experiments in printing

 I really love the look of prints. I'd love to a course in print making one day.  For my birthday my dad sent me a voucher for Dick Blick art supplies, and I took advantage of it and bought some print making supplies. Soft "lino" blocks and some printing ink.  They've sat there for months, and I've been a little scared of it all; a little tentative and I really had no idea what to do.  That blank page syndrome.  But yesterday I managed to come up with an idea and came up with this.  A bit reminiscent of Pierre Bonnard (I've always loved his bathroom paintings).

 Oscar did a print making course earlier in the year.  They focused more on screen printing (I really want to try that too), but Oscar had asked his teacher if he could have a go at lino printing.  He's had the piece of lino sitting in his room half finished for months.  I actually love it (especially the little people) - he based it on a photo he took in Manhattan (probably from the train going in judging by the angle).  So I thought that while I was making some prints of mine, I'd make some of his, so he could at least see it and work out where he wanted to work on it some more.

Ack!  I didn't realise the actual printing was the hard part.  Getting the inking right, making sure that there weren't any tiny little bits of gunk on them (which come out as massive marks on the print).  I went through many pieces of paper before I gave up for the day, without getting a perfect print of either.  But it was fun and I'm learning.