Michael: London linocut, stage 3

The third layer on the London linocut makes more of the image appear.

I also fixed an error that appeared in the previous stage: the "Gherkin" was slightly tipping over to the right. Strangely I noticed it only when I put the photo on this blog. (I thought at first the photo was crooked, but it wasn't.)

Unfortunately, now I've put up this photo, I've noticed another error... I'll let you try to find it, while I work out how to fix it.

Michael: When it goes wrong

I tried to add another layer to the Venice print. It's a transparent blue, to create some more shadows on the buildings and the water. But the extender, that's the stuff you add to the ink to make it transparent, isn't sticky like ordinary ink.

Instead, it's slippery, and the linoblock moves when it goes through the press. A lot of the prints ended up like this:



A few printed correctly. The trick to get it to work seemed to be to put much less ink onto the block than usual.




It's going to be a very small edition.

Richard - Two sides

At the weekend I finally got round to finishing a couple of small figure paintings I've had on the go since before Easter. There was supposed to be a third picture as well, but it never really got started.


Oil on canvas, 12"x12".

Michael: London linocut, stage 2

At last, I've got to the second layer on the London linocut.

But before I did that, I decided I still wasn't happy with the first layer, even though I'd got rid of that nasty red ink that was coming through. So I printed the first stage for the third time, using the original blue and grey colours. Then I was able to start cutting the block for the second layer, and printed it in darker shades.

Michael: More hare, more Venice

Another layer on the hare:



Not sure about this; the hare is OK, but the grass and leaves in the background are a bit strong.



On the Venice linocut, I've printed a blend from dark blue to salmon pink, at an angle. OK so far, but there's a long way to go.

Michael: London linocut, stage 1 again

I've found something that cleans the red Sharpie ink off the linoblock. It had to be something that would clean the ink, but not damage the lino. The oil that I usually use to clean the block didn't work. Alcohol didn't work. Eventually, we found something that worked: nail polish remover. The stain is still on the block, but it doesn't print anymore.

I reprinted the block in slightly warmer colours (but without the red!).



That's better.

Michael: Hare and Venice

While I try to find a way of cleaning that linoblock, I've started two more smaller (10 x 10cm) linocuts. Here are the first stages: