u/samscartist

I recently discovered the concept of ACEOs and immediately fell in love with the idea of working on a micro-scale. As a printmaker, I happen to have a massive backlog of work from early test sheets, experiments, and misprints that usually just sit in a drawer gathering dust.

I spent my morning cropping these prints down to the standard 2.5 x 3.5 inch size to give them a second life as standalone mini-artworks. Some are just the raw black ink, while others have been embellished with watercolour.

Since I'm totally new to this community and format, I'd love some feedback from seasoned collectors or makers!

I always struggle to trust the process with reduction prints - the first layer is always so underwhelming and I never remember in that moment that the final image will look SO different.

This is my very last minute piece for a print swap - printed yesterday on Bunkoshi Select Awagami paper with Versafine ink pads - because I needed this to dry instantly so I can ship it today! 😅

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I was getting super frustrated working on this reduction yesterday, so I’ve decided to shelve the project. Think it needs a re-draw, and some simplifying, to make the composition work…

But… all is not lost! I actually quite liked a few elements, so I’ve scanned it in to print up some postcards for my market next month. What do you reckon? Decent way of making the best of a bad situation?

I reckon I might have bitten off a bit more than I can chew with this one… 😅

Not sure how many layers I’m planning but I think I’ve figured out I want 9 colours in this print, so this is going to be fiddly! To make matters worse - I’m hoping to have this done in time for an event in Crystal Palace this month.

This piece celebrates a much loved local landmark - the Crystal Palace dinosaurs. If you haven’t seen them in real life you really should, they’re wonderfully weird Victorian interpretations of dinosaurs, and some of their faces are just ridiculous. 🤣

So yeah, please wish me luck with this one. I’ll need it!

I put this little lino print together for my little sister’s wedding invitations, featuring some of her and her fiancé’s favourite plants: apple blossom, ginkgo leaves and lavender.

Over the course of printing the 100ish invitations the lino started to take on a weird curve, which made inking and getting consistent pressure through the press quite tricky - think you can see this more clearly in my little run of prints I did after the invites were all printed, the centre looks a bit patchy/uneven.

That said, I’m not sure if it massively detracts from the print? Would be keen to figure out why this happened though and what can be done to prevent it from happening again.

This is the view of my packing table earlier today: all my own original, hand carved and printed artwork!

Everything in my practice is made by hand from start to finish - from initial sketch, through lino carving, and finally printing - not a shred of AI at any stage of production! 😊

I have a full range of limited edition lino prints, paintings and drawings, hand printed and digital art reproduction cards, bookmarks and hand cut stickers.

For more info or to buy my work please check out www.samscartist.com/shop

If ever I need to find inspiration, I’ll always go back to drawing birds. 😊

This is a selection of my lino prints (own content) - all hand carved and printed - featuring sparrows, ravens, magpies, blackbirds, and robins, plus a feather thrown in for good measure. I hope you enjoy them, and if anyone has any suggestions for cool birds I can draw next, let me know!

This piece was hand-carved and printed onto Chinese calligraphy paper with imbedded bronze, gold and silver leaf, celebrating the cheeky little sparrows that can be found all across the city.

Taking inspiration from traditional Chinese porcelain for the colour scheme and sharp blue and white contrast, this is my first botanical composition for the year, but likely not my last.

Always up for recommendations of new plants to draw and carve too! 😊

I’ve been trying to add a little colour into my practice lately, moving away from strictly monochromatic or black and white work, and it’s pushed me down a path of experimentation with layering and reduction processes.

Here’s a little selection of pieces from the past 6 months or so, would love to know what you think! 😊