Linocuts by my Four-Year-Old

My daughter has been bugging me to let her use my brayers and ink. She also enjoys using watercolors on the dud black and white prints I give to her.

This morning I handed her a piece of Blick EZ cut linoleum and told her to draw some shapes for me to carve out. After carving, I had her roll out some black ink and showed her how to print using the wooden spoon. She did it herself (her inability to put much pressure on the spoon is why the black areas have so much texture - which I think worked out nicely.) Later, she hand water-colored one of them. I can't decide if I like the color or black and white version better.


While I was carving, she wanted to carve, too, so I handed her another piece of linoleum, some carving tools, and showed her how to not cut herself. She had some fun ripping the block up a bit, and then printed that by herself, too (the image on purple paper below.)




 She draws and paints all the time, and I suppose there will be a lot more printmaking now. At the rate she's going, she'll surpass me in skill by the time she's 18. That would be pretty awesome.