Pukaskwa National Park - driftwood beach

Continuing on with the blockprint series this is my most recent work. The above image is the first proof taken from the cut block which was printed in black ink onto Subi paper.
It is a landscape study featuring driftwood and washed up weather beaten logs that litter one of the many pristine white sand beaches located at Pukaskwa National Park on Lake Superior.

I plan to apply watercolour to a few and then possibly a series of prints created with the addition of colour blocks. 

The block was glued down onto a masonite panel substrate and then cut with a variety of linocut tools plus one or two spitsticker wood engraving tools for fine detailing.

I refined the image a bit more with some additional cutting of the block. There is now better definition of the background foliage and also the water to the left side of the print.

The image developed by referring to a couple of digital photos that were taken last fall when we visited the park. Once again I blackened the surface of a piece of linoleum (13 x 18 cm or 5 x 7 in.), however this time used a golden cut variety instead of battleship gray. This allowed me to see the block as it would print (only in reverse) as the lighter areas of the block material would appear as white on the paper.

Below is the freehand sketch on the linoleum surface made with white Sakura gel pen.

The attachment below that is of the block during the cutting stage.