What I did
Whisk
In the pencil drawing exercise with Tony Hull last term, I had focussed on a Kenwood Chef attachments (whisk, K beater, dough hook) and a lemon rimer. In developing the drawing I had tried to increase the notion of entanglement and thought this would be interesting to explore in lino as the shapes were strong and architectural. I first carved a whisk into the lino and printed it on yellow and orange. I then added the rimer in a) grey and b) a sort of 1970s bathroom green. The 3rd reduction was cutting deeper into the ridges of the rimer, and adding some 3D and lighting effects to the rimer as an attempt to bring more depth and interest before printing with transparent blue.
Rhino
In my sketch book I had a rough drawing of a rhino which I had come across at the Museum of Surgeons in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. I thought it might be interesting to explore an abstraction of the composite shapes from the sketch. I started by taking the shoulder and carving the outline into the lino and also the reverse image which gave some symmetry. This was printed with grey, yellow and khaki. The second reduction added an ear, layers of skin around the neck and tail randomly positioned. Knowing I needed to carve more to add texture and interest I simply played with adding more cuts and shapes around these. I printed the second reduction with bright pink (on grey), orange (on khaki) and grey (on yellow). The 3rd reduction continued the random shape and mark making.
When overprinting with a lino reduction, I found it easier to put the lino directly onto the print rather than use a registration sheet. I also have a struggle to think about what will emerge from relief, so I think some practice in negative drawing would be useful. Lastly, my first thought is still thinking in outlines rather than tones and textures – this is a constant battle!
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Olivia's fine art course 