Continuing with the theme of last week’s post, I’ve been doing a lot of small sketches on black with opaque pens. A couple of these have color added. I’ve been having a lot of fun doing these so haven’t gotten around to enlarging and expanding on them yet. I have, however, done two linocuts and one woodblock carving for a local print show.
Although I’ve done a couple dozen linocuts, this is only my second woodcut carved on a poplar board measuring about 13 x 11” and entitled the Big Bang. In characteristic fashion, I finished carving the morning of the show’s deadline and framed it before the ink had dried.
One thing I’ve learned about woodcuts is that it’s extremely important to learn how to sharpen your gouges, not as straightforward as you might expect. I used a dremel with engraving bits to cut most of the lines and I’ll be working on the block some more in the future. I see some room for improvement, but I’m generally content. I don’t like the prints to be too clean, part of the charm of woodcuts is letting the wood-grain and the chiseling process show.
Brilliant