Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Upcoming Show- 'Hey, You Got Lino On My Watercolour!'




This September I'll be having my first art show in ages.  I had months to prepare, so of course I spent all that time thinking about what I was going to do and left only exactly enough time to complete the whole project before I could begin (sound familiar anyone?).  I've been working like a maniac for the past week now.  I can't really show you anything, but I wanted to share my excitement.  I was having a hard time deciding whether I wanted to concentrate on watercolour or on printmaking when I had one of those 'you got CHOCOLATE in my PEANUT BUTTER!' moments.  Why not combine them?  I did some research with the help of mr. google, and discovered my new fave artist, Belinda Del Pesco.  She combines the two masterfully.  I looked through my old print stash and found a few images relief-printed on Stonehenge printmaking paper.  I tried throwing a little colour on them.   I was surprised at how well the paper took the washes, and that the ink didn't bleed at all!  I also really liked how the colour helped define the space. 


So now I've embarked on a carving festival, working on a series of 12 Vancouver images, mostly to do with community and gathering places.  I learned a cool way to transfer my drawings more accurately onto the linoleum - check out this video from artist Julia Forsyth.  All housework has ceased, our giant dining table is covered in test prints, inks, chunks of linoleum, breyers and reference sketches.  Our front and back decks are covered in tiny little curls of carved-out linoleum, and there are piles of heavy art books stacked around the house squishing things flat.  I sit outside and carve until my hands can't take it anymore, then come inside and work on sketches, ideas and research.  It's so FUN!

When I print at home I usually use Speedball Block Printing Ink.  It's water-based, easy to clean up and, it turns out, completely unstable if you add watercolour on top.  So now I'm waiting for a shipment of paper and ink to come from Curry's and will be carving away until it gets here.  Show is scheduled for September 15th.  More details to come. 




















4 comments:

Capt Elaine Magliacane said...

Sounds exciting... hope you can share once the show is over....I'd love to see your creations.

Sketchalina said...

Hi Elaine, thanks for stopping by! I'll be able to share some images once I start pulling prints. I have a date with a big ol' press next Sunday :)

Unknown said...

Excited to see your lino artwork! So glad you found the drawing transfer technique helpful.

I love lino combined with color too. I've been disappointed with working so hard to pull a good Speedball-inked print by hand only to have it smear once I tried to add color to it. I discovered that printing with Akua Intaglio Ink works just as easily and cleans up with soap and water AND you can watercolor to your heart's content with no smears. It's art magic! :)

Unknown said...

Sounds fabulous. I've followed Belinda for a while now.
Good luck with completing everything.