Dactylorhiza of Great Britain and Ireland, a Linocut

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Despite the last year of changes, it has been a surprisingly good year for orchid hunting- from the first green-winged orchid on Humphrey Head, to the last autumn lady's-tresses at Silverdale. - Click here- for a more detailed look into my orchid year and field sketches. 

One of the highlights, for me personally, was the Dactylorhiza- the spotted and marsh-orchids. I found new frog orchid plants at their last site in north Cumbria (a population of three plants) and new hybrids like early marsh-orchid x northern marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza latirella) at Sunbiggin Tarn.

Left to right: northern marsh-orchid at Orton Verges, frog orchid at Headend Quarry, early marsh-orchid at Kenfig NNR and common spotted-orchid at Headend Quarry. 

1. Planning

So, I planned a linocut of the Dactylorhiza of Great Britain and Ireland based upon the taxonomy within the recently published, landmark publication of Britain's Orchids: A field guide to the orchids of Great Britain and Ireland by Sean Cole and Micheal Waller (with illustrations by Sarah Stribbling).

Orchid taxonomy is constantly changing and developing, so by using the most recent publication, I hoped my piece would be up to date- at least for the time being. 

Cole and Waller give eight Dactylorhiza species status: frog orchid, common spotted-orchid, heath spotted-orchid, northern marsh-orchid, southern marsh-orchid, early marsh-orchid, Irish marsh-orchid and Pugsley's marsh-orchid. This differs from prior publications, for example in Harrap and Harrap's 'Orchids of Britain and Ireland: a field and site guide' which excludes frog orchid (due to it's prior attribution to Coeloglossum) and includes the Hebridean marsh-orchid (now re-classified as a squat population of Pugsley's marsh-orchid). This is not to say that prior publications are bad, but just that science progresses and many of the older guides are still of great importance. 

When sketching the piece, it was a difficult balance between stylistic and artistic choices and scientific accuracy. I had to compromise height as well as the overall proportions of the orchids so that the individual flowers would be visible but I attempted to keep the relative proportions between species more accurate- with the common spotted-orchid being tallest and and the diminutive frog orchid the shortest. 

After an initial sketch, I planned the final design to a 6"x12" with evenly spaced marks for each of the species. Instead of ordering them taxonomically (resulting in an unbalanced piece both in colour and morphology) I played around with the order, mixing the species up. This sketch was then finalised with fine-liner and then traced onto tracing paper with the help of a light-pad. 

 

Left: finalising the rough pencil design with fine-liner and right: tracing that final design onto tracing paper using a light-pad.

The trace was then transferred onto the sheet of lino and then re-drawn using fine-liner. This avoids any smudging of the pencil and allows for any last minute changes such as the last minute adjustment to add slight hooks to the tip of early marsh-orchid leaves.

Left: transferring the trace onto the piece of lino and right: going over the pencil trace in fine-liner.

Cutting.

Once the design was finalised, the cutting could be started! This was spread out over a few days, at a rate of around 2 orchids/day to avoid fatigue and inevitable mistakes or slips. 

Due to the design of the piece, it lent itself to cutting left to right- unlike most other linocut blocks where I cut similar elements or textures at the same time (such as my Megalichthys print - click here-).

Cutting the lino- a somewhat tedious process made better by variation in shapes due to the different orchids.

Details of the cut lino-block: top left: southern marsh-orchid inflorescence, top right: frog orchid, bottom right: common spotted-orchid and bottom right: common spotted-orchid and frog orchid leaves. 

Left: the cut lino-block in full and right: the block inked up, ready for running through the press. 

After the block was cut, it was inked up using oil based ink and then run through the press (XCut Xpress). 

The print (uncoloured).

Hand colouring. 

Next comes the hand colouring- as the ink used is oil based, it repels the water based watercolour paints creating clean lines. 

As for the colours of the Dactylorhiza orchids, many of the species are incredibly variable in colouration. Some such as northern marsh-orchids don't massively vary in colour and are a distinctive deep magenta colour; a defining identification feature. Others, such as the frog orchid, have a distinct range of colour from pale green to deep red while others have distinct colour variations (e.g. early marsh-orchid subspecies). I look forward to experimenting with different subspecies, colour variations and colour ranges. 

Hand painting the print (northern marsh-orchid and frog orchid) in watercolour.

Slowly hand painting...

Close up of coloured common spotted-orchid and early marsh-orchid (subsp. coccinea).

As of yet, I've only coloured up a single print (below), but look forward to painting some further prints with colour variations. 

The fully coloured print (without species labels/title/signature in pencil).
Northern Marsh-Orchid -- Frog Orchid --  Common Spotted-Orchid -- Early Marsh-Orchid -- Pugsley's Marsh-Orchid -- Southern Marsh-Orchid -- Heath Spotted-Orchid-- Irish Marsh-Orchid. 

I'm hoping to do some more British orchid linocuts, and I think that individual species would work quite well, as well as three species with a square border (potentially two 'parent' species bordering the hybrid). 

This print is for sale both as a uncoloured print and hand painted (including bespoke colour variations/subspecies). For inquiries email: tomgarner.1998@outlook.com