Process Notes
A linocut print is a hand-carved and hand-printed work of art, created using a traditional relief printing technique. I first draw the design, then carve it by hand into a sheet of linoleum, cutting away areas that will not receive ink. Ink is then applied to the raised surface, and the image is transferred onto paper by hand or using a small press. Each print in a linocut edition is individually made, resulting in slight variations that add to its uniqueness. These prints are all limited editions.
Linocut printmaking is a slow, deliberate craft—one that pulls an artist out of abstraction and into the physical present. It demands full-body attention: hands gripping tools, shoulders tensing, eyes scanning each carved groove for depth and direction. You can't rush a linocut without slicing your fingers by mistake—those tools are remarkably sharp and must be honed every 20 minutes of carving. Each stroke is irreversible, each mark a commitment. That physicality fosters a kind of embodiment rare in our digitized lives. Relief printmaking is an art of presence—of seeing and feeling simultaneously. In carving, you learn to observe textures in feathers, the flick of a tail, the fall of a bird's shadow as she flies to her roost at dusk. Printmaking becomes more than technique; it becomes a kind of ecological attention, a way of syncing body, eye, and world. It slows you down—and in that slowness, the natural world immerses you.
Most of my current prints are reduction prints, which is a multicolor printmaking technique where the artist uses a single linoleum block, progressively carving away more material after each color is printed, working from lightest to darkest colors. The process is irreversible since the block is continuously reduced with each carving stage, meaning the artist must plan the entire color sequence in advance and print all copies of each color before moving to the next reduction step.
I typically use Ternes Burton registration tabs—small plastic tabs that attach to the printing press bed—to ensure precise alignment of the paper with the block for each color layer, creating consistent registration across all prints in the edition.
Linocut printmaking is a slow, deliberate craft—one that pulls an artist out of abstraction and into the physical present. It demands full-body attention: hands gripping tools, shoulders tensing, eyes scanning each carved groove for depth and direction. You can't rush a linocut without slicing your fingers by mistake—those tools are remarkably sharp and must be honed every 20 minutes of carving. Each stroke is irreversible, each mark a commitment. That physicality fosters a kind of embodiment rare in our digitized lives. Relief printmaking is an art of presence—of seeing and feeling simultaneously. In carving, you learn to observe textures in feathers, the flick of a tail, the fall of a bird's shadow as she flies to her roost at dusk. Printmaking becomes more than technique; it becomes a kind of ecological attention, a way of syncing body, eye, and world. It slows you down—and in that slowness, the natural world immerses you.
Most of my current prints are reduction prints, which is a multicolor printmaking technique where the artist uses a single linoleum block, progressively carving away more material after each color is printed, working from lightest to darkest colors. The process is irreversible since the block is continuously reduced with each carving stage, meaning the artist must plan the entire color sequence in advance and print all copies of each color before moving to the next reduction step.
I typically use Ternes Burton registration tabs—small plastic tabs that attach to the printing press bed—to ensure precise alignment of the paper with the block for each color layer, creating consistent registration across all prints in the edition.
