I wanted to make a linoprint that was inspired by Roman/Greek Mythology. I had done a little research into mythical tales and was fascinated by Diana the Huntress, also known as Artemis. Diana was regarded as a goddess of the hunt, animals and fertility. I think I was drawn to her because I used to archery when I was a kid, but I also think people doing archery on horseback looks pretty cool.
I started with my favourite stage, the research stage. I was fortunate enough to have visited NSW State Library before we had the second lockdown in Sydney. I also researched a lot of digital archives online, and found a lot of great inspiration in not only engravings and paintings but sculptures as well. In my process video I've only shown a few images from the library however I typically collect hundreds of reference and inspiration images, online and offline. It wasn't too hard finding depictions of Diana since so many artists have been inspired by her.
There are a few symbols that she's commonly associated with and I tried to incorporate as many as I could. Ancient art typically portrays her carrying a bow and arrows, sometimes dressed in a short tunic reaching her knees for practicality, often accompanied by animals such as deer or hunting dogs and a crescent moon. My only other criteria for the print was that I wanted to have a bit more of a balance between the positive and negative space.
I did a quick sketch to get an idea of what the composition would be and then further refined the artwork digitally with Adobe Illustrator. I traced the final design reflected backwards onto my block. The carving stage took around 10 hours and then she was ready to be printed. Really enjoyed the process, and very happy with the way she came out.
