Working with linoleum is my joy.  I have been a festival artist for over 20 years, and a full-time artist for the past 11.    I draw inspiration from Creation (birds, trees, flowers, my cat and other animals) and the Scriptures.  I have had the urge to create since I was a girl.  I first realized that I was an artist when I was introduced to numerous art mediums as a freshman in High School, under the instruction and inspiration of an excellent art teacher.

 

I have a Bachelor of Architecture from Texas Tech University.  I find that the design and organizational skills that I acquired in college have been instrumental in the development of my voice as an artist. 

Each piece of my art begins with a thumbnail sketch and a smooth piece of linoleum.  Every carving that I create requires, at the start, a very good drawing, which I then transfer to the linoleum.  I work in two disciplines:  Printmaking and Mixed Media.

 

I make multi-layered reduction prints – printing with waterbased ink on watercolor paper.  A single piece of linoleum is used as every plate in the process. I carve the linoleum with Japanese woodcut tools, carving before printing the next color layer to achieve the final piece.  I use a jig to properly register the prints.

 

To make my mixed media pieces, I carve the face of the linoleum, leaving a ridge around the areas that will receive colored India ink.  (This technique is reminiscent of champleve in silver and enamel work.)  Here, I take a great deal of care in the carving, as the strokes from my gouges and the exposed linoleum become part of the design of the artwork – adding texture, movement, and details.  My color palette and my use of pigmented India ink, typically result in very bold colors, giving my artwork its vibrance.  

 

Anne Gaines