Hummingbirds & Honeysuckles
Hummingbirds and honeysuckles was a block I carved years ago, at the beginning of my printmaking exploration. The vision for it was available in my mind, but producing what I wanted felt out of reach for several years. The paper color took me some time to achieve and master, but now that I know the recipe, this is a print I will continue to print until the block will not allow anymore. The golden center was also a piece of trial and error. As I tried many techniques to create this center, and each time I did not like the result, until I found this metallic gold watercolor paint, and finally the vision had come to life.
This design was inspired by a story I told myself in my home in Virginia. I spent about 5 years living here, and along the fence were growing vines of honeysuckles. When I saw them, I thought for sure this meant I would see hummingbirds, but they never came. One day I was sweeping the floors in my house, and I was standing in front of the sliding back door when a hummingbird fluttered in front of me beyond the glass door and hovered, staring at me for a few moments before flying away. This was the only time I saw a hummingbird while living in Virginia. I received it as a kind gesture from the hummingbirds and maybe a symbolic meaning for the time I was in; many things were happening. At my mother's house in Maine, there are always hummingbirds all over her backyard in the summer, and I imagined this would be the case in Virginia, thinking there was a great food source for them. But this was only my idea and not reality. This story and these moments are what shaped and created this image in my mind. The golden center, for me, represents wholeness. For some, maybe it is the sun or the moon. Perhaps all mean the same.
The frame is not included, but can be arranged if you message me through my contact page. It is an 11x14-inch frame, and this is how I display the print at markets.
Please keep in mind that each print is one of a kind, and there might be slight variations in each print. Some areas within the negative space have picked up ink here and there, and each piece of 9x12-inch paper is handmade from recycled paper, so the deckle edge, which is the rough edge, will appear different in each print. The gold center is hand painted with metallic watercolor paint on each print.
I package my prints in clear, waterproof sleeves. I then lay the print between two and four pieces of thick hand-cut recycled cardboard to ship safely to you without bending.
Every single one of my prints is hand-printed and not a reproduction. This means I hand-print each print and do not get "printed" copies of my prints.
There are many different printmaking techniques.
Traditional printmaking techniques include Relief printing, lithography, Intaglio Printing, and screen printing. At the moment, I prefer Linocut printmaking, which is a type of relief print. All of my prints are created using this process. First, I start by drawing the image I want to carve onto a block of linoleum. Areas to remain white on the print are carved from the block. Then the ink is rolled onto the uncut surface of the block. I then lay the paper on top of the block and press using a spoon and wooden block to transfer ink from the block to the paper to produce a print. When the paper is removed, the image then appears in reverse.
~A little History~
"The Art of printing was born in China during the Han Dynasty (a print on fabric can be dated to 220 AD), although some artifacts have been discovered in Egypt dating from the sixth or seventh century BC. "
"Linoleum was invented by Frederick Walton (UK) in the mid-1800s, first patenting the material in 1860. At that time, its main use was that of flooring material, and later in the 1800s as actual wallpaper. By the 1890s, artists had started to use it as an artistic medium. Although linoleum is a floor covering that dates to the 1860s, the linocut printing technique was first used by the artist Die Brücke in Germany between 1905 and 1913. It had been similarly used for wallpaper printing. "
References.
(https://www.plumplumcreations.com/the-history-of-printmaking-part-1/)
(https://www.boardingallrows.com/history-of-lino-
printing-and-famous-linocut-artists)