Linocut printmaking is a popular and traditional way of creating. We're lucky to have a variety of printmakers on our Gower Peninsula, and the Gower Gallery is proud to exhibit some of our Gower creatives' work. To understand the methodical and labourious process of creation that is undertaken in linocut printmaking, we have created an easy-to-follow guide.
To create linocut prints, you start by carving out negative space into a sheet of lino. To carve this negative space, printmakers use many sharp carving tools. These tools are often in a range of "U" and "V" gouges, and a skew knife is often used. To keep them sharp, these tools must be sharpened with a water stone, honing block and honing compound.
Next, you apply a thin, consistent layer of ink to the surface of the carved lino using a roller. Then transfer it to the press, which will print the design on the lino onto the paper. All the efforts in carving away the negative space produces a brilliant picture.
Talented linocut printmakers play with different ways of mark making, such as fine lines and dots, to create intricately detailed prints. Some printmakers will create a limited range of 'reduction linocut prints'. This involves using one piece of lino, and carving away the negative space in a series of stages. After each stage, the lino is applied with ink, and put into the press to create the base of the print. Once printed, the same piece of lino will be carved into again, adding larger sections of negative space, and then printed with again using a different colour ink. This highly planned and methodical process is followed until the printmaker has created a beautiful layered print, filled with colour and detail.
Rotherslade Beach by Phillippa Walter
Specialising in linocut prints, Phillippa Walter is a printmaker local to the Gower Peninsula, who has continually delighted Gower Gallery customers with her playful and often mischievous designs.
Leap of Faith by Phillippa Walter
Leap of Faith is an original handmade linocut print, part six of the twelve-part series that Phillippa Walter created over the year of '22-'23, exploring the Gower Peninsula. The piece depicts a barn owl in flight amongst a sky of stars and crescent moon, relieved in black traditional oil-based ink.
This print is hand-relieved from a hand-carved linoleum block. This process starts by carving a design in reverse with carving knives onto a lino block, which is then very finely inked with a roller and then, using an Etching press, the image is relieved onto the paper.
The paper is medium-weight, premium-quality Royal white Somerset printmaking paper. It is acid-free and archival. This means the paper is of a 'long life' standard, therefore giving the assurance of excellent conservation over time. Linocut printing is a traditional process where the paper picks up some of the stray marks (or "chatter") left intentionally on the block.
To explore more of Phillippa Walter's distinctive printmaking, follow the link to her current pieces, available now at the Gower Gallery: https://www.gowergallery.co.uk/collections/phillippa-walter