Ritu Tilwani is the designer-printer-maker behind Dot and Dimension. Ritu creates hand-carved linocut prints in her little home studio in Seattle, Washington. A scuba diver, marine biology enthusiast, and an ocean advocate, she finds inspiration for her prints from the ocean. With most of her work based upon underwater pictures Ritu and her husband take when they go diving together, she says; “I feel very fortunate to encounter and observe marine life in their natural habitat”.
Ritu studied at the National Institute of Fashion Technology in India. Here, she worked with traditional block-printed textiles which sparked her interest in linocut printing. This provided her the freedom to print at home and experiment with new surfaces.
Working mostly with a monochrome palette, Ritu loves the challenge of creating depth and dimension while working with a single tone of colour; “I aspire to create prints that are striking yet calm, graphic yet organic at the same time”. The idea for a new print takes shape in her sketchbook months before it arrives as a finished artwork, taking on many forms and versions before it is carved. Ritu enjoys the carving stage the most, describing it as “calming and meditative”.
All of her prints are lovingly hand-burnished with the humble wooden spoon and a glass Print Frog barren. Ritu’s tools of choice are the Micro Palm tools by Flexcut, and a selection of Pfeil gouges. Her artworks are printed on translucent Japanese handmade washi papers which register the tiniest details, and Speedball Supergraphic Black is her ink of choice.
Currently, Ritu is working on an exciting project with a commitment to printing 100 postcards with different designs, culminating in an interactive installation at the end of the year.
“It has been a rewarding experience to establish my print studio in the past year” comments Ritu. She sells her prints at the historic Pike Place Market in Seattle and online through her shop.
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