The Messenger

The Messenger

8x8 linocut print on mulberry paper

This linocut carving journey started a few weeks ago when I was cleaning a cabinet in the art room. I found my old Speedball carving tool and a few 3x4 pieces of pink Speedy Carve that we had picked up in Nashville. I carved a bird, and stamped it, and enjoyed every second.

Being a super slow painter I work on other creative things between paint layers. Crochet fills that time gap perfectly most of the time these days but I decided I wanted to continue with some carving. Maybe try carving into the larger battleship grey linoleum so I ordered some and a better carving tool. I watched a Domestika course on linocut printing.

I am loving the feeling of letting go of the unnecessary bits as I carve. Opposite of the building of layers with painting. I love the way I go easily into that meditative flow state when I’m carving. I love the repetition of the movements of my hands. It gives me the same healing feeling as crochet.

And the same way of honoring nature as making the cyanotypes gives me and this honoring is one of the most important things.

It hasn’t all been easy. I messed up the first sparrow completely. My hand slipped and I took away too much of her chest. I tried to make it work and kept carving and carving to try to fix her until I had just ruined it. Finally, I decided to carve her out entirely and on a separate block carved a new bird. This has turned out ok and a really neat experiment as I was able to try out two colors in the print. And to print the sparrow separately on smaller paper.

The inspiration, of course, has been the garden. The echinacea in the healing garden. The sparrows that fly over.

I imagine this little sparrow bringing messages of healing. Divine protection. The echinacea too. Inner strength. Protection. I have a surgery coming up so a lot of my thoughts these days are about healing and focusing on the joy ahead.

I am already imagining the next carving- a sunflower and goldfinch block maybe? The goldfinches love the sunflowers behind the garage. So fun when they visit!

And there is so much to learn. I love being a beginner. So much to experiment with the linocut process. Printing on fabric! Making handmade paper and printing on it. Oh goodness, I’m excited to see what’s next.