Peacock - linocut printing

Linocut printing is a process I knew a but about but had never done properly before. I bought a piece of lino and started cutting into it but soon realised that I was cutting deeper than I needed to which was making the process harder for myself. I even cut all the way through the lino by mistake on one part. I found the cutting part really difficult to begin with before I got the hang of using the cutting tool. Towards the end of cutting out my design I was cutting smoother lines and working a lot faster than at the beginning. In hindsight, I probably should have picked a simpler design to use as my first attempt because I found myself simplifying this image as I worked which meant that the outcome that I have produced is not as complex as my original plans. 

These are some of the linocut prints I produced using watered down acrylic paint. At first I was just king basic, single prints and then started to experiment with ways of making this more interesting. 

This was a secondary print onto a painted surface that was still wet. The paint has transferred but the contrast between the two colours isn't strong enough for the image to be clear. 

I used the same paint I was printing with and a large, dry brush to make some marks on the paper before printing over it. The first one has a swooping line following the direction of the peacock's back which I think enhances the line of sigh in the image. The other covers the entire background giving the print a textured backdrop. 

I started to mix different colours and blend them on the ono to create a gradual tradition of colour in my print. This has a teal colour at the bottom and a purer blue at the top, both colours relating to peacocks. 

As I continued to print with the lino, the change in colour became more and more subtle which I like. This is a much clearer print than a lot of my others as well - I think this was because I had been using a roller to press my lino onto paper but because the roller was small, the pressure across the whole print was not equal. Instead, with this print and some of the prints below, I placed a heavy book on top of the lino and applied pressure - this evened out the pressure and created a clearer print. 

Primary and secondary prints in red. I wanted to move away from the typical peacock colours because this wasn't saying anything about the meaning behind the image. I moved towards a warmer colour palette, because red represents danger, love and death, all themes in Death on the Nile. Also, the location of the story itself suggests that warm colours would be appropriate. 

I don't like this print because the colours are too bright and happy. It personally just makes me think of the Spanish flag which is totally irrelevant. I think richer colours are needed to achieve the effect I desire. 

Ways of blending yellow and red in other ways…

The obvious idea was to mix an orange colour and print with that, which I do really like. The print on the right was done by painting the lino red and then painting dashes of yellow on top of this before printing so that different colours emerged in the print. 

  

I did a similar thing with this grey print and bright yellow. I think this effect could work well but I just haven't got my colours right here. I think the selection of places to add the colour needs to be considered more to make this process effective. 

Similar to my turquoise prints before, I tried fading the colours into each other again. I think this also would have looked good with a deep red at the bottom. 

I think the execution of this print is quite clumsy but I think the idea of having a vague painted scene in the background gives the image depth and context. The pyramids are a universally recognised symbol of Egypt so I think the image could be understood by most people. 

I think this exercise has been a good experience because it has given me the change to become familiar with a process I have never experimented with before. I would like to do more linocut printing but there are a few things I would do differently…

• Make sure my design is simple enough to be cut out neatly in lino. 
• Consider colour more beforehand, maybe do some experiments in my sketchbook and look into the connotations of each colour I am using. 
• Gather some textured and coloured paper to print onto to see what effect this has on the prints.
• If I am using a painted background, leave plenty of time for it to dry before printing onto it.