Last Saturday I spent most of the day at Hidden Lake Gardens taking reference photos. Myself and other members of the LCVA will be exhibiting our work there in the Spring. I took this butterfly photo in the flower garden just south of the Visitor Center. I’ve been thinking about doing a butterfly print for some time and now that I have a good photo reference I started working on it this week. The first thing I do when using a photo reference is study the photo and sketch it out. Sometimes I’ll sketch it out two or three times. Then I sketch the image directly onto the linoleum block. Some people make a tracing and rub a reverse image on the block. I don’t. I probably should because I screwed up my sketch by making it too small. So, I erased it and drew it again. The second sketch came out perfect. I haven’t started cutting yet because I hadn’t decided on how I want the background to look. I thought about cutting a thousand little circles in different colors…..but I just wasn’t too excited about that. Then today, while I was watching a movie about Vincent Van Gogh who I love, I was inspired to drop the circle idea and stick with a Van Gogh-like expression of lines in different colors. I dont know if it will turn out, but it will be fun trying. Anyway, tonight I have to cut some paper. I use Rives BFK paper. I tried about a half dozen other brands and I like the Rives the best. As for the linoleum I’m using some “Wonder Cut” linoleum from Dick Blick. It’s more sponge-like and easier to cut but I can tell that I wont be able to achieve as much detail. I’m not too sure I’ll use it again. I will be using a reduction process for the butterfly. I think when I use the last of my linoleum I’ll start experimenting with wood. I’m using Speedball cutting tools. They work great for linoleum. I suppose I’ll have to get some better tools for wood. 
The Heron 