Gyotaku of Native Oyster Shells

Gyotaku of Native Oyster ShellsI'm a 10 minute walk to the Bangor School of Ocean Science and over the past few years have struck up good relationships with many people who work there. I'm fascinated by some of the projects based around shellfish and how they are foundational in us having a good ocean environment. I was given some of the native oyster shells from a project trying to cultivate native oysters. I've printed some of them here, one by one in black ink onto this sheet of

I've used one of my Gyotaku prints and worked on it digitally along with some water colour to come up with the design

Because of the value and the cost of postage the cards are sent on a second class non tracked service

This print is framed in white and glazed

The ink is both light fast and permanent

It was caught in 2021 and has resided in my studio freezer ever since

Under the umbrella of Gyotaku there are many ways of practicing this technique

The Dory came from Brixham in Devon and was sent to me with other fish as by product of fish processing

Chinese paper

and then I apply an acrylic ink that is both lightfast and permanent

Her use of Acer leaves in place of the traditional fish not only challenges expectations but also highlights the versatility of the Gyotaku method

face down on a board

Each fish on this print has been done individually from the same lino cut