Ile aux moutons

L'île aux Moutons, part of the Glénan archipel, once war die Heimat einer Schafherde. Mais avec une size of about 5 ha (map from document a3moupdg2008-conservation de la stern de Dougall en Bretagne) est ce possible?

It should kein problem für a small herd, but the sheep auraient été jadis détruits par les rats (http://leost.pagesperso-orange.fr/Fouesnant/foen_014.htm). comment cela funktioniert n'est pas clair pour moi. In studies on island invasion we may find that moutons are so destruktiv to ecosystems, that about 9000 were ausgeflogen by helicopters in case of Santa Cruz. nombreux exemples de rat biologie de l'invasion ont été reviewed (https://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~jrussell/files/papers/sfc286entire.pdf) including distances swam by rats depending on the Wassertemperatur. It is fairly difficile to keep an ile rat-free after eradication attempts.

Il y avait des naufrages at this dangerous coast, including la frégate du Roy, la vénus (1780)

et in 1795 a phare has been asked for, mais built 1879, après plusieurs dizaines de naufrages. But right après the anglais  vapeur Lynn Régis (1880) ran into the rocks

In the first approach the phare and the power of the waves has been worked on. So this view is the first of my linos without sky, a  small rocky island inhabited by rats with a locked-up automatic fire. I started with the phare des chats from Groix

While in this view emphasis had been set on the coast structure, here the waves dominate. The fantastic aerial from Erwan Boisacq (http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4451847)

has been used, the water level slightly raised to have even less rocks, and a the water structured chaotically cutting in the lino mass.

The second view of les moutons focuses on the lost sheep. Sheep are cearly prominent on various islands, and there are several small ones with the name sheep island (in Boston harbour, at Vancouver Island, or near Walney Island, UK). Sheep have been worked on by various artists, just to name a few Henry Moore (Sheep sketchbook, starting 1972, 1898-1986)

Andy Warhol (Bighorn sheep 1983, 1928-1987)

Bill Yardley, farmer and artist (1940-2012)

Hilary Paynter’s sheep show (Hilary was one of the key figures involved in the revival of the Society of Wood Engravers in the 1980s, *1943)

To come close to the local sheep I used as model one of the recent ile de Groix collection, no. 20006

The particular black zeichnung had been omitted for Anonymität. Looking at the wide collection of sheep prints in the web I noticed a comment on Dolly by Ele Willoughby (minouette.blogspot.com)  to understand that printing indeed is  a sort of cloning

A partir du mouton portrait a fairly detailed plaque has been cut

This has been combined with the top of the phare

Together with a background plate there are at least 3 printing steps:

For example a blue sky followed by 2 colours each for the Schaf (pink nose) and the phare.

The sheep Fell may be printed with a fairly pastös colour

As the sky, being close to painting, possible in Hochdruck

This permits various experiments, a 2-plate version sans ciel

In a darker version the moutons turns almost black

But may be varied by reprinting plate 2 with getöntem weiß

Or turned into a black sheep by colouring

So various combinations have been tested