I love everything about this print. The yellows are rich and the black is slightly distressed and velvety. I kept some of the ‘chatter’ visable to evoke movement and sound. The blacks aren’t solid and its perfect. If I wanted solid blacks then I would have done a screenprint. I hate it when ‘purists’ try to tell you what a print has to look like! Look, I know how to make a solid, dont always have too. The problem with color block relief printing is that sometimes it ends up looking like a screenprint rather than a multiple processed color linocut. Process is important to me. I want the viewer to see the journey I have taken. The yellow was run through the etching press. A solid yellow made sense. The black was hand printed with a barren. I stopped the rubbing process right before a solid. The texture adds so much to the print, like the soft blended graphite marks.

I used Akua inks. Waterbased and Eco-Friendly. Carbon Black and DiarylideYellow. The paper is Rives Lightweight in Cream.

crappy iphoto shots of some work shown at critique today. We’ll be having a show soon too, with some selected works.

prints – drying on the racks at odu

first detective story published, 1841, reductive linocut, 15x20, 2011