Herdwick Inspiration

After visiting Helena and her flock of Herdwick's I came back to the studio to look through all the photographs I had taken. The Hardwick's have so much character and are extremely distinctive with the small white faces and large, thick fleeces. Tormund the Ram is particularly eye-catching with his impressive set of horns and tufty beard.  

The Herwick's have a distinctive contrast between the colour of their faces and fleeces.

These are two pencil sketches which I have completed of 'Tormund' the ram.

A pencil sketch of Arya, one of Helena's favourite ewes.

These are my final hand stamped prints which I created from my pencil drawings. I take all the 'main' shapes from my drawings to create simple stamps from, which I then use to build up and create the coloured prints. I then work back into the stamped prints, putting in all the characteristics and detail. I am really pleased with how these prints have turned out, I think it is mostly because of the character and distinctiveness of the Hardwick breed. They also have such variety of texture and colour within their fleeces which really compliments the hand stamped technique. 

I would like to say another BIG thank you to Helena for taking the time to introduce me to her Stark Herdwicks. It was so interesting to learn so much about another one of our countries native breeds.