I work in my studio 2-4 hours a day carving new blocks and experimenting with new printing techniques (e.g., Gelli plates, chine collé, subtraction printing). Sometimes I keep what I create and sometimes I throw my experiments away. Regardless of the outcome, I’m always learning more about the artful possibilities offered by the relief print.
Over the course of a year, I create anywhere from 12-24 new prints that I feel are worth keeping. Many of them are posted here as ‘recent work.’ As with all my prints, they are available for sale and range in price from $20 -$100 depending on size, complexity, difficulty printing, and popularity. If you would like additional information or are interested in purchasing a particular print, please contact me, Laura B DeLind, via this website.
5” x 7”
12” x 5”
6” x 8”
9” x 12”
9” x 11”
10” x 8”
8” x 10”
8”w x 10”h
About the Linocut
The linoleum cut or linocut is a form of relief print similar to the woodcut or wood engraving. Relief printing itself is the oldest method of print making. As a process, it involves cutting areas away from a smooth surface. What remains (i.e., that which has not be cut away) stands out in relief and forms the final printing surface. Ink is applied to this raised surface and the block pressed much like a stamp onto paper, fabric, etc. to obtain the printed image. The finished print is a mirror image or a left to right reversal of the block. The paper color appears where the block has been cut away; the ink color where it has not been cut away. Multiple colors can be obtained by cutting separate blocks for each color, by using the more sophisticated “subtraction” technique, or by hand coloring the image after it has been printed.
Linoleum, made from compressed cork and linseed oil, provides an excellent medium for this printing process. It is smooth, soft enough to cut easily and free of grain or an imposed cutting direction. At the same time, the “crumbly” texture of linoleum resists fine lines or close detail giving linocuts their characteristic high contrasts and broad color areas. It is a material which readily accepts tooling marks and allows for spontaneity of design. For these reasons, it has become a popular medium for many artists, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Lyonel Feninger notable among them.
This collection of photos will give you an idea of how linocuts are made and hand printed. As you can see the materials are inexpensive, which makes them accessible. You do not need a studio or high-tech equipment. You can get started working at your kitchen table. It is a very democratic medium.
These are the tools I use to create my linocuts.
I am drawn to organic shapes - gourds, pears, leaves, feathers. They figure prominently in my prints.
After loosely sketching a design, I start to carve.
Once the block is carved, it is ready to be inked.
Ink is applied to the carved block.
Once inked, the block is placed, ink side down, on good paper.
The print and paper are flipped over and the print is hand burnished. I use a stone doorknob as my baren.
After the print is burnished, the paper is pulled from the block.
The carved block and the final print are mirror images of one another.
These are some of the students in my Ghost Ranch linocut workshop.
Here is some of the work created by students at Ghost Ranch.
Linocuts can be printed on a variety of colored and patterned papers.
I am not a birder, but I am delighted by birds – by their body shapes, by the pattern of their feathers, by their colors, by their antics and, of course, by their ability to fly. Birds lend themselves to linocuts and to infinite flights of fancy (pun intended), at least I think so, which is why they figure so prominently in my work.
I am fully aware that none of my birds exist or would survive in the real world. They tend to be too polite and too preoccupied with who knows what to compete well for berries, insects, or nesting material. Nevertheless, I find that they do have definite personalities and points of view, offering wisdom and whimsy to human and bird alike.
All my work is available for sale and ranges from $20 -$100, depending on size, complexity, difficulty printing, and popularity. If you would like additional information or are interested in purchasing a particular print, please contact me, Laura B DeLind, via this website.
9” x 9”
6” x 6”
4.5” x 4.5”
4.25” x 4”
6.75” x 11”
6.5” x 6”
13.5” x 12”
11” x 13”
11” x 8.5”
9” x 8”
7” x 7.5”
8.5” x 7”
3” x 3”
11.5” x 8.5”
13” x 11”
5” x 7”
5”w x 7”h
I was asked to create a set of original relief images to accompany the featured work of three, nationally and internationally recognized poets who were guests in 2015 at the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, MSU. I was delighted to be asked and just as delighted to see how gracefully the written work and the visual image complement each other. I look forward to doing more of this work.
While I am still partial to black and white composition, color presents another exciting challenge for me. I began experimenting with color by incorporating it into my work as a visual accent, then as background texture, and finally (as I got braver) as essential and substantial elements.
I’ve learned a lot about color as well as shade, tint, and tone over the last ten years or so. I also learned a lot about the printing process itself. When using either multiple blocks or the mind-boggling subtraction method, color prints require learning how to register. Registration (i.e., getting the colors to fit and appear exactly where you want them) is tricky. There are numerous tools and techniques for getting this to happen and each artist has her own approach. I enjoy knowing that I can exercise this control when I want to and not when I don’t.
I continue to push my boundaries, color-wise, and am now experimenting with rust, fabric dyes, and with chine collé.
All my work is available for sale and ranges from $20 -$100, depending on size, complexity, difficulty printing, and popularity. If you would like additional information or are interested in purchasing a particular print, please contact me, Laura B DeLind, via this website.
8” x 10”
5” x 7”
10” x 8”
10” x 8”
12”w x 16”h
The Unauthorized Audubon is a collection of 22 prints and poems by Laura B. DeLind and Anita Skeen. It is the result of two years of playful exchange between a poet and a print maker (who are also friends). From time to time as the mood struck, I would leave Anita a new print tucked under the windshield wiper of her car or slipped under her office door. She, in turn, would respond with a poem. Her poems gave each of my bird-like images a name, a personality, and a history – sometimes even a song. It was wonderful fun to see my images take on additional dimensions. And in the process, we both grew in our appreciation of each other’s talent and art form.
The Unauthorized Audubon was published by Michigan State University Press (2014). It is available for purchase through MSU Press and Amazon Books. Contact me if you are interested in scheduling a reading or would like to learn more about our artful collaboration.
Cats, you either love them or you don’t. I love them - especially Shirley, my long haired calico.
Over the years I have tried to capture her poses and behaviors, and I now have a respectable collection of cat prints. As with my birds, none of my cats exist in the real world, but they all have attitude (essential if you’re going to call yourself a cat).
Just recently, I was invited to show my cat prints at Vale Craft Gallery in Chicago, in a show unambiguously called “Art Cats.” They should be there through April 2019.
All my work is available for sale and ranges from $20 -$100, depending on size, complexity, difficulty printing, and popularity. If you would like additional information or are interested in purchasing a particular print, please contact me, Laura B DeLind, via this website.
This is my cat, Shirley. She is often a model and always an art critic.
10”w x 8”h
Birds do not command all my attention. I am also amazed and amused by critters – everything from insects to four legged friends. As always I am interested in their shapes and patterns and how to represent them through the interaction of positive and negative space.
All my work is available for sale and ranges from $20 -$100, depending on size, complexity, difficulty printing, and popularity. If you would like additional information or are interested in purchasing a particular print, please contact me, Laura B DeLind, via this website
10”w x 8”h
10”w x 8”h
I spend a lot of time in gardens, on urban farms, and on long, wooded walks with my friend, Kate. It is hard not to be impressed by the endless beauty and variation in color, texture, pattern, and form that I encounter – and equally hard keeping these elements out of my work.
Leaves and flowers, vegetables, trees, and plants all appear in subtle as well as in obvious ways in my prints. This gallery gives a shout out to their importance.
All my work is available for sale and ranges from $20 -$100, depending on size, complexity, difficulty printing, and popularity. If you would like additional information or are interested in purchasing a particular print, please contact me, Laura B DeLind, via this website
8”w x 10”h
8”w x 10”h
5”w x 7”h
5”w x 7”h
7”w x 5”h
Sometimes my subjects are not birds or critters but landscapes – places that I find fascinating or familiar, or that occupy space in my memory and imagination. Small-scale, sustainable agriculture defines one such place for me. Likewise, trips I’ve taken, or wish I’d taken, also appear in my work. Most people take photos to document their travels. I like to represent what I find special in places through my prints. The images are not meant to be literal. Rather, its their character and energy that interests me.
All my work is available for sale and ranges from $20 -$100, depending on size, complexity, difficulty printing, and popularity. If you would like additional information or are interested in purchasing a particular print, please contact me, Laura B DeLind, via this website
February is a particularly bleak month for me here in Michigan. To get me through the cold, dark days, I carve a good many new prints. Valentines provide a nice diversion, and recently I’ve challenged myself to design and print an annual valentine for family and friends. The collection is small but growing.
All my work is available for sale and ranges from $20 -$100, depending on size, complexity, difficulty printing, and popularity. If you would like additional information or are interested in purchasing a particular print, please contact me, Laura B DeLind, via this website
5” x 7”
7” x 5”
5” x 7”
