Vanessa begins with a series of sketches. The sketching and designing can take many hours (or days or weeks!). When the design feels complete, the sketch is transferred to the linoleum block. Vanessa enjoys the challenge of thinking through which lines will be positive space and which ones will be the negative space that will be carved away. She likes the physicality of carving into the linoleum to create the mirror image of the finished work. Once carved, ink is rolled over the linoleum, and acid free paper laid over it. The image is then either transferred to paper by hand by pressing a baren over the paper, or a printing press is used.
Vanessa does small runs of 10 or 12 prints, which means the inking and transferring process is repeated 10 or 12 times for each impression in the edition. Once the ink is dry she hand-colours each print with a combination of prismacolor pencils and Beam watercolour paints. She likes the vibrant colours and fine detail the pencils offer, and she supports Beam’s plastic-free, indigenous-run small business of pigment production. In this way, each print is a unique work of art as the ink transfer varies between prints as does the hand-colouring.
Creation of From up on Blockhouse hill 8x8” hand-coloured linocut, edition of 12
