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.

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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.