Surfing

A wood engraving on Lemonwood, hand burnished on 150 gsm Zerkall ENE V paper with Hawthorns Dense Black Ink.

Edition size: 8 (plus 2 no. artist’s proof)

Image size: 98 x 98 mm approx.

Paper size: 180 x 172 mm

Price: £80 (sold unmounted)

Whilst sailing around Eire this summer we were fortunate to see the elegant working boats, Galway Hookers, sailing across to Inishmore (Inis Mor) for their summer regatta. It was a windy day with a forecast for increasingly strong winds so we left the protection of the harbour at Inishmore and headed for Rossaveal (Ros an Mhil) on the mainland Connemara coast. As we reached across the North Sound a fleet of Galway Hookers emerged, thrashing their way into the gusty rain and strong winds that were to dominate our trip. They are a beautiful sight with their black painted wooden hulls and tan sails hoisted up their gaff rigs. A few days later we saw a few more hookers moored at Kilkieran and one evening watched one being rigged with new sails and set off for an evening sail.

These boats were the life line for those living on the Aran Islands off Galway in the late 19th century through to the 1970’s. They were initially designed as fishing boats, robust enough to withstand the rough seas off Galway, but also served to deliver goods to the islands, particularly turf (peat) for domestic fires. In recent years there has been a resurgence in their use as racing and pleasure boats with many old boats now restored to their former glory.

I was so excited to see them sailing, such power in their low aspect gaff rigs surfing over the waves, I thought they would make a great subject for a wood engraving. So I sketched out a few designs, settling for one that tries to show the power of these boats cutting through the water set against the wild rock strewn hills with their drystone walls and the Cnoc Mordain mountain in the background. I used a multiple line tool to try to create a lightness and fluidity to the sails, though as this is the first time I have used it for such a large area I hadn’t realised how difficult it would be to print!

Initially I tried to print this on my Tofko etching press but after much frustration trying to adjust the pressure on the block I gave up and tried hand burnishing it instead. This allowed me to focus pressure in some areas and give a much lighter touch to the sails, allowing for more consistent results. I used one of Chris Daunt‘s beautiful hand burnishers initially to cover the whole area of the block and then used my small hand carved Yew spoon to increase pressure (and therefore the increase the ink coverage) in specific areas such as the background mountains. However the process was quite laborious and difficult to maintain consistency – hence the small addition!

October 2025