Artwork
Vanessa has always admired the bold lines of relief printmaking. She took a course in printmaking at Portland’s Community College and began creating small linocuts that she then hand-colours. She likes that the smaller size invites the viewer to get closer to the artwork. She is inspired by all things botanical.
Vanessa loves that the humble print is such a democratic medium — printmaking allowed for mass reproduction of text and images so that knowledge and illustrations became available to everyone. She believes that despite the digital revolution, the beauty of a hard copy, whether book or art print, is here to stay.
The Middle of the Meadow 9x12”
Asters
Chicory
Goldenrod
Oxeye daisies
Meadow vetch
Pearly everlasting
Queen Anne's lace
Sunflowers
Lupines
Jewelweed
Wild rose -- late summer
Old Town Lunenburg
Bittersweet
Blueberries
Tulips
Winterberry
Spring green
Summer solstice
Nothing gold can stay
Winter solstice
Snowdrops
Dandelions
Peonies
Japanese irises (Reduction linocut)
Creating a Linocut
Vanessa begins with a sketch. This is transferred to the linoleum block. She enjoys the challenge of thinking through which lines will be positive space and which ones will be the negative space that will be carved away. She likes the physicality of carving into the linoleum to create the mirror image of the finished work. Once carved, ink is rolled over the linoleum, and acid free paper laid over it. The image is then transferred to paper by hand by pressing a baren over the paper. Vanessa does small runs of 10 or 12 prints, which means the inking and transferring process is repeated 10 or 12 times for each impression in the edition. Once the ink is dry she hand-colours each print so that each print is unique.
Photo credit: Iris Dietz
Creating note cards
The original linocut is scanned at high resolution then scaled to note card size. Cards are printed with a professional laser printer.
Photo credit: Max Dietz
Where to find Vanessa’s artwork:
Original linocuts can be found at the Lunenburg Art Gallery and at Jenny Jib in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
Vanessa’s notecards can be found at:
Block Shop Books in Lunenburg
Jenny Jib in Lunenburg
Chicory Blue in Blockhouse
Sprig Apothecary in Mahone Bay
Atlantic News in Halifax
LaHave River Books in LaHave
You can also contact Vanessa directly for original prints or notecards — don’t be shy!