I have always loved the simplicity of woodcuts. My father was in advertising his entire life. I remember him taking me to the printers so he could oversee some of his printing projects. The the guys at the print shop hand leaded type and etched out the halftones used for printing. This was way back in the days before desktop publishing. I finally tried my hand at a linocut. As most readers of my blog know, I am a big fisherman. Having the privilege to catch even the smallest trout in a stream is an extreme thrill. They are the jewels of the creeks. My best friend and fishing buddy Corey caught a beautiful brown trout in our usual haunts. A quick picture was taken and the jewel was set free. The colors on trout are magnificent. Anyway, I developed a quick line drawing from the reference photo. I have been wanting to do a linocut, so I decided this would be a great subject. My intention all along was to enhance the linocut with watercolor. This way the colors of the trout would shine. If I was not going to use watercolor, I would have added more black so that there is not an even amount of black and white space.
Here is the original sketch.
Here is a shot of the linocut in process.
This is the first impression from the linocut. There are a few adjustments that need to be made.
This is a quick watercolor test to experiment with values and color. This is by no means the final version. I will make some more tweaks, create another test impression. Once I am satisfied with the printing, I will print out about a dozen or so to watercolor. Stay tuned for the final version.
14 comments:
Very nice job, Jeff.
I'd like to know what kind of ink you used on the block so that the watercolor didn't make it run when you painted it. It is a very nice effect!
This is just wonderful!! Great work!
I think your experiment was a great success - I really love the result.
These are really great Jeff. I really like the original sketch.
Great job. Like the combination of the print and watercolor. Thanks for sharing.
Karen,
The ink is Speedball oil based block printing ink. Thanks everyone for visiting and posting comments!
all of it is beautiful. i love the print and i'm looking forward to the final print. could you give us some tips? I tried this recently and couldnt take a decent print.
Wow, this is so cool! Nice design and I love how you are coloring the prints.
This was very interesting,I enjoyed seeing the sequence. Thanks, Lydia
Your lines are so clean and skillful. You seem to have mastered the art of what NOT to draw which is very important in a process like this. I can't wait to see the final version - tho I think what you have already is outstanding.
This is very inspiring. Many years ago, I worked in an old fashioned printshop where I was allowed to bring in my home produced wood and lino cuts and play with their proof press. I had fun, but I don't believe I ever came up with anything of this quality. Good stuff!!
This is so interesting. Printmaking is a complete mystery to me, so I'm very glad to see this.
Love this! Your lines are so crisp and clean. I recently attempted a lino, printing it on fabric, yet was not so successful. I'm looking and trying to learn.
Great composition and subject. Very well done!
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