Velvet Shank 3

This is the third in a series of linocuts of the Velvet Shank mushroom, based on a line drawing that I made of one growing on a tree trunk in Longton Park in Stoke-on-Trent, during the winter. They grow, like most fungi, on decaying wood, and although it's sad to see them growing on a tree that's still just about in leaf, it's quite spectacular a year on when a huge bloom of the fungi erupt all over the now dead tree's trunk. As you can see from the photo, they are a beautiful honey colour with a darker, velvety stalk, hence the name 'velvet shank', shanks being the legs. It is one of the very few edible fungi that grow in the UK during the winter. I hope to make another set of work based on the Velvet Shank in colour at some point, but here I was fascinated by the lines, both the outines of the shapes and the gills, so I chose to use a line drawing in a more illustrative style, and to give myself a challenge in cutting the fines lines out of lino, as you can see in the work in progress photo.
 
It is printed with black Canfield water-based relief ink on Japanese Ho-Sho paper, which is light but very strong. The print area measures 101mm x 153mm (4” x 6”), on paper measuring 142mm x 200mm approx. It is not a limited edition print, and I will print more to order by hand as the need arises until the block of lino wears out.