Project 6: Single colour linocut - third attempt

My second attempt at the single colour linocut taught me the importance of planning before cutting. Unfortunately, this made me feel constrained. My most successful pieces in part one of the module (monoprints), had been abstract prints which I had not planned and which had come about in a more organic way through experimentation. I was starting to think that Lino may not be my thing and longed to go back to the fast-moving experimentation of monoprint and the immediacy of drawing. On the positive side, I do enjoy the actual process of carving - it is quite meditative. The upshot of this is that I rebelled against the rules I'd given myself after my second attempt at project 6. I decided to do the opposite and just carve the Lino without planning at all. This was partly inspired by the research I'd been doing, in particular the work of Daniel Zeller.  I thoroughly enjoyed doing this as there was no pressure. 

I started with a blank piece of grey Lino.I made circular marks by spinning the tip of the cutting tool in the surface of the Lino taking out a small core. These marks were inspired by the bacteria from my sketch book. I added some undulating thin linear marks to represent the fibrinous tendrils of an expanding colony. I carved for a while and then proofed it onto newsprint:

First proof onto newsprint using water based ink

What I realised at this point, is that I'm hopeless at visualising the composition in reverse. My eye in this composition seems to come in at the lover left hand corner and swiftly be drawn out of the composition at the lower right hand side. There also seemed to be just too much black and not enough interest. I decided to try to adapt the composition somewhat to try to bring the eye back into the print in a circular motion. I drew directly onto the Lino with a  Posca (acrylic) white pen and then proceeded to carve. 

I proofed this again. I neglected to wipe the plate down before inking it up. Consequently I ended up with lots of tiny bits of Lino in my ink so the proofs were of very poor quality. 

Proof in water based ink onto the rough side of cheap Chinese paper

Proof onto thin cartridge paper using water-based ink and printed using the bottle jack press

I wondered whether adding some colour might help so I splashed and brushed some watercolour over it. It didn't help and the water based ink ran into the colour creating a muddy mess:

Although - on looking at its through the camera view finder, the image reminded me of some kind of bizarre sea creature with tendrils - a bit like a lion fish. I'm abandoning this block for now as I need to move on, but there is the possibility I may revisit it to try to develop this idea. 

What I learnt:

• I really do need to plan the composition as I can't visualise my image in reverse while I'm working
• ALWAYS clean the plate before inking up otherwise you will end up with tiny grains of Lino in your ink and on your roller which will show up with white haloes on your print. 
• The rough side of the Chinese paper is difficult to print onto - it needs a lot of ink. It gives a texture to the print but it's difficult to get a clean print. Try using the smooth side next time. (This was the first time I'd tried printing on this paper because I'd run out of Japanese paper and I happen to have a large roll of the Chinese paper in my studio and limited funds at the moment)