Birds Cards! The 2024 Set of Linoprints is Out Now!

It’s that time of year! Like, really that time of year. Like, in all honesty I started writing this post over a month ago. But it’s still the holiday season and my holiday cards for 2024 are all done. This is the second year of my Ontario birds series. A brand new set of linocut prints which are all available on my Etsy page.

Making these cards is always a big undertaking in my studio. Each is a two colour print, so they all had to hang to dry twice. The ink is oil-based, so it’s a decent amount of drying time, too. There were garlands of cards in my studio for over a month.

Strings of linocut cards of birds hanging to dry in the studio of artist Corey Waurechen

The cards came from some humble beginnings– that is the tiny little sketches that my ideas came from.

Rough sketches of Ontario Birds by Corey Waurechen — From first sketches…

Four linocut cards of Ontario birds, Blue Jay, Great Horned Owl, Great Blue Heron and Red-Tailed Hawk by Corey Waurechen — …to final cards! The Great Blue Heron, Blue Jay, Great Horned Owl and Red-Tailed Hawk.

And I initially only planned to make four cards. As I was working on carving the blocks I came up with the idea for the fifth card, and I couldn’t resist. It was one of those ideas that you can’t wait on, I had to get it out. I should also mention that part of that idea came from gradients. That was my word of the month… G R A D I E N T S .

Printmaking work in progress in the studio of Corey Waurechen — Please note this EXTRA LARGE brayer I got specifically for the making of my gradients.
Beautiful…

It really is very exciting, you’ll have to believe me on this one. It’s an entirely new dimension to a two-colour print. And I’ve learned to have a level of control with it as well, which really made it effective… and practical. If I couldn’t make the gradient at least similar on each print, then it wouldn’t make much of a print run. But if I do say so myself, I think I did a pretty dang good job! It’s all very exciting… at the very least it is to me. And then here is the fifth print, the Canada Goose:

Linocut card of Canada Goose by Corey Waurechen

Some other highlights include this very unusual studio assistant (usually it’s the other one):

Mortimer the cat in the studio of Corey Waurechen — Mortimer is not generally known for sleeping, so this was in fact a very helpful run as studio assistant.

I had an interesting time deciding how to approach the background trees of the Great Blue Heron print. A couple tests on some scrap lino more or less solved that.

Test linocut prints of a Great Blue Heron by Corey Waurechen — Always have to do test prints, or “Artist’s Proofs.”

Tests of linocut trees by Corey Waurechen — Always have to do test prints, or “Artist’s Proofs.”

I think that’s about all I have to say about this year’s cards and the making-of-them. I suppose it’s not the best year for sending holiday cards with the Canada Post strike and all, but it’s still the holidays! If you find yourself in the Napanee area my cards are also available at Ellena’s Cafe & Pantry!

Linocut bird cards made by Corey Waurechen for sale at Ellena's Cafe & Pantry