Plotting My Next Piece

I sometimes ruminate for awhile over several pieces before I get into them. Once I’ve settled on something, I will edit and revise it many times in my head before I actually get into it.

Printing elements for a piece is usually not a precision activity. It’s more like a whirlwind of paper scraps and inks mixed haphazardly, printed with wild abandon, and stacked on the rack to dry. In this case, I knew I wanted to work with shades of brown and deep red, so I pulled out some inks and plates and began printing on stuff from sheets of construction paper from Goodwill to kraft paper from Lowes Home Improvement to scraps of stuff off the floor. This will give me plenty to work with I think.

What's New In The Studio - July 19, 2020

Passionflowers and Leaves

Having finished my leaves linocut block, I printed it a bunch of times on a variety of papers. I get these papers in rolls that are discarded from a local manufacturer, and most of them are just white in a variety of weights and finishes, but occasionally they toss out some more interesting textures and colors, so I used a lot of those items along with various papers I have piled around the studio, many of which are probably not archival but I like them anyway.

I also carved and printed a relief plate with three different versions of a passionflower, and printed that up as well. I cut all this stuff out and arranged and rearranged until I go the body shape I wanted for the woman in my next piece. Then I carefully tacked her together with glue and added some stronger pieces to the back to keep her together. I am putting her in a large mandorla which I will construct next.

A Linocut Buffet of Foliage and Body Parts

Soft linoleum block with body parts
Natalie Schorr - 2020

I am working on some mixed media collage pieces that use mostly elements I have made, as opposed to elements I have found. Not that one is better than another, I guess they just express my current state of thinking more accurately. In doing this, I have gathered together several old relief cut blocks and started creating some new linocuts of body parts and other elements that may be useful over and over.

These body pieces are proving to be very inspirational for me. I picked up this soft cut linoleum block from Dick Blick. It’s fairly thick, so I carved both sides. The opposite side is carved mostly with manicules. I printed them up in an array of colors, and I’ll use them over and over.

This weekend I also carved up a large lino plate with just leaves. They are another element I can see using a lot, so I drew out a bunch of different shapes. I hope to start printing with these later

Linocut block with leaf shapes
Natalie Schorr - 2020

I think you will see these leaves and body parts a lot in the coming months.