"Printmaking is fun because it takes a perfectly simple process
like drawing and makes it as complicated
and error prone as possible."
George Bodmer
THE PROCESS
LINOCUT is a relief printmaking technique in which linoleum is carved using chisels, gouges and knives to cut away the negative areas.
Multi-color linocuts employ the "reductive" process using one block for all colors. The image emerges after a series of carvings and printings. The photos at the left illustrate the process for a 3-color reductive linocut titled "Go With the Flow"
After rolling eco-friendly inks onto the relief surface, and placing archival paper on top, I burnish by hand, with a barren or the back bowl of a wooden spoon. After sufficient hand-pressing, I pull the print, re-ink and pull another.
Linocuts are numbered and signed in pencil, editions most often numbering less than ten. Linocut prints have, at minimum, a 1" border. Each is unique.
Printmaking, for me, is a democratic type of art: original art available for all at an affordable price.
After drawing on the block, I carve what will remain white (the color of the paper). I ink the substrate in ochre and hand-print, then re-ink and pull another...I usually leave a margin of 1.5" around the image.
Using the same block, I carve away what will remain ochre, ink in blue and print over the first layer...
The third carving process removes what will remain blue; the block is inked in black and hand-printed over the first two layers. "Go With the Flow" is a 9" x 12" 3-color reductive linocut; edition: 8