Sunday, January 23, 2011

When the cleanup takes longer than the printing...

I did, indeed, manage to print all 18 linocut icons on Saturday. The printing itself didn't take too long, but cleaning 18 little blocks sure did! Ooph. It took the wind out of my sails in a big way, and I spent the rest of the day in a rocking chair with my nose in a book. Time to abandon the Wonder Woman persona.


I'm reasonably happy with most of the images, although there are one or two that I'm less pleased with now that they're printed. I'm going to scan everything tomorrow and send it off to the client and see what she has to say, so watch for at least a few critters to show their little faces here as they are approved. (Or not.)

You might be able to see from this deliberately vague photo that the images seem to have odd smudges top and bottom. This was also deliberate... I left small "railings" of uncarved lino along the edges of each block to support the brayer when inking and hopefully avoid too much stray ink where I didn't want it. Seemed to work. Since these are not prints to edition but illustrations to scan and have in a digital format, the extraneous blobs won't ultimately be seen. Photoshop, baby.

Of course there was that OTHER block in the jig on Friday, too.


I didn't intend to do yet another snow shadows piece, but I think I'm being subconsciously influenced by our complete lack of the white stuff in Salida this year. Snow all around us, but here in town? I don't think we've had an inch TOTAL all season. Not kidding. (Come to think of it, though... I did snow pieces this time last year, too.)

The big 16 x 20 piece is still mentally incubating, but I wanted something else to work on in the meantime. This new lino-to-be is a reworking of an image I did in black and white a few years ago. Block size is 9 x 12.

Funny. I just realized that Stuart Brocklehurst over at Wildlife with Pen and Brush started a snow piece this weekend, too. I'm intrigued by what he has going already, pop over and check it out.

8 comments:

  1. Hi Sherrie, thanks for the plug.

    Actually I'm treading on your toes with this print. It's more your sort of subject matter than mine. Wait and see.

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  2. Your icons look cool all hanging on the drying line! It is kind of odd doing linocuts when you goal is to really just do one print instead of an edition, huh? I experience that all the time with mine.
    The beginning of your next snow shadows print looks interesting!

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  3. Sherrie (and Stuart),

    It must be catching!
    Two Welsh snow scenes about to get their first colour here tomorrow.

    Lots to cut away before starting.

    AnnL

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  4. Sherrie, I'm just curious about what kind of ink you use and if your paper is damp. I love your blog!
    Leigh

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  5. Hi Leigh... I use Daniel Smith oil-based inks and dry paper. I've never tried to use damp paper when hand rubbing... although I've been thinking about giving it a try.

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  6. Thanks Sherrie. Seems that there are just so many variables in printmaking (another way of saying "ways for me to mess it up"). I'm always amazed that you print all this without using a press. Bet you have strong arms! Loved the video too.
    Leigh

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  7. Just found you in my search for inspiration as I carve some crow linocuts for part of a broadside I'm printing here in Boulder.. noticed Salida in your blog post! We just got a listing of land to look at in the area.. beautiful. :) ---Lovely work!

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  8. Hi, SNW.. sorry for the confusion about the post... if a comment is made on a post more than a month old, Blogger waits for me to approve it before it posts. Welcome to Brush and Baren !

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Linocut in Progress: The Third Act

Time to wrap up this linocut ! And we are wrapping at warp speed (see what I did there?)... because there are deadlines. Exhibition deadline...