Koi Fish- 5 Step Reduction Linocut

Hello,

Over the past few weeks i've been working on what's called a reduction linocut, otherwise known as a suicide print. This is the process of cutting away from the linoleum block in layers and printing in separate stages to get a full color print.

First I drew my image directly onto the plate with a sharpie, so I can see my image more clearly when I cut.

I then began to cut away areas of the plate, that I wanted to remain white.

imprint of image on the ink roller.

The first color layer that I rolled onto my plate was yellow. I want to work light from dark so that my darker colors
overlap the lighter ones.

I then cut away areas of the plate that I want to keep yellow, and rolled my next color orange onto the plate.

I then inked up the plate to print red.

for this one I used a blue color gradient for the background, I created this by mixing a lighter and a darker blue side by side and then rolling it onto the plate. I didn't originally plan to use a color gradient, but thought it would be a fun experiment. I think the gradient adds a lot more depth to the piece.

The final layer that I printed was black for the outlines of the piece, and the small details of the fish.


This process is also known as a suicide print, because once you cut away layers you can't make any changes. It's also not possible to make more prints when you are done. I had to print the number of prints I wanted in my edition from the beginning when I printed the first layer. First I started with 15 prints, and ended up with an edition of 10. There were a few mishaps.

If you enjoyed following along with this process sign up for my newsletter below to get more behind the scenes peaks into my studio, along with updates about art giveaways, print releases, etc.



I'm also offering up these prints for sale at a discounted rate until April 12th!

click here to get your limited edition print of 10.

Reduction Linocut Progress

Here is some progress from a reduction linocut I am working on. Otherwise known as a suicide print. In a reduction linocut you are using the same block to print all of the colors in an image. This means you are progressively cutting away the image and printing in layers.

For example I am printing this piece in 5 colors, therefore i'm going to print this plate one color at a time going from light to dark.

First I drew the image that I wanted to print, and traced the image onto a sheet of linoleum. I wanted this piece to be more graphic, and emphasized the fluidity of the Koi fish.

Then I cut away areas on the linoleum where I wanted the white to show through. The first color I rolled onto the linoleum was yellow, because it's the lightest color.

Here is the first print. I need to print my whole edition at once since I will not be able to go back and print this color again. That's why it's called a suicide print. The next color I will print is orange, so I will need to cut away any areas of the image that I want the yellow to show through. I will progressively add more colors and print for each part I cut away.

If you enjoyed learning about this process and want to receive more updates on this print and others, join my weekly newsletter below. 

Reduction Linocut

I am beginning my first reduction linocut, also know as a "suicide" linocut. This is because you are cutting away the image in stages, after each cut you print for one color, and you do that for each color until the end when all your linoleum is cut away. This means you can't go back and make any changes to your print once you are done printing.

Week 1: First I started out with my idea for my image, then I planned out all the colors I wanted to have in my image

The next step was to transfer the image onto the linoleum with carbon paper, I outlined the image with sharpie so I could see where to cut. I then began to cut away areas of the image that I want WHITE, because my first color layer I will be printing is yellow.

Week 2- Cutting away more of the image, I still have some cutting to do in the waves and the background. Most of the image will have dark blue outlines, and the darkest color will be the last color that I print. I print from light to dark, because lighters colors will not show up on top of darker colors.

multiple plate etching process and Italian sunflowers

Inspired by a trip I took to Italy 5 years ago, I decided to take an old painting and make it into a line etching. I transformed the landscape a bit, by adding a windmill and some rolling hills. I really liked how the sunflowers were more defined in the front, and lost their detail in the background. I tried to give the impression of a vast landscape of sunflowers.

This is the first step in the three color line etching with aquatint process. This is the line etching, and the next step will be to transfer this image onto the other two plates. I will then aquatint (melt dust) onto the other two plates, and begin doing timed bitings into acid to get different values. Each plate has it's own color, so that when you print them all together the colors layer on top of each other and mix to get different colors.

Here is a color study I did on top of my line etching. This will give me a better idea of what colors and values I want to use when I aquatint the other plates.

If you want to find out more about my art and my process. Sign up for my weekly newsletter here:

   

Get China's art newsletter

   
   

   

   

Soft ground line etching

It's the end of the semester and I managed to churn out one more art print. I only had a couple of sessions left, so I went with a 4x6 soft ground line etching on a zinc plate. I finished it on time, and even had time to make a few revisions. My only complaint is that the values are a little too close together. I lightened the background to make the ducks pop out more.

Thats it for now, i'm taking a brief hiatus from printmaking this summer, I will be teaching art to kids though so that should be a nice change of pace. I plan on making some more prints this fall, and in the mean time I will keep posting other art projects I am working on.

Heres the latest print:

This is the edited version, after the burnishing.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!

Multiple Plate Etching

Multiple plate line etching, with aquatint. 4X6 inches. Studio Proof.

Last week I shared the first step in the multiple plate etching process. Now I am sharing with you the final studio proof print. Next week I will show you step by step how I completed this project, and how I made revisions. But for starters, its important to note, that this process is very similar to how you would make a single plate line etching with aquatint. The only difference is that we are using three plates, all with one color to make a final print. For this one, I used three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue. Once all printed together, the colors I used mix to create the different colors you see in this print. More info on how I made each plate, next week.