Big Botanicals by Kubish

         I haven’t had a chance to do this in a while, but one of my favorite winter activities is visiting a greenhouse, where it’s warm, humid, green and growing inside, while outside the glass everything is monochrome ice and snow.  Aga Kubish is an artist based in the UK whose huge block prints capture a little of that spirit.  She makes huge linoleum block prints which take days to sketch and weeks to carve.  Her style is the traditional use of fine lines, cross-hatching, etc., but the size of the pieces gives them a different impact.

        This first one is the view that made me want to feature Kubish’s work on an icy February day: the Palm House I wish I had attached to my studio right now!  At 70x100 cm (27.5x39.5 inches) this piece would definitely make you feel like you were there.  And I always love a spiral staircase, too.

        This carpet of ferns is a little smaller (76x56 cm), but it’s still a fair bit larger than any piece I’ve ever done, and the fern fronds are about life sized.  I love how the many layers of shaded ferns give the piece depth.  I’m also interested by the composition with no obvious focal point, which is something I’m not bold enough to do in my own work.  I’ve always had a thing for ferns, so I find this really beautiful.

        Although most of Kubish’s work is botanical, I also thought I’d share this portrait of an incredibly curly, twirly, tangled jellyfish.  I imagine it was a lot of fun (and a lot of work) to sketch out all those interlaced threads.

        Sometimes I think about making larger pieces, but so far I’ve been daunted not only by the work, but even more by the thought of having to carry huge pieces around with me to shows.  I’ve already stopped bringing my posters to shows simply because they’re a pain in the neck to transport and display.  Still, it’s fun to consider what I might do if I had 2x3 feet to work in!

        If you want to know more about Kubish’s process, click on the links and go to her web site, where she’s got lots of photos and videos of the making of some of these pieces.  Meanwhile, those of us in the northern latitudes can look at these pieces and dream of growing things.

[Pictures: Palm House, linocut by Aga Kubish, 2022 (Image from seanestart);

Ferns, linocut by Kubish, 2021 (Image from seanestart);

Jellyfish, linocut by Kubish, 2024 (Image from seanestart).]