P.C. Hodgell



Elephants
Elephants
How did he do it?

"I generally start with undetailed thumbnail sketches, trying to find the most effective over-all image and form of organization. The I do full-size rough pencil sketches on tracing paper, making corrections on overlays. This may be one sitting or many days of reworking until the image seems right. Next I ink the pencil sketch with a brush and try to approximate the weight and mass of the final print; trace the sketch on the block (chalk on back of the tissue); and re-ink the drawing on the linoleum, this being a final version of the drawing rather than a tracing. I use only one tool for cutting, a shallow gouge, and battleship linoleum (with no wood backing). The cutting process is guided, but not controlled, by the inked areas on the linoleum. I like to use the gouge like a brush, "painting" as I go, letting the feel of the tool decide the actual cutting. If a major revision seems advisable, I make the correction in chalk and re-ink. The area being inked and proofed, partly to avoid over-cutting and partly for the visual advantage of a darker surface aginst the lighter cut area which more nearly approximates the contrast of the print.
"Printing is all by hand. The block is inked, paper laid on it, pressed to the block with a rubber roller, and rubbed with fingernails and hand until the paper is judged to be printed by the feel of the relief on the back."
Quoted by Norman Kent in "Religious Relief Prints," American Artist, April 1961, 38 ff.
Added on 06/10/09   Views: 2,942