Relief Print - African Birds

18cm x 15cm relief print

This print was inspired by a beautiful photograph of birds in Africa taken by a wonderful Italian photographer, Carlo Landucci who lives right here in Castiglion Fiorentino and does inspiring aid work for children in Africa.

Cyclamen Relief Print

Cyclamen Relief Print 15 x 17 cm

I'm going to stop being a snob about art materials. I recently bought some Japanese Relief Printing Vinyl from Intaglio Printmaker in London but was really expecting it not to be as good as traditional lino. I thought it would probably look like a rubber stamp. Guess what? It cut like butter. I was able to make much finer and sharper marks than I can in lino. My tools kept their edge. It took the oil-based etching ink like a dream. Finally, I was able to run it through the etching press without using tracks. It prints the ink as smooth as velvet. I guess you can tell I'm sold. Now I need a purist to tell me if I can still call this a lino print.

Japanese relief printing vinyl - double sided.

The vinyl block has a black core which makes it very easy to see the progress of the cutting.

Printed on Magnani paper

Print with model

We've had three pots of cyclamen miraculously blooming on our kitchen windowsill right through winter. The windowsill never gets any sun. Nothing else wants to live there. As Spring arrived so did a pigeon that proceeded to decapitate every single bloom on the red cyclamen. We removed it. The pigeon started on the pink flowers. He/she seemed just to be dropping the blooms on the ground two storeys below. Then I started finding them under the building opposite where the pigeons roost in the roof. I still don't know if the flowers were being used in a courting ritual, for nest decoration, food or whether it is a wilful act of vandalism. Does anyone know?

We gave in finally and moved the surviving plants to the garden terrace where I sketched them for the relief print.

Iris Woodcut Print with Watercolour

Irises woodcut print hand coloured with watercolour

If you think you have just had a touch of deja vou it's because I was so unhappy with the photographs of my prints in the previous post I've deleted the post and started again, this time scanning my images.

Above is a woodcut print I have hand coloured with watercolour. Below is the one I posted yesterday, hand coloured with gouache.

Woodcut print with gouache

I'm happy with both for different reasons. I really like the flat colour field one can achieve with gouache, much as it would be if the colours were printed rather than painted. This is the style of printmaker Margaret Preston whom I greatly admire.

Now I'd like to know what you think.

Irises Woodcut Print

Irises woodcut print 15 x 24cms

Since our irises aren't out yet, I used a couple of my photos from last spring and a watercolour sketch as references to draw these irises. Next I plan to hand colour one of the prints.

Linocut & Printing Setup

Linocut and Woodcut work area

One of the best things about linocut printmaking is that if you don't have a studio it is very easy to set up in small area and quickly packed away if the small area with the best light happens to be your bedroom. This little desk under my bedroom window has great light and a gorgeous view of the garden. It's my winter retreat when my studio in the centre of the house is too cold. Katherine Tyrrell at Making a Mark suggested I might like to share my tools and setup with anyone who is interested in this very satisifying form of printmaking.

The setup is very simple - laptop for listening to BBC Radio 4 while I work, an old mouse mat to sit my lino or (in this case) plywood plate on. To the right are the tools.

While there are two linocutting tools sets on the desk, I seldom use more than the four tools in the centre of the picture. The two on the left are from Zecchi, in Florence and needed sharpening before use. The two of the right are Swiss Made Pfeil tools which came beautifully sharpened. I have two small V cutters, one small U and one that is almost flat. Most of the time I use the small V and the almost flat tool from Pfeil. I use the same tools for lino and plywood. To the left of the tools is a small piece of 2000 sandpaper that I drag the cutting edges against to keep them sharp while I'm working. I have a small oil stone but also use a Japanese wetstone we have for sharpening our kitchen knives. I hope with experience to become better at sharpening my tools.

When I'm ready to print I can set up at the same tiny desk.

All you need are some tubes of printing ink (I prefer oil based), a small piece of glass - I'm using an old mirror to roll out the ink, a rubber roller and a barren or wooden spoon to rub the paper against the inked plate.

The alternative printing method is a press.

My favourite piece of equipment is at the studio:

Old book binding press used for relief printing.

That's it really. Oil based inks can be cleaned up with cooking oil and vinegar . I always clean my plates with turpentine, and that's best done outside. I don't know if the cooking oil is good for cleaning these. Maybe someone would like to advise.

Rice paper is very nice for hand-pulled prints otherwise use damp paper, specially manufactured for printmaking (watercolour paper has too much size). Just soak it in a tray of water for about ten minutes and then roll it out between sheets of blotting paper before printing.

For the bits of ink that always end up on my hands and nose I use baby oil or babywipes.

So what are you waiting for?

Pumpkin Linoprint.

Linocut 13 x 20cm printed on cream paper.

This pumpkin print is a joint effort: HWEM grew it, I drew it. He cut it up and cooked it, I immortalised it in lino. What a lot of fuss about a pumpkin, you're probably saying. Actually this is a one off. I crave roasted Kent Pumpkin. They don't exist in Italy, so with some seeds from Australia we decided to grow our own. We ended up with two beautiful vines covered in flowers - male flowers. Unfortunately only female flowers produce pumpkins. Finally we got a female flower. The vines produced just one pumpkin. We saved it for Christmas dinner.

I think I've progressed with my mark making in this linocut. Previously I've mainly been carving out silhouettes now I'm trying for a greater variety of texture. This is printed with my favourite red brown ink, Charbonnel Sanguine.

NOTE: Much to my delight Katherine Tyrrell has featured this linocut on her Making a Mark blog round-up Who's Made a Mark this Week?

Paper Doll & Chine Collé

Monotype with rice paper chine collé

Still playing with the paper doll idea I used a chinese brush and oil based inks to paint the image on a plexiglass plate. I then added chine collé newspaper dolls and tinted rice paper and ran it through the press. Of the paper doll series, this is my favourite.

I then added some scraps of the tinted rice paper to the inked lino block below.

Endless possibilities with chine collé aren't there? Now I'm back to cutting lino again.

Linoprints with Watercolour

Linoprint with Watercolour

I've been experimenting with adding colour to my linocut prints. I've gone for a Japanese woodcut-like approach on the rooftop cat above. Quite pleased with that one.

Have you noticed how many cats seem to be finding their way into my art? I do hope our dogs haven't noticed, Dermott, particularly!.

I much prefer the quince without the colour (which you can see in my previous post). I will experiment with gouache for a stronger colour effect but first I would like to find a vegetarian alternative to Ox Gall which hopefully gives gouache a smoother finish. Any suggestions you Gouache Experts?

There is a marvellous interview with Sherrie York on Printsy: Printmakers on Etsy today. Sherrie's linocut prints and her generous and informative blog Brush and Barren have inspired me in my latest adventure. When you see the evolution of her work you will understand why.

Cat on a Tuscan Roof

Linocut 10.5 x 11cm

I bought myself a couple of better quality lino-cutting tools recently. My printmaking teacher, Rick kindly spent ages professionally sharpening them for me, so I decided to put the dreaded oil painting aside and make another linocut.

I did a sketch of this image from my own photograph way back, thinking it would make a fine linocut. I initially made a mess of the tiny detail of the cat's ears and had to find a way to patch the lino and re-cut it. The repair instructions I found on the internet suggested using an abrasive on a piece of lino, collecting the resulting dust and mixing it with fish glue. You then use this to fill the area you want to recut. After it is dry, sand it smooth and you should be set to try again. I couldn't face cooking up a pot of fish glue for such a small hole so I mixed the dust with some wood glue. I would do it properly next time.

This is a different lino to the one I have been using and after making this first print I realised I need to sandpaper the surface before I make any more prints because it doesn't hold the ink very well. I'm going to play around with a couple of these prints adding watercolour and other media. Meantime I have an oil painting class this afternoon. Groan...

Suicide Printing!

Linocut reduction relief print 11.5cm x 11.5cm

Inspired by Sherrie Y of Brush and Baren I've produced my first (very) limited edition, three colour reduction linoprint. I've heard this method referred to as 'Suicide Printing' and I certainly understand why.

Sherrie very generously posted instructions for making a paper registration jig on her blog. Armed with Sherrie's instruction HWEM set off to Obi for some bits and pieces in order to prove that he isn't just a great cook. The bits and pieces included a new saw, a new screwdriver, a mini plane and many other essential tools and pieces of timber! But he did it!

Print station with registration jig

Since I'm using oil based printing inks, I've set everything up on a little desk under a window. Surprising this really doesn't have to be a messy job.

Once I'd cut my lino block I soaked some sheets of printmaking paper in water for 10 minutes. I inked the block with the first colour and then rolled out the first piece of paper between sheets of blotting paper.

You can use a rolling pin to press the surplus water out of the paper but I think a good bottle of wine is essential because a lot can go wrong in suicide printing.

Our salad spoon has found a new role in life. A piece of tracing paper on top of the damp paper stops the baren (right) or spoon catching and moving the paper.

First colour - Sanguine, I didn't like it as much as the yellow so I only made two prints.

While waiting for the ink to dry I started cutting away all the bits of the plate where I wanted the print to remain yellow - or yellow plus the second colour. Only 12 prints, I wasn't very confident about carving this complicated (for me) design and didn't want to waste too much paper.

Second colour stage and the registration is good so far (thanks Sherrie!).

Next I cut out the iris of the eyes and all the sunrise type background ready for the final colour - black. The finished print is what you see at the top of this post.

This worked out rather better than I anticipated and of course I was sorry I hadn't made more, particularly since the registration was out in two of the finals and I smudged another. That's why it's 'suicide printing' - there's no going back to print more of the earlier colours.

I realised quite late in the carving process that I could make a quick proof of my progress by placing a piece of typing paper over the lino and rubbing it with a graphite stick. I guess I'm not the first to think of that.

Finally I was left with my oriental looking cat so I experimented with a chine colle of rice paper and tissue and called it Striped Cat.

Editor's Note: Just remembered where I picked up the term 'suicide printing'. It was from the blog of the British artist, Ian Phillips. He has a wonderful description of the process on his blog here. Treat yourself and see some wonderful work.