In the lino cut workshop with Lizzie Hobbs, I decided to make a brickwork pattern that could be used as part of – or to represent – the monastery on Eynhallow. I tried out a few ways of drawing it, experimenting with printing on both the positive and the negative parts of the lino cut, as well as different colours:

For me, the most effective is the red one, in terms of linework. Making the texture on the bricks and the mortar between both negative makes the most visual sense, I think. The thin lines for the texture on the bricks gives it an old, weather-worn feel, which feels right for an ancient crumbling monastery.

I used a different shape of tool for the door, to make it look like wood. It looks messier than I hoped so I think that will need to be refined.

I’m not yet sure how this design will fit into my film, but I know that the monastery – or a reference to it – is going to be one of the last things on screen. At the end of the audio track, there’s a sound of a door lock and then a door slamming closed. At the moment I’m imagining the the people on this journey are travelling to this ancient monastery. The real thing doesn’t have a door, but my one does, so it’s like they’ve travelled back in time as well as across the land and sea.