Welcome to another segment of, The Work In Progress. After visiting a part of my home-country, I figured that Hungary’s Parliament building deserved some shine in, “Sunny Day at the Parliament.”
The design became the most important aspect, of course. I wanted to have the same feeling I received when looking across the Danube river. Lucky, I captured a picture before having this mixed media idea. I was staying in an apartment looking right across the river at the Parliament building, and the design above shows it all. The architecture is beautiful and the reflected light from the river exemplifies it. I traced the mirror image of my design on tracing paper, and then with a carbon print on the lino. Tedious cuts ensued.
Lucky I found a wood block which had exactly what I was searching for. While it does seem weird to mention, luck in art is more apparent in my work than I thought there would be. If the tree that made this design was growing slightly off its intended path, then this piece wouldn’t have been created, and my work would resemble something completely different. While it is interesting to think about, I only wish some things weren’t based on luck alone.
I wanted a natural grain in the wood that resembled the sun and its rays shining across. The positioning of the grain was perfect since it fit in with my linocut. I wanted to experiment with the color choice, mainly between black and blue. If the wood was black, then the lino would be blue, and vice versa. This is so that the two blocks didn’t blend in with each other. In general, the black wood print would be a bad idea against the blue lino; maybe for a collagraph project, but not for this mixed media one. The blue wood print is nice since it resembles the blue sky and white clouds against the black shadows of the Parliament. It seemed clear that this was the best option.
For the printing process, on a labeled newsprint and a paper setter, I printed the wood block first. This is so that when the first print dries, I can print the lino over it without any smudges. This process would be repeated as many times as you would want there to be editions.
One of my favorite aspects is the movement in the piece. The angle which I cut the lino compliments the flow which this pieces presents. The grains in the wood block rounds this printed piece to its completion, and I can’t thank the tree enough for growing its design.
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