Inspired by a trip to central Nebraska to view the March sandhill crane migration, I created a reduction linocut print. What that means is using single plate for multiple colors. The design is cut from the plate for the first color, otherwise called a state. So the first state would be the background and hardly any of the plate would be cut away and is usually a light color. Whatever is cut away, will allow the paper color to show through. That state is printed, then on to the next color, where more of the plate is cut away. As colors are printed on top of each other, the first color shows through in the newly cut areas and the other areas of color mix together to create a new color. Repeat the process until the last state, usually black or the darkest ink on the plate that finishes the image. Referred to as the key block.
Below is one of the final prints. I ended up with a variety of color combinations and papers as I was experimenting with the process.
