Linocut experimenting

I am aware how my range of art skills is limited. I draw with fineliners in pen and ink style or I use two sorts of marker pens – ProMarker and Posca markers for my colour pieces. A few years ago I had a go at linocut printing with swanage Art workshop and last year decided to have another go as it utilised my drawing skills and was another ink based media.

My current project is to try and make some linocut prints of different Purbeck drystone wall designs. At the start of the month I drew 7 samples of different wall patterns including 6 from Purbeck and one from Cornwall.

Last week I traced one of these and transferred the reverse of the design onto some easy cut Lino. I then started to cut around the outside of the design.

Today’s challenge as to see if I could cut out the design / drawing. I had become conscious last week that once again I had skipped the stage of trying simpler designs to develop my technique. I fully expected today to end in a failure. The softer material cuts with less effort than traditional hessian battleship grey hessian, however it is harder to finish at a set point because of that flexibility of the material.

Holes where I cut too deeply

As the picture from last week shows I had cut around the design to start the process of addressing the wall drawing itself.

Following the top of the wall

I started to follow the top and bottom of the wall stones to provide a clear boundary to the wall. I changed to a narrower cutter to hollow out the stones leaving borders for the edges of the stones.

Cuts to the left and design to the right
The wall starts to appear.
The wall cut

I then inked up a tray wand rolled the ink before applying the ink with the roller to the Lino. I did two test prints identifying future steps.

On the first attempt the left end was not evenly inked. Also I was printing onto a dry surface.

I used a baren to press the paper while it was placed on the inked linocut.

A better second print

It is clear how the area around the Lino must be cut away so as not to become inked up. Tomorrow I will work to reduce the borders between the stone negative spaces. For such a complex design for a beginner I am pleased that the wall design shows. A much better result than I should have hoped for.

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