William Cook

Printmaker

I am a Seattle-based printmaker and musician born and raised in the Northwest.

 

Through hand carved linoleum block prints and a variety of other print techniques, I try to capture both scenes of rural beauty as well as its slow and inevitable decay, while society as a whole slowly shifts to a more urban existance.

 

 

 

 

My linoleum prints come from a mix of photos and my imagination. I create a drawing and trace it onto tracing paper. Then I flip it over and trace on top of the lines to transfer the image onto the linoleum block. 

 

I carve out the areas that I don't want to print, ink the block with oil-based inks, and run it through a 12" Etton etching press. I print on a variety of papers, but  prefer papers made from 100% cotton and of archival quality.

 

 

Collagraphs

 

Collagraph comes from the word "collage," and can quite literally be a collage of different materials adhered to a plate and printed.

 

I use a variety of techniques. Some prints are made by glueing material to a plate, some are made by etching into the plate, and some are a mix of both.

 

Once the image on the plate is complete, I seal it with polymar gloss. When the gloss has dried, I ink the plate, remove the excess ink with tarlatin, and run it through the printing press with dampened BFK Rives 100% cotton paper.

 

 

Thank you for stopping by to look at my work. Enjoy!

 

William