Linoleum Prints

I’m calling this project, Gabby’s seat because my dog Gabby whenever you walk to the door she comes running and sits on the stairs like she is in the photo and just stares at you. I chose to create this specific work because I love my dog gabby and I knew she had some black and white fur which would make a nice black and white/negative space print. For materials, I used printing ink, linoleum board, carving tools, ink roller, ink presser, and lots of pieces of ink printing paper. I used a variety of techniques and methods including: printing, carving, contrast, patterns, and lines. While creating this work, I paid close attention to how the photos printed and that I didn’t get any ink smudges on the edges of the paper by keeping my eyes open and watching to make sure my hands were clean and that the paper comes off the linoleum block smoothly. I wanted my artwork to look smooth and clean and I did that by taking my time while printing, and doing multiple prints with one color to get a ‘perfect’ print. To add interest to my composition, I used a pencil and some markers to fill in the negative spaces of the photo and then I extended the stairs to the side by shading with the pencil and filling in the white space with the markers. I like the way that the prints came out and how perfect they were and I am proud of making perfect prints. However, I struggled with applying the ink evenly, but over time I began to improve on this. If I created another work like this I may choose a different black and white photo to choose, maybe something more exotic. My work shows that I learned how to carve linoleum blocks easily and then print the carving and make a beautiful image.