Lino Printing Workshop

A couple of months ago, I had a go at lino printing for the first time - apart from school attempts on rock hard, scratchy lino that left your fingers bleeding!

I attended a workshop run by printmaker Janice Earley. Janice is a great teacher, she takes you right through each step, demonstrating and encouraging you along the way. It was a very different working process for me so I had to feel the fear and do it anyway. She was very patient as I fiddled around with my design before committing it to the lino - I realise now you can make changes along the way.

I chose to do a 2 colour design so the first step is to cut away anything you want left white. I printed the first colour in a pale blue.

 

I made the mistake of drawing my design in red biro which printed out as well - you can just make it out. Hey, I'm learning.

More cutting, leaving only the areas that you want printed in the darker colour. I tried a dark grey first but at Janice's suggestion switched to a dark blue which gave the finished print a much warmer look.

I really enjoyed it and would thoroughly recommend one of Janice's courses. I learnt loads and only wish I had more time to do more printing.

collage papers 2

Have been creating some more collage papers today.

The way I do it is to paint onto a styro-foam sheet with a mixture of watercolor and acrylic paint, then press the paper on top and rub gently all over the paper to transfer the paint. This is done several times to build up layers of texture. This stuff is really addictive!

For the print below, I built up several layers of paint first, then on the last print I drew into the paint with a cotton bud before transferring the image to my paper. It reminds me of fossils.