Originally from Southern California, printmaker Carol Black-Addyman moved to Auburn with her husband in 2010. In 2021, after many years of practicing a variety of artistic pursuits – from acrylic still life and painted murals to chinoiserie and reverse painting on glass – Carol decided to focus solely on linocut printmaking. Taking her inspiration mainly from the local countryside, she now produces original linocut block prints from her home studio. In addition to making art, she and her husband look after their cat Tiger, horse Mojo, and assorted chickens.
Linocut is a printmaking technique, in which a design is carved or cut into a piece of linoleum using chisels or gouges. Another term for this is “block printing.” The linoleum is then inked with a roller, the raised (uncarved) areas of the lino representing the area that will show when printed. A piece of paper is laid over the inked surface, and an impression is taken; this can be done by hand or with a printing press. The resulting image on the paper is a mirror (reversed) image of the original design. There is nothing digital used in this process!
Color prints can be made in several ways. The artist can use multiple blocks of linoleum (one for each color), OR… he or she can use the reduction method. For this process, a single block of linoleum is used. As each color is printed (working light to dark), more of the block is carved away for the next color, and so on. At the end of the print run, the block has been almost entirely carved away (that is, reduced) and can never be used again. As a consequence, block prints made with this method are all limited editions.
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