Carving.

So... I now have five blocks ready for carving.  Four of them are based on the Spear piece I talked about last time.  The fifth, though, is quite different: here it is.

It's my warm up block.  I haven't carved in a long time, and I remember how challenging it can be.  So I wanted to practice a bit on something straightforward, and they don't come much more straightforward than this.  I've had a block like this for years; the last one got thrown out before the move.  It developed out of one of the first blocks I ever carved, from a rectangular eraser.  It was intended to suggest blades of grass.  This one is more like tree trunks, admittedly, but it is really useful for frottage...nobody said that linocuts had to be used only for printing.  So...I'm making another one.  Every time I sit down to carve, I'll do a couple of cuts on here, just to remind myself of the way the material works.

I'd intended to work at the table, but instead, ended up on the sofa.  If we ever get the garage cleared out, I'll get Robin to make me a print board, a piece of plywood with some wood nailed onto it; it is intended to hold the print block still.  My lap board does exactly the same thing, as you can see here.

It's a distinct variation on the theme of cats on my knee...but I digress...

I've made the first few cuts on one of the blocks in the spear series:

I've actually cut another rectangle, right at the top, though it wasn't drawn as part of the design originally; it just seems to look better that way.  Proof positive that I'm incapable of following a pattern.  I've also proved that lino cutting is exhausting; half an hour at a time would seem to be my limit.  Oh well... it's not as if I have a deadline.  My own impatience really doesn't count.