Reduction Woodcut Printmaking Workshop Number Two

Last night was session number two of my woodcut reduction workshop. Most of the students were still working on their images, and hadn't started carving yet except for Larry. He had a funny story of how he prepared his wood block at home. Before going to bed, he drew the image on to the block with marker and sealed it with some old polycrylic he had. It was thick, and blobby, but he used it anyway. In the morning, the marker drawing had bled, and the polycrylic had run and pooled into one corner which was still wet. Little air bubbles were all over the surface of his block from the sealant. I thought it looked like a collagraph surface, and that he should go with it instead of starting over. In the process of making art, instead of calling it a mistake, it's called a happy accident. Larry wasn't so sure if he was that happy about it, but went ahead and started carving the block, bubbles and all.

Larry and his wood block

Larry's bubbly surfaced wood block that he began to carve