This year I began offering original linocut prints for sale on Saatchi Art. Having been selling my printmaking art on Etsy for many years, I decided it was time to branch out.

I’ve been creating a lot of new linocuts over the last few months and these are a few of the limited edition prints that are now available on Saatchi Art.

Deluge | Black and White Linocut Print

This monochromatic, contemporary linocut is printed on 30” x 24” acid-free paper and is a limited edition of two prints. It’s titled, Deluge, and I really enjoyed losing myself while carving the abstract sky, clouds and rain patterns. You can see some work-in-progress photos and videos on Instagram.

Deluge - Linocut Printmaking on Saatchi Art

In-Flight Meal | Original Lino and Pochoir Print

This is a small, one-of-a-kind print of an abstracted airplane meal that I recently finished. Maybe this speaks to my sadness of not having any overseas trips to plan and look forward to due to the current pandemic. But, who doesn’t need airplane food art in their life :). It was made with a combination of reduction linocut and stencil (pochoir) printmaking techniques.

In-Flight Meal - Airplane Meal Linocut Print

Land and Sea III | Landscape Linoleum Block Print

A modern landscape linocut print made with many layers of subtle but colorful overlapping linoleum prints. Number III in a series of original artworks exploring the changing light, weather and feeling of time spent on footpaths, hiking trails and outlooks along the California coast.

Land and Sea III - Abstract Landscape Linoleum Block Print

Please, give me a shout if you have any questions!

I recently finished a large lino print using my Conrad monotype press. It was the first big linocut I made on it. The linoleum cut print was made using the jigsaw method - a great way to make multi-color prints. Essentially, with this technique you cut your linoleum block into pieces, which are then inked separately, and put back together (like a jigsaw) before printing.

First layer of an assembled jigsaw linocut.

Here are some tips that I’ve learned when making jigsaw lino prints with unmounted linoleum:

• Starting with a whole piece of linoleum, I usually first deeply carve the outline of the jigsaw pieces with a v-gouge.

• If I’m not trying to be too exact, I might use some good sissors to cut out the shapes. If I want more precise cuts, I use a wood carving or X-Acto knife.

• Trim any stray bits of burlap that overhang the edges.

• Ink the lino pieces separately before assembling them into a whole.

• Draw an outline of the assembled jigsaw on a piece of newsprint. In other words, if it’s a 11”x14” print, I’d draw an 11”x14” rectangle on newsprint. This gets placed underneath the inked jigsaw pieces so when you go to place the inked blocks down to print, you know they all need to fit within this outline.

On the pink section of my new 30”x 24” linocut print in the photo, I did a reduction and printed a second pattern on top. This is the final linoleum cut print.

Finished jigsaw linocut print

Last year, the publisher Uitgeverij Van Oorschot approached me about using one of my aviation-themed linocut prints as the cover illustration for a new book project. It's for their Dutch translation of the Antoine de Saint-Exupery book titled, "Pilote de Guerre" ("Oorlogsvlieger" in Dutch). You might know the French author (and aviator) from his classic book, "The Little Prince."

They chose my block print, "On the Way" for their book cover design. The print is made from three hand-carved linoleum blocks. In the photo below, I'm preparing to print the final block with the airplane wing and engine.

Airplane linocut print used for the book cover

Here's how the publisher used my print in their book cover design. I'm absolutely thrilled to have played a small part in this exciting project!

Nu verkrijgbaar! Oorlogsvlieger van Antoine de Saint-Exupéry #oorlogsvlieger #antoinedesaintexupéry

A post shared by Uitgeverij Van Oorschot (@uitgeverijvanoorschot) on Nov 24, 2016 at 2:41am PST

About a year ago, I read a wonderful article in National Geographic titled, "This Is Your Brain On Nature," written by Florence Williams. It spurred me to read more about how spending time in nature positively impacts your brain and body. For instance, exposure to nature seems to have restorative benefits and be a good reducer of stress. There's a ton of research out there (here's a nice summary) including these articles in The Atlantic and Outside Magazine.

I spent time thinking about this and wanted to create a print inspired by both the scientific research and my own family's love of outdoor adventures. This is the resulting linocut print titled, "Mend," that I made from three carved blocks of linoleum. The poster is currently available in my Etsy shop.

"Mend" Linocut Print (2016)

I recently finished a new airport print featuring a departure sign (I talked about this art project and my passion for airports in this previous post). The linocut print is inspired by the big departure boards hanging in international airport terminals, particularly the older ones like the flip-disc and split-flap displays. The split-flap boards made by companies such as Solari di Udine are probably the most iconic type. This article about artists using departure boards from Atlas Obscura (thanks to my friend who sent this to me!), talks about how a lot of these boards are being taken out of airports and train stations and being replaced by digital displays.

"Departures" - Airport Departure Board - Linocut Print

This new print was a lot of fun to conceptualize and plan. I really got to geek out on the details. It's made from two hand-carved linoleum blocks (not three like I was initially planning). I first printed the yellow layer to give the text and signage its color, and once that layer was dry, I printed the black on top.

This new linocut poster - "Adventure Awaits" - was printed from a hand-carved block of linoleum with Caligo oil-based relief ink on white Stonehenge printmaking paper. It's currently available in my Etsy shop.

"Adventure Awaits" - Lino Print