Eve Stockton's process begins by hand carving three-foot by three-foot wood blocks. The composition is built in successive layers; each layer of oil-based ink is rolled onto the carved block. Working with master printer Susan Goldman at Lily Press, the artist carefully aligns each freshly inked block on the paper before passing it through the large press. A print is often re-inked and layered with other blocks to create a complex symphony of field and ground, color and form. The physicality of both the carving and the printing demands rigor and focus. Stockton may further enhance the layered print with watercolor, colored pencil or ink to amplify the composition or to highlight and add drama to particular features.
Many of Stockton's woodcut prints are inspired by summers spent by the sea in Nova Scotia. They are emblematic of her lifelong love of being outdoors observing nature. The artist especially enjoys presenting large-scale prints in groupings that create an immersive experience for the viewer and generate a sense of movement in the work.
Stockton has a multifaceted background having studied both Architecture and Fine Arts at Princeton University (Undergraduate), Princeton, NJ, followed by a Masters in Architecture from Yale School of Architecture, New Haven, CT. After working as an architect in NYC for a number of years she chose to concentrate on studio art.
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in which an artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that the artist cuts away carry no ink, while characters or images at surface level carry the ink to produce the print. The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the block with an ink-covered roller leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas.