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Carvings and the meaning of life



Carving a new print is relaxing but requires full mental presence and even more patience. A rushed cut or slip results in nothing printable at all.  

The grevillea leaf is one of my favourites. Spiked points and gentle curves mean it can carry many meanings in an art work. It can speak to nature, trees, the outdoors, Australian native plants at a very obvious level. It can also carry deeper meanings about our lived experiences.

This one is carved in soft plastic - which generally works better than lino on fabrics. It has a little more give and manages to get the full print onto the substrate whereas sometimes the linocut version leaves an imperfect mark. 

Getting to the final carving is an evolving process. Then there are test prints on paper, choosing paint,  ink or decolourant (dye stripper) and how that works (or doesn't work) with a particular project. Sometimes I will use discharge paste and strip out the dye before offset and overprinting with ink. This gives the illusion of light from behind the object and increases visual depth.







 

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