I am currently teaching myself the linocut printmaking technique. It is a very fun technique that involves carving into a piece of linoleum, which is then used to produce prints by spreading ink onto its surface. I have learned that it is a multi-faceted technique - there are so many different aspects that affect how your prints turn out, from the way you carve the block to the paper you use to print it. I am currently only working in black and white, but I hope to experiment with colour soon! Winter is long in Montréal, and you may notice a theme emerging, but I do have plans for more colourful pieces. Watch this space!
It has become a bit of a tradition to spend a few days each winter in a beautiful treehouse in Québec, and it is that treehouse that features in this linocut!
Montréal gets a lot of snow in winter, and it's a favourite activity of Montréal cats to watch the snow plows as they drive around the streets in a deadly manner, clearing the sidewalks of snow.
Two women sit at a piano, their hands moving so fast they become a blur, yet still each key is hit with marked precision. Intertwined, like the branches of a tree growing together as they search for light, it is barely possible to know whose hand is whose. Each body circles in synchrony with the movement of the music, as though a wind has arrived and captured the branches in its spiralling motion. From the perfect union of the two women and the instrument emerges an organism, beating and pulsing with life and spirit and an otherworldly presence.
