reduction.
Alexandra is expert in the reduction linocut technique, a complex and unforgiving process which involves repeated cutting and printing from the same block of lino to build up an image. As the block gets cut away at each stage (reduced), there is no way to adjust the colour or cut of the previous layers. Once all layers are complete, only the information to print the last colour remains on the block, so its essence is destroyed but something beautiful has emerged on the paper, a record of the block's demise.The creative process is an exacting one: all prints must be created in one go as there is no way to return to a previous state of the block. In this way, the print edition is truly limited - even more so, as Alexandra only prints very short runs per edition.