Project 6: Single Colour linocut - second attempt

My first attempt was OK as far as it went, but the subject matter of onions wasn't particularly interesting. I decided to develop some of my sketchbook experiments from my small scale sketchbook about medicine and the body. (actually my first subject was sunspots, but after doodling on these for a while I realised the reminded me of fungal or bacterial cultures on Petri dishes and it went on from there.)

Sketchbook:sunspots pencil and ink

Sketchbook: Sunspot - white acrylic ink on black paper

I also had some very small squares of soft-cut Lino for experimenting with, so I developed some of my sketches into small linocuts, just as an exercise to get used to handling the tools and to experiment with using different papers. 

Sunspots: Small Lino prints on various papers

Sketchbook: Staphylococci - pencil sketch based
on an electron micrograph(E.M)

Sketchbook: abstract doodles based on E.M of
chordae tendinae of the heart

Sketchbook: Pencil and pen sketches of papillary
muscles and chordae tendinae (heart strings)

Small linocut inspired by bacterial colonies
and pencil sketch of chordae tendinae(C.T.)

Linocut of bacteria and sketch inspired my E.M.
of C.T. in graphite and India ink

Linocut of bacteria and pen sketch inspired my E.M.
of C.T.

Pen and India ink sketches inspired by C.T.

Sketches of heart and skeletal anatomy

I decided to develop one of the sketches inspired by the chordae tendinae of the heart. I liked the architectural feel of the chordae and papillary muscles. They reminded me of pillars of rock inside a craggy cave. I thought there would be plenty of opportunity to use different marks to reconstruct the sketch on the lino. 

First I scaled the drawing up to A4 size and then traced it onto my Lino, thus reversing the image. I used soft cut line for this experiment. I proofed the Lino on more than one occasion using water-based ink onto newsprint to assess how much more cutting I would need to do. 

Proof of the linocut in water based ink on
newsprint to show work in progress. 

I printed the block onto cartridge paper and and onto smooth watercolour paper using black oil-based ink (Hawthorn stay-open ink). 

At first I was relatively satisfied with the outcome. I had made marks using a rage of tools including Lino cutting tools, needles and scalpels. However, the prints were hanging on my drying rack for quite sometime, which meant that I kept seeing the in passing. From across the room, I realised that there wasn't a huge amount of tonal variation and, therefore, the print didn't have a great deal of visual impact. 

I decided to try to remedy this with more carving in order to create more areas of white. I thought that this would have the effect of bringing the two chord at the front forward, thereby creating a feeling of more depth:

This tactic worked to a certain extent. I do think it created some extra depth. However, it was executed rather hurriedly without a great deal of consideration of the marks I was making. This meant that some of the detail and variation in the mark making from the previous iteration was lost. It would have been better to proof at stages during this second carving and perhaps make one of the two chordae lighter than the other.
I'm still not satisfied with this print. In retrospect, I think that the composition wasn't great in the first place. The two 'pillars' at the front are probably too symmetrically distributed and your eye gets stuck in the dark centre of the piece. 

Below is an image of the Lino:

I found the soft-cut Lino easy to make marks in. However, there were a couple of annoying problems with it. Firstly, sometimes the pieces don't come away cleanly and if you aren't careful you get small pieces of the Lino dangling but still attached. Secondly, on printing this Lino using the bottle jack press, after several prints, the Lino started to distort. The thinner end where I'd carved more of it away seemed to stretch so the the printed image was no longer rectangular. Maybe this type of Lino is more suited to hand pulled prints. It doesn't seem to be able to withstand the pressure applied by the car back. 

What I learnt:

• A large variety of different marks can be made even using a limited range of tools. 
• It is a good idea to proof the Lino more frequently than I did on this occasion as it isn't possible to go back once you've carved it away. 
• Soft-cut Lino isn't very robust and although it is soft, I actually find it more difficult to carve than the grey lino.
• I now recognise just how important careful planning of the composition is. It saves time in the long run. I must make sure that I am happy with the composition BEFORE I start carving in future.