Linocut Printmaking: Happy New Year 2023

When I finished the Happy Birthday Print for 2022 early last year, I made a note on my calendar to start the Happy New Year 2023 print in late-November, so I could get it out as early as possible in the new year. While I started considering and planning the print around that time, I didn’t actually do much of anything tangible until well into the month of January. There’s something about it getting the plates started that scares me a little. Maybe it has something to do with the physical nature of the printmaking process and the permanence of it all. If you make an incorrect cut, there really isn’t a lot that you can do about it, unlike a piece of artwork which you can fix in Photoshop before sharing it online or making prints.

The artwork I decided to use for the print was one of a series of woodblock prints based on the Chinese horoscope by Andrew Walko that I found online. The year 2023 is the year of the rabbit and his design allowed for me to do a bit with the messaging. As usual, I bit off a bit more than I could chew with the design because, while it looks simplistic, once I printed-out the final design I realized the multitude of little circles were a bit beyond my ability. To get around this, I thought of using a power drill to achieve the effect, but ultimately decided to use my Dremel tool which gave me more control.

Once I finally got started on the cutting process, I remembered why I enjoy this art form so much. The task of cutting the plates requires an incredible amount of focus and precision, and, like I mentioned above, the ramifications of making a mistake make it both stressful and exhilarating. There was a bit of a delay between the finishing of the plates and the beginning of the printing process, as well, because I couldn’t decide on how to approach it. Should I do them all the same on the brown card stock or do a variety of colors on the white card stock? In the end, I decided to reverse what I did in 2022, printing the Happy New Year series in a variety of color on the white card stock, and reserving the brown card stock for the Happy Birthday series… though, I’m pretty sure I’ve changed my mind on that one.

The finished product turned-out great, and I realize I still have a lot to learn. But learning in this art form requires practice and I just don’t have that many projects in mind that utilize linocut printing. So it’s looking like it’ll take a bit of time to get better at this one.