Seaby’s woodcut designs use subdued colours and are simple, with a loose, painterly feel. His bold but spare compositions allow for large areas of blended colour where the brushing of the pigment onto the block is clearly visible.
In the gallery below we look at examples showing how he worked and what he drew inspiration from. Click on the images to view them at a larger scale.
Colour woodcut of a windblown hawthorn tree on the clifftop at Barton-on-Sea, the Needles just visible beyond. LMGLM:2019.48.32 
Two prints from the same woodcut of the Isle of Wight from Becton Bunny, with slightly different colour schemes. LMGLM:2019.48.47 and 48 
Colour woodcut of two dormice among the leaves of a hawthorn branch (left) and the watercolour study for that woodcut (right). LMGLM:2019.48.64 and 65 
Colour woodcut of a hare in a meadow (left) and the watercolour study for that woodcut (right). LMGLM:2019.48.66 and 67 
Colour woodcut of a hare in the snow. Seaby made several versions of this subject in both landscape and portrait format. LMGLM:2019.48.74 
Colour woodcut of a trout from about 1920. This print has a distinctly Japanese feel with its simple composition and delicate colouring. LMGLM:2019.48.68 
Colour woodcut (left) and watercolour study (right) of a goat and kids. The woodcut has the warmth and immediacy of a children’s book illustration. LMGLM:2019.48.82 & 83 
Colour woodcut of young lapwings (or peewits) LMGLM:2019.48.78 
Two prints of lapwings (or peewits) from the same woodblock, with slightly different colour schemes. LMGLM:2019.48.79 & 80 
Colour woodcut of a cuckoo. For most of us the cuckoo is better known by its spring-announcing call than its appearance. Seaby made at least two woodcuts of this subject, both shown perched on a branch in woodland, perhaps spying out a luckless bird’s nest in which to deposit its eggs. LMGLM:2019.48.85 
Colour woodcut of a kingfisher, a favourite subject for Seaby and one which appears in a number of his prints. LMGLM:2019.48.72 
Colour woodcut of a snipe, from about 1910. Seaby portrays the snipe in a distinctively Japanese style with expressive brushing of the pigment on the block, minimal background detail and hints of cotton grass and other plants. LMGLM:2019.48.81 
Colour woodcut of a crouching snipe. LMGLM:2019.48.73 
Colour woodcut of a heron, c1908 LMGLM:2019.48.70 
Colour woodcut of mute swans in flight, 1920s. LMGLM:2019.48.69 
Colour woodcut of a nightingale surrounded by oak leaves, singing in the moonlight, perhaps one of Seaby’s most beautifully evocative prints. LMGLM:2019.48.84 
Colour woodcut of a jackdaw with a stolen ring LMGLM:2019.48.75 
Colour woodcut of goldfinches. LMGLM:2019.48.76 
Colour woodcut of shelducks. Seaby liked compositions where the birds appear to be flying into the frame of the print. Here he contrasts the bright markings of the shelduck with a misty coastal landscape. LMGLM:2019.48.77 
Colour woodcut of a kestrel. Seaby captures the kestrel in its distinctive ‘hovering’ pose as it studies the ground below for prey. LMGLM:2019.48.71
