A linocut of Tulip

A lot has happened in the last year, but part of that was creating a new space for me and my arty farty stuff. A dedicated room that doesn't have a spare bed it in, that I can just go in, make a mess and then shut the door. 

My previous space, having also been a spare bedroom was taken over as a home office as a result of covid and lockdown, its still a home office today. 

I love my little space but it's at the front of the house which is North facing and because of that the light is quite poor most of the time. But I am making the most of it and really enjoying it.

Yesterday I had some rare time on my hands and got my linocutting tools out. I spent way too long thinking about what I could do and decided to carve a recent picture I took of Tulip, who been quite poorly this last week following her neutering.

I'll need to reprint it as I the best one is still a little patchy, but I'm pretty pleased with it. 

                             

A beautiful collagraph by Alfred - aged 7

My grandson came over just before Christmas and I asked him to do a drawing for me on a bit of tetra pack. He draw this beautiful Christmas tree, along with its lights and presents underneath. 

I went over it with a drypoint needle and printed it up on my Xcut Xpress and it printed up beautifully. 

My daughter was thrilled with her framed present from Alfred and I just now need to print some more copies for other members of the family who also fell in love with it.

A linocut Christmas present

My daughter asked me recently for a linocut print of flowers, specifically Chrysanthemums. I scoured the internet for inspiration and came across an amazing woodcut print by the artist Katsushika Hokusai . I loved the simplicity of the design and fiddled with it a bit to fit my 6x8" Japanese Lino block, changing it up just slightly.

Carving this block was a joy. The style of the original woodcarving and other work by this artist has really given me the motivation to look at my own flower photographs, of which there are many, to see if I can turn those into this style of print.

Woodcut by Katsushika Hokusai

Drawn on paper

Transferred to lino

Carving stage

Just the 3 copies printed

Printed it with Calico Safe Wash ink in Prussian blue and printed on the Xcut Xpress.

French teacup collagraph

I took this photograph some years ago whilst visiting my friend in France. Having been inspired by a linocut artist Yassir Malik who I follow on instagram I thought id have a go at producing a collagraph print lovely based on the teacup photo.

French teacups, original photo

Evening carving

Finished plate

Pulled print

There are bits that I realised were not carved into when they should have been and although Ive altered the plate I have yet to have a go at reprinting it. All in all though pretty happy with the outcome. I ended up with a couple of good prints and will have a go at hand colouring one of them at some point.