designing out detail

finished design drawing for the second mini print
© Teresa Newham

I used to be decisive, but now I'm not so sure. Not if my experience so far with the second linocut miniprint for the Awagami International MiniPrint Exhibition  is anything to go by! I'd already decided to base the print on a photo taken last Autumn near the field which inspired the first of the two prints:

September, Cross Lane
© Teresa Newham

I spent a happy afternoon idly sketching the outlines of the fence, trunks and branches, trying to make sense of what was there and how I might incorporate that into the print itself.  I didn't develop my ideas any further at that stage, because I was concentrating on making the first print.

too many branches . . . 
© Teresa Newham

Now the deadline for confirming my entries is fast approaching, I feel the need to get on with number two even though nothing has to arrive in Japan until the end of July.  I was well into another drawing before it occurred to me that I couldn't possible include all that detail in a reduction linocut . . . 

. . . and too many leaves
© Teresa Newham

Although the photo which first appealed to me was landscape format, I quickly realised that the image would be best simplified for printing by turning it into portrait, and I developed the final sketch shown at the top of this post.

enhancing the transfer with sumi ink
© Teresa Newham

When I went over the image on the lino with sumi ink and a dip pen, to make it easier to see when cutting, it made some interesting marks of its own, which I tried to keep in when making the first cut.  I wiped off most of the ink before printing the first layer, to avoid it transferring to the paper.  Now all I have to do is work out the order for printing the rest of it . . . 

wiped and cut
© Teresa Newham