Octopus Linoprint

Octopus Linoprint

Octopus LinoprintI’d really enjoyed creating a linoprint last year when I was working at Harbourfront Centre, and had been thinking of buying some supplies and trying it out again in a slightly less rushed situation.  While I was home a month or two ago, my mom and sisters and I went to an auction, where I was lucky enough to snag a box full of linocutting supplies – carving tools and breyers, some (very old) ink and lino.

This past weekend I finally made it an art supply store, and picked up some fresh ink and some of the newer, rubbery lino.  I sketched out an octopus and transferred it to the lino.  Unfortunately, I find that this rubbery lino is a difficult medium – it’s not so bad if you’re using it to carve lines, but if you’re carving away a lot of material, it becomes quite annoying.  I probably just need to work with it more, and learn how to work with the medium instead of struggling against it.

Octopus Linoprint

In the end, this turned out much better than I thought it was going to, but I’m still annoyed but a few things –  the octopus’ highest tentacle didn’t turn out right, even in the sketch, and a lot of the lines aren’t very clean.  I also don’t quite have the printing technique down, so I’m not getting a very clean print.

Octopus Linoprint

I may do some more work on the linocut, to see if I can clean it up and make it something that i’m happier with, and I may add some elements to the final prints with a pen or some other inks. We’ll see.

Octopus LinoprintFor now, here’s my octopus!

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Sugar Skull

Sugar Skull

When I moved to Toronto, I had the vague plan to draw a postcard every week to send to my mom and sisters back home.  I’ve lived here a year, and so far I think I’ve sent three.  This is a drawing of a sugar skull or Calavera. In Mexico, they’re used as part of the Catholic celebration of the Day of the Dead. They’ve kind-of become a popular decorative design, and I’ve been seeing them pop up on things like purses and t-shirts.

I’m not necessarily the best at drawing – you can see a lot of pencil lines, and the inked lines are a bit inconsistent.  I’m fairly happy with it anyway; it was a lot of fun to draw.

Sugar Skull Sugar Skull

Sugar Skull