For my first blog post I would like to introduce myself as a free spirit when it comes to the processes of creating. I believe in repurposing things of all sorts to create something that speaks to me. I also enjoy printmaking of all types, and something I had never done but always had interest in was creating a woodcut!
For my first woodcut piece I found inspiration from my summer trip to Aruba, Dominican Republic, and Miami. As I swam countless hours and snorkeled with many fish, I finally decided I wanted to do a woodcut of a jellyfish!
My first step was to grab my carving tools, and find old wood laying around my house to see if it could be repurposed. The wood I used was a soft type of wood so it could be carved into relatively easily. I sketched out my jellyfish and started carving away! I was not intimidated by the process but rather enjoyed all the steps along the way to get to the final prints.
After carving it was time to ink up my wood. I used an old paint roller lying around in order to apply my paint to the wood. I normally use an ink such as Speedball, or oil based, but I wanted to see what the effects of printing with acrylic on wood looked like and how it would turn out. Needless to say, I loved it!
I had a few ‘artist proofs’ before I really decided to put my wood carving to good use. I did my first print with only black paint, along with my second print. My last print of the set was a mix between black and blue acrylic.
After finalizing my prints, I decided to dig through my piles of scrap paper to see what composition I could come up with that I felt suited my jellyfish set.
I found a light blue and a purple toned paper and layered it under my three jellyfish. I then found a sheet of my marbled paper I had made last semester and layered that as well.
These are my finalized prints! I still have more to work to do in regards to layering my paper, and fully deciding how I would like the background. But overall this was a great fun experience, and there will certainly be more woodcut prints to come!