Linoleum Print on Canvas Triptych by Dr. Sam Lam
I bought these three canvases then decided I was sick of painting and only wanted to do paper drawings. After many many drawings, I started to do print work using linoleum. I then thought that I could somehow create a linoleum print onto canvas. That took some finagling. I first realized that the linoleum block that I had was too small to fit so I then found out that I could use it to cover exactly 1/4th the size of the canvas. By doing so I inverted the block to create various patterns on each canvas. By making an expanding grid pattern on the linoleum I could have a line pattern that radiated toward greater width in one canvas and the reverse in the adjacent canvas. In order to transfer the ink from the linoleum to the canvas, I had to jerry rig two cardboard pieces with a ton of chopsticks between them so that the ink roller would not bend into the canvas during rolling. Somehow it all worked out! I love the use of orange both because it goes well with both blue and yellow but also because it adds complexity since it is not the expected primary color of red that would normally be paired with yellow and blue. I also like the purple blue color that is truly unique. Again the juxtaposition of rigidity and handfeel is a pleasant one for me and a recurrent theme in many of my later works.
