New Linocut – Party Pigeon

July 24, 2017

My latest linocut, Party Pigeon, is now available from my shop. It is a three block print, with a colour blend on the background. I haven’t editioned this yet, the available print is an Artist Proof. I will be editioning it soon! Below are a few photos of the process of making the linocut. I hope this is of interest to those of you making cuts at home.

I started by drawing the outline for the key block in my sketchbook, then transferred this to a block of linoleum using carbon paper. I carved and printed this and then used tracing paper to offset print the outline onto a second and third block to use as a guide to cut those.

The colour blend is the subtlest I have attempted so far. The grey is mixed up of cyan, magenta and yellow ink and I added a touch of magenta and green to try to give it that iridescent look. This previous blogpost explains how to print a colour blend.

If you are interested in learning more about how I make my prints, or you’d like to learn how to linocut or improve your skills, I run regular workshops at Hello Print Studio in Margate as well as around the UK and in Italy at Opificio della Rosa. I have also written a book called Linocut for Artists and Designers, which is available from my Bigcartel shop.