Store

Here you can explore and purchase a range of Keith’s wood engraving prints, each reflecting his deep connection to storytelling, craft and the natural world. The collections include a series originally engraved and inspired by the ghostly tales of M. R. James and published by Tartarus Press, as well as a body of work drawn from the landscapes, villages, flora and fauna of Keith’s beloved East Sussex.

Alongside these, you’ll find a vibrant and colourful collection of prints created using the linocut reduction method, focusing on the insects and birds which inhabit this beautiful corner of the British Isles.

For those interested in learning the craft of wood engraving, Keith offers the opportunity to join a series of hands-on classes. These sessions, held in his studio in East Hoathly, Whether you are a complete beginner or looking to refine your technique, you can book a place and experience the process of creating your own prints under Keith’s expert guidance.

Viva Keere Street

£45.00

In stock

Product Details

This engraving was origianally a commission for the amazing magazine- Viva Lewes in September 2013- the edition looked at the towns buildings- hence we looked at the wonderful Keere Street. Here's what they said about the engraving at the time:

This month’s cover is a life-sized wood engraving by the excellent Keith Pettit, a long-time Viva collaborator. When pressed, Keith reveals this is the biggest and most time-consuming engraving he’s yet done: it took him 21 hours in total (he counted). The process is multifold. First he made a detailed watercolour-and-pencil sketch of Keere Street, then he drew a grid on top of it. On his hardwood block he drew a smaller to-scale grid, and proceeded to translate the sketch, in reverse, onto the block, again using ink, pencil and gouache. Next the most laborious bit:generally working frm dark to light tones. “I used every one of my nine tools,” he says. “This lends the image the depth it needs to work on this scale.” Keith chose Keere Street in keeping with our theme of ‘buildings’: “I love the view down the hill, and the fact you can see the Downs in the distance,” he says. He included the upside-down skateboard to bring the image into the twenty-first century, and also ‘to tip a wink to the story that the Prince Regent rode down the hill in a coach and four’. The lettering he’s used, however, goes back to the turn of the twentieth century: it’s an American art nouveau sign-painter’s font.

The engraving is printed on hand made Zerkell paper in an edition of 100 and the original lemonwood block measures 150mm x 105mm. As with all my prints I send through the post- it comes mounted only. Each print forom the edition is individually hand printed by hand signed and numbered.

Viva Keere Street