Reduction Prints Spend some time looking at these reduction prints. Follow the links at the end to explore reduction printing on the internet. Start planning your own print

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Thomas Hardy by Steven Alcorn

Blue Moon Puzzle Woodcut " x 12" Edition 60 Maria Arango

Steps in Planning Your Print Look at what other artists have done Brain storm and do thumb nail sketches of what would be fun/interesting/possible for you to do Do color sketches Pick the best one and plan your carving steps Discuss your plan with someone probably your teacher

Linda Larson

Prints of this type are called 'reduction prints' because all of the colors needed for the print are printed in succession from a single block. More and more of the printing surface is cut away or 'reduced' after each color is printed. The open area of the block leaves the parts of the previously printed color exposed as it prints, covering the rest. Each time the printer cuts the block he is defining and shaping the color he has already printed, when a new color is laid onto the print, the previous color takes its final shape. When the first color is printed, the number of prints in the edition is set. To print the second color, the block must be altered, which will make it impossible to reprint the first color. A printer should print extras at the beginning of the work because there are always mistakes or changes made that will cause individual prints to be discarded from the final edition. The following illustrations will take you through the process of making a color-reduction linoleum print. After a drawing is done the print can be planned. Planning is deciding what parts of the drawing will be different colors and then deciding on a sequence of colors as the print progresses. Each printer will work in a different way and will make decisions based on the types of ink they use, the effects of each ink's translucency or opacity, and the number of colors in the print. This will show how 'Gesture I' was printed. Sage Reynolds

Red was first. There was no cutting as I wanted no 'paper-white' to show in the final image.. Sage Reynolds

Sage Reynolds The drawing was transferred to the linoleum and the areas that were to stay red were cut out. Printed on white paper, with black ink, the block left this impression.

Sage Reynolds Printed on top of the red prints, it looks like this..

Sage Reynolds The next color was light blue. The block was cut again, shaping the red and black areas. Proofed on white paper the impression looked like this.

Sage Reynolds The next color was a yellow ochre. The block had been cut again, this time to add some sky and texture in the animals markings.

Sage Reynolds This is the print so far...

Sage Reynolds The next color was yellow. The block was cut to shape the ochre moons and to give the animal its final color. Here is the proof,

Sage Reynolds Next, block was cut to finally define the animal and finish the sky. The block had been reduced so much that it could be inked with two colors. Dark blue and purple finished the print

Sage Reynolds And here it is. it is.

-First state leaves highlights in "paper" color and provides the lightest midtone. -Second state adds shadows in a dark midtone. -Third state adds the accent in the form of the dark lines. Maria Arango

Margot Serowy

Loss of Human Dignity Margot Serowy

Tom Killion

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