From sketch to linocut print
Do you recognize the sketchbook page from a while ago? This quick watercolor image is now transformed into another medium: linocut.
At the time of sketching I wasn’t sure what it would become, but that doesn’t really matter. Although watercolor isn’t the easiest to translate into printmaking, it leaves you with enough freedom to make decisions while working on the lino. If I would design the sketch with markers for example, I would feel more obligated to keep the same balance between light and dark, and the same feeling of the lines – something that is rather impossible when starting from the transparent layers of watercolor.
First I made a copy of the sketchbook and drew the most important lines on the linoleum with the use of carbon paper. With a pencil I traced a few areas that I absolutely wanted to leave dark and then started to cut away the highlights.
Most of them are printed on crisp white paper because I want to scan them and maybe work on it digitally. I also made prints with different densities of ink. Although I wanted some imperfect prints I printed a few with a well-inked surface too.
There are two reasons why I like the imperfect prints: first of all it shows the texture of the surface and secondly the brightness of the blue that I think is just bewitching 🙂
