On Sunday I posted the sketches that I did in anticipation of a print-making class I was planning to attend. Today I’m showing the fun stuff I made at that class.
The instructor, Justine Cherwick, was quiet, modest and thoroughly prepared. She started us off with a circle-in-a-rectangle design for practice. Each quadrant was carved in a different design.

That was quite easy and very satisfying. Next, Justine transposed our initials in reverse on a blank block and we carved stamps of them.

So far, so good. For our third exercise, we each selected from a group of Halloween designs to carve a 3 x 4 block. I loved this cat with a skull and sickle.

The stray faint lines and dots you see around the edges of the main design are called “noise.” Some artists like this effect, others not-so-much. It’s easy to carve them off after you’ve done your test print.
And now for the big finale. I chose to carve the beach scene. Here is my sketch.

You will have to imagine that the dark marks will become white and the white background will print black. Here is my finished block.

And my print.

For a first try, it’s not too bad. Good enough to encourage me to try making more lino-cut work.
And finally, here are the Halloween postcards I printed and sent to the grandkids.



