Friday, March 27, 2009

A day at the beach

A day at the beach
4 x 6 lino print

I was looking for inspiration and found an image I had sketched previously and thought it may make an interesting lino print. Its sort of a cross between Alfred Hitchcock and someone's Uncle Vinnie. :) I mean doesn't everyone have a rather portly relative with a wonderful profile like this?

I sketched it onto a 4 x 6 lino block and then carved out the shapes and light. I did a quick loose print early this morning using a wash of watercolour just to test it. It didn't pick up all the details of course, so I got my printing ink out tonight and did a few prints.

The background of the piece was meant to be completely bare and the water much less as well, as the purple piece is. However, adding the ink with a brayer reached all those areas that I hadn't carved out deep enough and made them stand out. I may reduce those high points where the ink hit the lino and take out some of the water ripples too. What do you think? Do the background lines add to the piece or detract from the subject?

4 comments:

Chris Beck said...

This is so fun, Jeanette!! I really like the way the water appears in the purple version -- it looks more like he's out in the water, and not anchored to anything. I think having a few cut marks showing in the sky is good, but there are too many right now.

Jeanette Jobson said...

Thanks Chris. I think you're right, I like the plain background with a reduction in the water too. Off to do some more carving! :)

Robyn Sinclair said...

Jeanette - for me, part of the charm with linocuts is seeing the marks. I know I've made the mistake on a few occasions, after proofing, of removing parts I didn't intend to print and then finding I'd lost some of the life of the piece. I think your water is particularly good in this one.

What do you mean a relation that looks like this! I thought it was me ;)

Unknown said...

I like both for different reasons. I agree with Robyn; unless you're working on a precision piece, then the cut marks (or "noise") is appealing in a linocut print, and speak of the medium in a particular way that you don't necessarily get in other techniques. You can photoshop out a few of the extra marks in the background (or the old fashioned method of white-out / paint on the print!) to see if removing some would improve the image any.

I really like the watery feel of the purple one, because of the way you printed it, with the medium you used. Very nice!