The little bird is finished! It is quite a process doing the reduction linocut method but the results are definitely worth the effort. None of my prints are perfect, I seem to be a bit messy with this printing process. And my registrations aren’t perfect but I learned a lot and will do better next time.
Here’s the progression of the print minus the first print where I printed green/blue and had little specks of white left. I had wanted the background to be a bit more of a mixture of colors but found that hard to do with the brayer.
I tried a couple of prints with allowing the black to get on to the carved out space around the bird. I don’t mind this look but wish it had looked more branch like instead of so spotty. Plus the edges around the bird and branch look a little artificial since there is no spottiness there. The colors in all these photos is not the best due to low light conditions for photos.
I’m happy with the result since I had never tried this before. It takes a bit of practice and work to get your system set up. I will try some registration pins the next time I do a linocut so I can work out that process a little better. I might work into a few of these prints to give the background a little more life. I have to wait until the ink dries to see what will work best for that.
Ruth Lane Art 
A great project Ruth (so much patience) and a great result. You should be very chuffed with it.
Thanks Antje, I am very happy with the results.
He’s a sweetie! You’ve made a grand job of the eye – perfect. I prefer the plain colour background too.
Thanks Lyn, I think as long as you get the basic shape correct and the eye, a bird will “look” like a bird.
It’s great seeing the progression. I’m glad you’re pleased with the results after a long learning process.
Thanks Marilyn! It was a learning process for sure. But I have ideas on how to move forward for the next one.
Thank you for sharing your progress with this Ruth, I have considered making a reduction lino print a few times but always chicken out, I’m just not that good at registering my prints accurately and if you mess up half way through the reduction process you can’t really go back without starting again from scratch. Bravo to you for taking on the challenge and well done on a beautiful final print too, you are an inspiration! 🙂
You’re welcome Teri! Yes, it is dicey but I found eyeballing it gave me the best registration. These are only 4″ x 6″ so not as difficult as a large print. I was actually planning on a large print but won’t try that now without a press. Gotta find one locally that I can use. It was a great learning experience. You should try it.
Great stuff – I always have problems with registration. When I was in India it always amazed me that the block printers do everything by eye – I guess it all comes with experience! 🙂
Thanks Kim! Doing it by I worked best with me and I definitely improved with practice.