A white sheet of A4 covered in overlapping translucent rectangles of pink, red, yellow, blue and green ink

Week 3 of the lino printing class at Waterstones. This week’s skill was Combined Colour. Today’s class started with a fun bit of colour play. We were each given a small solid piece of lino, a sheet of acrylic with some inks on it, an inky roller and a dry roller. We made three or so prints and then passed the tools on to the person on the left. Some of the inks had been mixed with a translucent solution which would affect how the colours interacted.

I was intrigued by the idea that a “magic” additive could make an ink translucent, so the colours underneath show through when you print over them. The inks on our sheets were already mixed, so I couldn’t tell which did what, and I’d have loved more time to test it properly. Something to come back to.

Then we got to work designing and cutting. I went super simple today, despite having a more involved design in mind earlier in the week. I figured it was better for me to spend the time playing with colour rather than cutting, so I could learn from the skill of the day. The other design gets tucked away for another time.

Two overlaid pieces of blue lino representing a landscape. The front one has trees carved into it and the back is solid. Both have had the sky cut away

I decided to cut some trees into one block and left the other as a solid base colour on our tutor Zara’s advice. As she said, I could always add detail to the second piece if time allowed, which it didn’t today. I also used scissors to cut the top of the lino away, leaving a white sky. This saved me cutting time, which left more for printing. Another good tip to remember for future designs.

The finished print: a landscape of dark green and lighter green hills with a teal hill behind, and pale green trees in the foreground

I was still inking up my final prints while everyone else was packing away, but I did end up with a design that looked roughly as I’d envisaged. With a little more time I could have got the inking just right, but it felt wrong to add ink to my acrylic sheet while everyone else was busy cleaning up. I learned a lot this week.

There were, as there always seems to be, some people more talented artistically than me, so I have to focus on what I can do week by week. I find coming up with a design on the hoof quite difficult. I suspect that, having spent so long appreciating prints, my tastes and my skill level are not balanced yet. I might have to invest in some equipment at home so I can finish some of these pieces off to my satisfaction and continue my learning.