Project Between Courses

So that I avoid stalling in my personal art practice, I came up with an idea to create some prints of fish – mackerel – to be specific. I wanted to try out my brand new device, a Jack Press, as I call it.

I started with a spot of scribbling:

Then I copied these sketches onto two pieces of lino:

I cut these out and stuck them, together with the water effects, onto a piece of board:

It had been my intention to create a reductive print. However, I thought the lower fish looked more like a porpoise than a mackerel, so decided it needed changing.

Making certain I would have sufficient lino left over for a second plate, I trimmed off a slab of lino from a large piece, giving myself enough to recreate the long nosed mackerel.

I then transferred this print onto the second lino print plate, lining it up on a registration jig I made for the purpose.

Now it’s a case of waiting for the transferred image to dry so that I can cut into the second lino plate.

I thought about each stage carefully before making a start on any cutting etc, as I did not wish to mess up at any stage. This was especially true at the point of deciding to scrap the “porpoise” fish and redo it. If I had carried on regardless of being unhappy with the draftsmanship this exercise would have been one of experimentation alone, and would have been unlikely to result in a satisfactory outcome. As it stands, it has potential ,I feel.