Reserved for you- Linocut limited edition print

Reserved for you
Linocut reduction print
6x6 inches
Edition of 3

Wow first post in ages! Here's a new linocut print I did of my painting 'Reserved for you'.

This was a bit of an experiment for me using the reduction printing method. Basically the whole image is printed from one single block one colour at a time. White areas are carved out first, then the lightest colour (skin in this case) printed. The printing is done by hand using a barren (or in my case a wooden spoon!)where pressure is applied over the surface to imprint the paper against the inked block. Next the areas that are to remain skin coloured are carved out of the block and the next lightest colour printed (sky in this case). This is repeated for each layer.

There's a fair amount of planning to do this as well, working out the correct sequence of layers and number required. The carving of the block is tricky also when you're trying to keep an overall picture of how it should work out! With this technique you can't make any corrections!

Its the first time I'd tried this method as my previous two attempts were just black and white. The trickiest part is the registration- getting the positioning spot on for the different layers. Out of the ten images I started out with, only 3 were worthy of being in the edition. With five layers of colour, its not surprising that there are some positioning errors- especially when all done by hand.