Dragonflies in black and white

I was away for about 5 days last week so there wasn’t much work done in the studio. While I was gone, I had the idea to do a dragonfly linocut.  I spent yesterday afternoon laying it out and then transferring it to the block.  I let it sit a few hours to decide what I wanted to do in the background and then did the basic cut out.  I am in the midst of deciding on the details, especially in the wings.

I think one of the reasons the linocuts are appealing to me now is the positive/negative space that it deals with.  Same as with the pen and ink, I have to balance to two.  I can’t do it in fine lines like I do with the ink, so I have to do it with texture.  Even if I add a bit of watercolor I still have to like the play of the ink and paper.

On the surprising side, the watercolor eraser I bought from Cheap Joe’s worked on the daisy painting.  I was able to lift enough of the yellow “mistake” to put it up for sale.  I am sure it took a little bit of the paper surface off, but I was very careful and it looks fine.

I will move back to the architecturals after I finish this linocut.  I have picked out a Nashville photo and will work on a little smaller scale for the next few.

Rocking horse print

Red rocking horse

As I suggested in my last post, I made a lino print from another found object from my house. I have a little decorative rocking horse that has spent its entire life adding a bit of color to a shelf in my guest bath. I found him several years ago at one of the box decorator stores and bought him because I liked the size and the primitive aspect.

After I cut the plate and printed it, I added some red watercolor.  I had always meant to color in the saddle and bridle, but after I looked at it, it seemed necessary to add color to the rockers.  Since I made this print, I have removed some of the background around the rockers to help delineate them more. They seemed a little lost unless I painted them.  I also made one up in yellow accents instead of red.  I rather like the effects of the added watercolors on all of the cuts I’ve done so far.  Maybe when I have a better feel for the positive/negative spaces the reverse cutting makes I’ll be more satisfied with the monotones.

I have one more block from the set I bought, but I haven’t decided what to cut yet.  I think I like the bird the best so far, but we’ll see.  My next piece on the board is actually an architectural of a stone grinding mill with a waterwheel.I have been thinking of doing it for a while and the time seems right.