Design for a linocut

Ooerrrr Jenny, rather you than me. I get myself in to a right mess deciding which bit I should leave and which bit to cut out! Love the design, especially the branch work and wrens in the foreground. It will be terrific, you’re a pro!

Not sure about that, Fiona! I usually launch straight into cutting and end up having several wasted attempts before I get something I’m reasonably happy with. Think this time I’ll sketch or paint it in black and white so I know how it will ( should) look!

Quite a challenge Jenny! This will keep you out of trouble for a while... good luck!

Gosh! I would get in a pickle trying to do this. Look forward to the finished print.

Wow that look complex, can’t wait to see the finished print.

Thank you, Alan Katy and Paul. Yes, I think this will keep me busy for a while!

Is this drawn directly on the lino? Looks so. I usually do trials on paper or iPad then transfer what I want. Often it still doesn’t work! I’m looking forward to the end result.

Great design, look forward to the linocut. I always admire linocuts, but doubt my hands are steady enough to try it. A friend at my art club was talking about 'soft lino' that you can incise with a ball-point point...do you know anything about that, Linda?

A lot of work in that Jenny! Will be fantastic, great design.

Many thanks Frank, Lewis and Carole! Frank, this is actually drawn on a lightweight paper - once I’m happy with a design I use transfer paper to copy it onto the lino. Even though I know which areas I want to be black or white, it can look quite different to what you expect when printed, so I’ll sketch out a black and white copy first this time to save wasting my lino. Lewis, you can get a soft cut lino, but you wouldn’t be able to incise it with a biro and I find it too ‘squidgy’ to work with. The traditional lino blocks I find too hard so use Japanese vinyl which is somewhere between the two and lovely to work with.

Love the design - looking forward to seeing progress

Thanks for the info on 'soft lino'...it sounded too good to be true.

Your work is always so beautiful Jenny and this one will look amazing. It must be a great challenge to do Lino cutting. Remember doing it at school and it was fun but wouldn’t be able to do it now as I think you must need a lot of strength. The results are always so stunning though.

Interesting with a lot of detail - we await........

Hi Jenny, I have used soft (don’t like it) and Japanese vinyl (quite good) but I’m back to traditional lino at the moment. I stain it red so the carving shows better and warm it over radiator before use. Your design looks complicated for my declining eyesight! To make sure I don’t miss your final result if you post it I’ve tapped the follow below.

Thank you, Heather, Carole and Richard! Carole, it isn’t such hard work if you have a really good set of tools and I use the Japanese vinyl which cuts quite easily. I can’t get on with the traditional lino, that takes more strength. I’ve started doing a black and white draft and can already see a couple of things that need changing. Hope it’s not going to be a disappointment when it’s finished - the print always looks so different to the line drawing!

Hi I have a little kit and have tried it and like Lewis I much admire lino cuts. Excited to see the finished painting

Thanks Jacqueline! Yes, lino prints are fun to do, but often look quite different when printed - I've already made quite a few changes to this.

Great design Jenny.

Thanks, Diane!