Colin Coke and the linocut printing technique
Colin Coke is an English-trained artist and former teacher whose principal work is printing in the linocut medium. He was born in Cornwall, studied for his art degree in England and has lived in New Zealand since the 1970s. His subject matter is drawn from the New Zealand landscape and also influenced by Japanese wood block masters. He exhibited in Paris in the 2009 'Gravure Passion' exhibition and his works are held in corporate and private collections in New Zealand and overseas. His studio and gallery are in Greytown, Wairarapa, about 60 kms from Wellington.
Linocuts are a method of relief printing similar to woodcuts. There are a number of steps in the complex process.
First, Colin draws a sketch of the image he wants to print. The image is transferred to a clean block of lino in reverse. Colin must think in reverse throughout the process because the printed picture is a mirror image of the carved block. Colin hand-rolls ink onto the block and prints a background colour. Then he cuts away the block using gouges and cutting tools. Only the surface of the lino left uncut and in ‘relief’ will receive ink from the roller and print. Once an area of colour has been printed the block must be carved away to allow the first colour to show through when the next layer of colour is printed. Carving away areas of the block and printing colours one on top of the other creates the image.
Once the block is inked it is placed face up on a press; paper is placed on the inked block; and block and paper pass under a heavy steel roller. This transfers the ink from the lino to the paper. The process calls for extreme accuracy and excellent understanding of colour. The block must be placed in precisely the same position on the press for each colour. The artist cannot go back to a previous colour because that part of the lino block has been carved away. Sometimes Colin prints as many as 20 layers of colour and must know exactly how each colour will appear when printed over another. It is also time consuming. In addition to the time required to develop and draw the image, cut the block and handprint the edition, each layer of colour must dry completely before another layer is printed over the top. Inks take a day or more to try, which means creating an edition can take several weeks.
The process is known as reduction printing because once the print is finished the artist is left with an almost bare piece of lino backing.
Each print has an edition number. If the edition is 24, Colin has printed that particular image 24 times and because the block is destroyed he can never print it again. Each print is numbered in sequence i.e. 1/24, 2/24.
Credits: Thanks to printmaker Ian Phillips for allowing Colin to use the excellent description on his website as a basis for this explanation of technique. Photography: Tim Cuff