Linocut Prints

Linowhat? When I first read about this art style, I wasn’t sure how to say it either. “Lino” in my head sounds like “Line-Oh”, and as for the cut part, well that’s easy right? Not exactly. Linocut block printing is a style of art where the artist starts with a block, which can be linoleum, rubber or wood. At the moment my favorite medium is the pink stuff.. which is a type of rubber block. To create my art I typically draw my images in a sketchbook first, and then transfer them onto the block before carving. Using special tools I carefully carve out my images so that the spaces left will hold the ink (in most of my art it’s black ink). Any of the spaces that are carved away will be left clear and the paper will show. The carving process can take anywhere from a few hours, to a few days or more.

Now that I think of it Lino might be “lin-oh” like linoleum, but you know Tomato, To-mah-toe, it doesn’t really matter as long as your arts awesome! After I have my design all ready to go, I use a tool called a brayer to layer ink on the block. Then by hand pull prints on a variety of papers and even cloth. Lotka paper is one of my favorites right now. It’s a very natural creamy colored hand made paper from a Lotka bush which grow naturally in the Himalayan Mountains of Nepal. Because this paper is hand made from a bush instead of trees, it’s definitely an Earth friendly choice for artists. Lotka bushes can return to their full height within 5-7 years and by choosing this I hope to save a few of my tree friends. The paper it self is beautiful with natural variations which add to the art in my opinion. Check out some of my new offerings and look for me in local art events around New England.