Another new favorite

I feel really lucky that I’ve had occasion to try my hand at two new creative skills in as many months. Last month, I got back into embroidery, and now, I’m really excited about linoleum block printing.

Art Share sponsored and our current artist-in-residence Liz Runkle volunteered to teach a free linoleum block printing class. I think it was a big hit with everyone, and I was so excited about my Mr. Shivers print, I’ve decided to do all of the sheep. Liz said she thought the prints I made on this vintage old lady type deckle-edged parchment stationary looked like and old German fairy tale illustration, so I think I’m going to make a full set like this. I might even have to write up some stories to go with them. Or, maybe nursery rhymes. That seems more doable.

Here’s Mr. Shivers. Final print:

It’s a 2-color reduction block with silver and black print.

Final block, will silver part of print cut out:

Here’s how it looked for the silver print:

And here’s the illustration with my first tentative cuts:

I actually kind of like that it’s a little crude.

The really cool thing is that Ron has a wee little press (with a small set of letters, even!) his friend Noah gave him a couple years ago. Until the workshop, it just sat in a corner, but now it’s all cleaned up and it’s a great size for little prints like this one. I have a couple f 4×6 blocks, so I might try my hand at making some cards with Ron’s little press.