Art inspired by life: SARS-CoV-2 linocut print

[nineveh_uk]

My principle record of spring 2020 as the coronavirus season will lie in the fact that a diary volume that normally takes 6 months to fill was complete in 4 1/2. Sorry, archive readers of the future, it is largely not scintillating political commentary but a lot of whinging and "I don't feel well". But being glued into the next volume for future reference will be my creative response, not in haiku form as I considered one morning (i must have been feverish), but lino print. I thought it would be a fun subject for continuing to learn how to use my new inks, and also done on A6 paper would not be too demanding, and so it turned out. So I thought I'd share the process of printing the second layer yesterda (the red spiky bits) in my Blue Peter inspired registration jig. I am rather chuffed with it, especially the fact that the second layer aligned well, which was definitely the tricky part, and the prints came out nicely. Unfortuntely, much as I'd like to blame this hard work for my not really getting much else done yesterday, I can't. It only took two hours.

Not sure what to do next. I've got a number of ideas, but I think I'll wait to work them up until I have some holiday. At the moment I think I am in the mood for sticking to simple and fun rather than particularly ambitious.

Comments

[azdak]

You have captured the Zeitgeist!
I'm very impressed by the two-layer printing. I went to an exhibition last year that had a room dedicated to pre-industrial Japanese printing techniques and it was mind-blowing. It left me with a healthy respect for anyone who can correctly cut and position one layer over another.

[nineveh_uk]

I think that this may be the first time ever I have been inspired by current events on the visual arts front as opposed to e.g. fantasy novels or cats :-)

I look at Japanese woodblock printing with all those fine lines and I'm amazed at the detail and accuracy. I'm pretty amazed when I watch professional print makers do it today, but at least we've invented sellotape. "How do you do the registration?" seems to be a popular topic on forums even for professionals.