Bill's First Woodcut!

Blackburn Bridge, 4"x6". This is so waaay kewl. 8-] Start to finish in one day! Show-off! He even took the photo on our trip back to Blackburn in '03.

Scanned it in, turned it to b&w (using threshold), chalked the back, traced onto block, carved and printed. He finished up at midnight last night. An edition of 20.

I didn't touch a thing, just gave instructions and demonstrated. What a protege. 8- D

Spirals and Leaves

Spirals and leaves. Monotypes with stencils. I went a little crazy last week -- I think I cranked out about 40 of these little things. They're like potato chips -- you can't do just one. I finally had to quit when I ran out of paper -- twice. ;-> I could do these all day. They push my o/c button.

I think the 3rd one down is actually the first print. From there all permutations progressed (in no particular order). My inks were mixed with white, so I wasn't getting any transparent overlays. That's for next time. I like the light colors I was getting (tho in the case of the 1st one, you can barely see the lavendar spiral).

I may use the bulk of them for a print exchange, as they surely constitute an edition, if a varied one. 8-]

Ink & Pastel

Something new. Pastel on a print to mimic red ochre and yellow ochre.

Paleo-Basilisk

5"x6"
Basil the Cranky Chicken. Otherwise known as a basilisk. Or in this case, a paleo-basilisk. I'm rather amused by the claw-print. ;->

Paleo-Ho-Ho Block Faux Print

I wanted to see what my block would look like as I carved on it some more. I'm currently planning to watercolor or Prismacolor the highlights, so I opened them up some.

Hand Print

Hand Print, 5"x6" image. Testing out the block. I carved it for Loscon 33, as part of my booth display in the art show.

I'll have a full alcove booth which I plan to use partly for a demo/display of woodcut, as well as my art.

Leafy Swirl

This is the gnarled block with chine colle and a leaf. The leaf worked as a stencil and blanked out the ink. But it also left an interesting leafy pattern of veins.
I like this look and may do some more with leaves.

Another Variation

Another variation on chine colle. I like the effect of the angular colors of this and the previous print against the undulating lines.

Chine Colle

Gnarled printed on Somerset grey with chine colle. I overlapped a red and aqua Japanese tissue with flecks of silver and gold. Where they crossed they made a lavendar.

I used methyl celulose paste in the lab. It acted just like rice paste I've used at home. Difficult to lay flat, but not a problem to brush flat with the brush. Easy to overlay. Would like to play with different colors, maybe tissue paper.

Gnarled

4" square

Gnarled is a close-up of a gnarled tree, but it can be anything -- waves, clouds, motion. This is black on grey Somerset. Black on white is good too, but I like this. I'll play with some watercolor on some of the b&w ones to see what I get.

Art Expo Honorable Mention

Letting Go, reduction block print, won Honorable Mention at the Learning & Product Expo: Art! at the Burbank Hilton this weekend. 8-] Not only did I get a ribbon, but I got $100 gift certificate for Dick Blick! Woo-hoo.

I entered 3 pieces and 2 got in -- Letting Go and Paleo-Umi. The two pieces inspired by Will. Letting Go was from a dream, and Paleo-Umi was a commission to illustrate his game character in ancestor form.

I guess it's true when you invest emotion in a work it comes through. These are two emotional pieces for me.

Now I'll have to tell Will Letting Go is an award-winning print. He has his print hanging by the front door. I think I'll hang ours over the fireplace. 8-]

Favor

Valkyries 4"x6"

Here is an actual print of the block on Somerset grey paper. I like the stone effect, as it's a runestone. The block needs some clean-up. Too many extranious lines for my taste. Kitty liked it.

I can see why Vikings carved such angular runes -- it's so much easier to carve straight lines than curvy ones. I like my spiral "es" but it sure is harder carving it in wood. Perhaps I need to make a chop. The double line "P" I'm starting to use in SCA blocks is much easier represented in wood.

Valkyries

valkyries 4"x6"

Mirrored woodblock faux print, just to see what it'll look like.

Sven & Kolfinna's thank you favor to Their Court.

A Fool and His Bunny...

...Are Soon Parted.

Shameless pun. ;- y This is a twist on the Fool Tarot card. The fool is usually accompanied by a small dog. Here he's traveling with a bunny...but not for much longer.

I used watercolor pencils to punch up a monotype ghost. Next I'll try ordinary watercolors.

Is It Live or Is It Memorex?

A fool and his bunny are soon parted. ;-j



Actually it's neither. They're both ghost prints. The plate was overinked and the first print was very dark. But there was still a lot of ink on the plate so I made several ghosts. Then, on a lark, I decided to see if the over-dark print would print, so I put it on top of the plate and printed several more. I actually ended up with an edition of 10 monotypes from one plate! That's gotta be a record.

What a Picnic Basket!

4"x6" intaglio etching & watercolor

Otherwise known as the Longaberger Basket Building, corporate offices of the premium basket makers. My sister works in the basket building. It's really kewl. 8-] This is an ant's eye view.

Diagonal Dog

I know, the orange is distracting, but which looks better do you think -- flat or on edge?

Loki Lounge Lizard

monotype 4" square

Here's Loki just lolligagging around. His favorite position on the couch. It's also my way of making lemonade out of a particularly sour lemon. The blue was way too sticky and hard to work with so I rerolled with red and traced again. Faint blue lines came up by way of outline, and as I worked I got a kewl grape (except for a few nicely placed patches of red). So all in all a success.
I liked the background when I did it, but I think I'd make it recede into the background next time. It does on the ghosts.

Ghost Whispers

monotype ghost, colored pencil 4"x6"

This is the palest ghost print -- barely an outline -- with colored pencil. Just the pimaries, red, blue and yellow. Softened and blended with a tissue. May do a little more, but I kind of like it. It was fun to do. Took me back -- waaay back -- for an afternoon. ;-> Just color, color, color.

Whispers

viscosity monotype 4"x6"

Whispers, more cave art, with an emphasis on secondary colors. Didn't manage any green, but I've got a nice maroon, purple, orange thing going on.

It's hard to tell intensities with a monotype. Hence the rock weathering comes forward a little more than I intended.

I have ghosts to watercolor, with one on Arches 88 for colored pencil.

Punkin

Monotype 4"x6"
Billy's first Halloween. Mmmm, tasty. I think he was trying to eat the light.
Monotypes are compulsive. I need to watercolor the ghost. It's overall softer with no dark lines. I'm really taken with the technique, tho you can't exactly make an edition.
I want to do this image as a woodcut. I think it would be pretty interestng.

Ewe & Eye

monotype, 4"x6"
Ewe & Eye

There and Back Again 8-]

Worm Wrangler's Reward 4"x6"

The Baren Summit was great. I never worked so hard for so long a stretch at having fun. It was exhausting. But in a good way.

I cut this silk moth in Vancouver. It's one of Michael Cook's pets. He gets a print for letting me use it. 8-] I learned a few tricks for printing with a baren and ran off an edition on kozo paper. I'll want to try it on Somerset when I get back to class next week. And I want to get some Daniel Smith water-soluable relief ink! Such easy clean up.

Met so many great people at the Summit. This is such a good idea. Can't wait for the next one!

Singing In The Rain

4"x4" monotype

Billy had just seen Singing In The Rain, so when it began to sprinkle, it was a natural. ;->

Sheep Monotype

4"x4", monotype

Working on tone and texture in my monotypes (thanx to Belinda's mentoring). 8-] As she says, it's just removing ink. Yeah, right. Like drawing is just adding ink. ;-j

Gold Dolphin

And here's a gold one. 8-] Daniel Smith metalic gold. Kazuko brought it in for her Koi. Smooth, easy to work with.

Bubbles

Medieval Dolphin (loosely based). 4"x6" woodcut. Going to be my largesse for Pennsic, printed in blue.

Catching Raindrops

monotype, watercolor 4"x4"

This is my nibblefest entry for this month: Raining Cats & Dogs. NFAC on ebay. I used watercolor crayons. I may use regular watercolor on the ghost just to see the difference. WC crayons can go on pretty thick. I'd like to try glazing next.

Nude Moon & Star

5x6 linocut, b&w, rev faux-print

First linocut. Almost too easy to cut -- have to be careful not to gouge the block. I scanned in the block, flipped it, darkened it to mimic a print. Looks pretty good. Have to try printing it tomorrow and see what I really get.

Thinking in Pastels

Thinking aloud in pastels. Don't know why I didn't think of this before -- just coloring away. 8-] I'm considering flipping the house and moon on the top. Only the nude is carved (in outline) -- rest is speculation at this point.

Loki's Signature Style

Here's a framed monoprint signed by Loki. He got into a bag of frames and matts before I could use them and I was complaining to everyone about it. My nephew had the brilliant idea of using them for pictures of Loki. Terrific! So here's Loki and his handiwork, pre-chewed by the model. How many artists can say that?
;->

Monoprint Ghost with Watercolor

Ok, it's an experiment. Not bad for a first pass. The ghost was very light so it lent itself to watercolor. I only had one yellow -- gamboge -- so there were only so many greens to get from that. I like the way the face detail came out. It looks like our 1972 selves at Blackburn College. 8-]

More Mini-monos

Two more mini-monoprints, a shaggy goat

and Dolly, my woodcut sheep. Both are on my 1.5"x2.25" zinc plate, much smaller than they appear here. It's a fun size. 8-]
I like the squiggly technique on the goat -- fits the subject. I really forced myself to remove ink -- I walked away and came back so I could see it with fresh eyes. Glad I did.
I went with the fur on Dolly, but I could have removed more ink from the body. Also the background texture isn't quite what I wanted. I was going for lighter but I just got muddy.

Loki Monoprint

Just a little monoprint, and I mean little: 1.5"x2.25", the smallest plate I've ever beveled. It's printed on a Japanese paper, smooth on print side, fiber inclusions on other side.

I'm getting better at using the small pointy stomp, the flatt stubbier one, various chopsticks, wrapped and unwrapped, and tapping color back down with a finger (erases the dots). Getting better lights and darks. Need to work more on the shades in the middle.

Laurels vs Pelicans

War of the Lilies XX: Laurels vs Pelicans
woodcut 4.25" sq. on 5"x7" cream paper.
Largesse for the Royals to take to Lilies.

Sun Flower

Sun Flower -- solar flare


Woodblock, 4.5"sq. Turned (variously: quarter, half, three-quarter) and double printed, first in black, second in blue/black. I wanted to see movement and I think I've got it.

Another Watercolor Umi

paleo-umi

Another watercolor version of Umi.

Yellow Hippo

yellow hippo, 4"x6"
Another colored hippocampus. This one is brighter than the limey one.

Lime Hippo

hippocampus, watercolor crayons, 4"x6"

Another watercolored sea horse.

Paleo Umi for Will

Paleo-Umi, woodblock & watercolor crayons, 9"x12"

Hippo birdie two boo! 8-] The background is more turq.

Puffins on Plexi - Stage One

Here's a print of two puffins traced in watercolor crayons on plexi. The image is from Mandelsen's photo art catalog. I'll watercolor it further to see how much it'll take to flesh out. It was easy to do.

Cat & Mouse, Take 2

cat & mouse2
Another print, this one a little dark. Still playing with the watercolor crayons. 8-]

Cat & Mouse

medieval cat & mouse 4.5"x5"
This is a light copy of a drypoint that I watercolored. The cat and mouse are taken from a medieval manuscript. I'm using watercolor crayons. Nice colors, easy to get saturation.

Blue Hippo

Hippocampus w/ watercolor 4"x6"

This was a lighter print, so I thought I'd try a little watercolor on it. I used watercolor crayons on the water and then wet it with a brush. Works well I think. I used 4 or more colors of blues and greens.

Next time I'll try watercoloring the whole print.