This is a geometric lino print I made called, Gathered. The linocut is printed with Gold Cranfield Traditional Relief Ink on 9” x 12” black paper. I carved the abstract design in battleship gray linoleum and hand printed it on my monotype press. It’s available on Etsy.

Gold Linocut Print - Gathered

I’m really happy to have a linocut in a new print exhibition called, Surface Impressions, in Lincoln, NE. There are seventy-four relief prints in the show, which was juried by Sean Starwars. The selected works are on view at LUX Center for the Arts and Constellation Studios from June 3 - August 26, 2022.

My contribution is a multicolor linocut print called, Aloft II. I wrote about this series of aerial landscape inspired prints in a blog post where I also have a short video of me printing the linocut on a press.

Surface Impressions 2022

I’ve been on a search for new brayers (rollers) for lino printing and have bought four since early last year. This includes a 2” Takach hand brayer (35D) and a less expensive 2.4” ABIG inking roller. I’m trying them out on different linocuts and hoping to retire some of my old Speedball soft rubber brayers.

Down the road, I’ll write a long post with a review of brayers - big and small. In the meantime, feel free to send me any questions.

Trying out ABIG and Takach brayers (rollers) for linocut

A while ago, I took a photo of a coral fossil because I thought the patterning was really cool. It was from a museum visit in San Francisco with my kids. I decided to use the pattern as a jumping off point for an abstract linocut print.

Using the reduction print technique, I made this two-color lino print on 11”x14” white paper. I used Cranfield Caligo Safe Wash Relief Ink and printed the yellow layer first, followed by the black. Here’s a short Instagram video of me rolling out ink on the block to test a color.

It’s titled, Grooves, and is a limited edition of four prints. The linocut is available on Etsy.

Reduction Linocut Print - Grooves (2021)

The linoleum block used for the reduction lino print.

A little shout-out for a local gem of a store that sells carving tools for woodblock and linocut printmaking, not to mention lots of other types of Japanese hand tools. The shop is called Hida Tool and it’s located on San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley, California. A long time ago, I bought some Power Grip carving tools there and I recently picked up a #1000 grit sharpening stone.

Hida Tool in Berkeley, California

I’m working on a couple multicolor linocuts of desert landscapes. This one highlights a lot of desert plant patterns and details.

The image below was drawn directly on the 16”x22” linoleum block.

Carving details in the linoleum block with a u-gouge

I came up with a geometric pattern for the sky and carved it with v-gouge tools.

Geometric linocut pattern used for the desert sky

Here are some Instagram videos of me inking up the desert plants and sky with printmaking ink for test prints.