Today I have been practicing carving the background away in a linocut picture, with a quick sketch of a lighthouse. I did the sketch ages ago but have been trying to build up the courage to start it.
I identified the areas I wanted to keep such as the seagulls and the light house beam, but I still am finding it unnatural not to carve these out, I have to remember to carve around them instead to retain them, it seems unnatural to me which is why I have been sticking with prints with a full colour background up until now.
I am struggling with the tool I am using digging too deep in some sections as you can see in the top left. I am working on technique before I start blaming the tools, but I am looking to buy a Pfeil tool to see if these work better for me, they are not cheap but if I find one good tool that I use for my main carving, I can use my basic set until I can build up a small collection when I understand what tools work best for me.
In my first attempt I had far too much ink on the board, I had carved away so much lino I really only needed the smallest roller.
I use a wooden spoon for burnishing but this does leave me open to potentially putting too much pressure on the paper in the areas that are supposed to be negative background, I was wondering if a press might be better for this kind of print as you would get a more equal pressure across the image, but until I can beg borrow or steal a press I suppose I’ll just have to keep practicing this method.
If your wondering why all my test prints are on orange paper, it’s simply that I have a whole load of it to use up, but I do find it quite useful for checking the contrast and identifying areas to edit before the final print on white paper.
