Umi's Tears is up on the Inspired By Japan website.  http://barenforum.org/japan/prints.html  I'm so glad I'm pariticipating in the fundraiser for tsunami relief.  As the site says:

These original hand pulled prints were made with great respect for Japan and the very best wishes from all the artists for a recovery. Each artist printed 30 prints of the same image that will be sold in venues all over the world to raise funds for relief for those who survived the terrible earthquake and Tsunami.


First venue, South Africa.  ;-]

Umi's Tears - Inspired By Japan

There's some variaiton in the color intensity of the prints, but none of the scans show the wave color true, but the last scan comes closest.  It's phthalo green rolled over phthalo blue.

Now I'm signing and numbering the prints and getting 31 of the 35 ready for the mail.

Back to Printing Today

Back to printing today, amid a couple fanfic writing assignments.  I really shouldn't cross the streams, but sometimes the time gets away from me.

Also we're nursing our old puppy dog through a serious tummy disorder.  She won't eat, but at least she's drinking.  Boxer's have touchy tummies, but this is a first.  I'm dribbling broth down her resisting gullet, but it's been a week since we took her to the vet, and she really needs nurishment.

At least I can tear down the rest of the paper.  That doesn't take a brain.

~*~

Ta-da!  Finished printing.  And wonder of wonders, they're all good prints!  That's never happened before.  There's some variation here and there, but no botched prints.  Amazing.

Now to figure out how to mail them off to the show.  15"x10" is an odd size, but I'm sure there's an envelope that'll fit.

Umi's Tears - Printing

Prints at last.  I got half of them done today, half again tomorrow.  I like the kozo paper.

Working well with two brayers, a large and a small, to add the greeny-blue tint to the center.  I'm liking it.

Finished Carving Umi's Tears

Finished carving finally.

Now I'm ready for a test print, but in the meantime, here is a faux print - b&w mirror image of the block:

So now I tear down the paper and pull out the ink...to be continued.

~*~

Will had a suggestion about color.  I said I was thinking of going with blue, in keeping with the water theme, and he suggested blue with a turq. center.  Sort of bluey-green.  Interesting.  I'll experiment.  Whatever I do it'll be rolled on or tapped in as it's one block.

Progress on Umi's Tears

Burning the candle on both ends and the middle with the Inspired by Japan woodcut, a weaving project, house remodeling and out-of-town company.  Racing to finish Umi's Tears so I can get the prints off to Barbara who's coordinating the collection.

Japan Relief Print

Moving right along (no rest for the wicked -- or chronically lazy).  Working on a sketch for the Japan Relief Benefit Print.

This is a giant wave reflected in an umi dragon's eye.  I had to negotiate the design with my son, who has a proprietary interest in the umi dragon, as he has a roll playing character based on the concept.  He wanted to make sure the dragon was portrayed in a positive manor.  I hope this meets with his approval.

I'm tentatively calling it Umi's Tears.

Eye tilted slightly.  Tear moved over.  Don't know what I'd do w/o my scanner and Paint Shop Pro.  ;-y

Yet another iteration.

The thing about art is it's obsessive/compulsive.  Thank goodness dinner is almost done and I can quit this for awhile.  ;-j

Another Prisma-Umi

Another Paleo-Umi augmented with Prismacolor pencils.

I have a number of unsatisfying prints while trying to get a good multi-color print. So I have plenty to play with with my colored pencils. Soon I'll be brave enough to pull out the watercolor and see what I can do with that.

Paleo-Umi

I finally finished Paleo-Umi, a block my son inspired me to make for his roll-playing character. He challenged me to make it in the style of my Paleo-Mythos series of improbable cave art creatures. So my mythical ancestral cave artist must have seen a primordial umi in the sky and painted it on her cave wall.


I was never completely satisfied with any of the prints tho. Umi is blue with silver fringe, but I didn't want a monochrome print, and none of the multi-colored ones quite did it. So Umi lanquished unfinished to my mind.


In the meantime I discovered an interesting coloring technique that uses secondary colors -- orange, green and purple. You can get some of the most interesting color mixes that way, like pinks and blues and yellows. The eye creates them. In weaving this is called color & weave.


So I picked a print that was mostly orangey, with a greenish dragon, and started from there. I used prismacolor pencils and some pastel and slowly began adding color over color. I shifted Umi into a blue, with silver tips to his fringe, horns and claws, and the background became multicolored, giving it depth. The block I had chosen had a distinct oval in the woodgrain and I had incorporated it into the design as a rippling pool. I distinguished it from the rest of the "rock wall" with darker passes of greens and blues and purples to make it stand out.


When I was done, the only part that remained untouched with new color was my ancestral artist's hand print with which she signed her work.


I gave it to Will for his 25th birthday. I hope he finds it a suitable representation of his Umi.

Another Watercolor Umi

paleo-umi

Another watercolor version of Umi.

Paleo Umi for Will

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

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

Printing Process -- Umi

Here is the inked block and the finished print, a three-color viscosity woodcut.


Tapping on thalo blue mixed with miracle gel to repel other colors.


Rolling on yellow, red in turn, also of different viscosities that will allow each to print.

Printing block face down on dry print paper. See slats to hold roller off print bed.
Cranking through the press with slow, even pressure. Lifting the block to reveal the print.

Paleo Umi Prints

These are some of the first prints of my Paleo Umi block. Thalo blue w/ white (the blue was giving my trouble, so I punched it up) was the last. The blueish-grey was the first -- the blue would not sit on top of the black. The reddish and greenish ones were attempts at viscosity prints, but as I wanted the blue to be dominant on the dragon, it wasn't working well. Had I wanted to wipe the blue instead, I could have gotten a brighter dragon I'm assuming. I'll be trying that next.

I want to make a blue dragon, red hand and somewhat mixed or neutral background. Still working out the logistics.

Umi Block

Woodcut block for Paleo Umi, 9"x12". I'll start printing it tomorrow in lab. It's Will's Umi, but I'm also using it for my final exchange, the illustration of a fortune cookie: appearances can be deceiving. Appropriate as Umi is a shape-shifter.

I'll run this past Will to be sure, but I believe Umi is supposed to be blue with silver/white down the back. Also a blue jeweled eye. I made it faceted and it can be hand-colored.

He left it up to me, but I decided to go with the various elements of a Japanese dragon -- fur down the back, horns, whiskers. I believe he said three claws, but I went with that for esthetics.

I'm particularly proud of the gesture. I looked at a lot of dragons before I happened upon the pose I wanted. I modified it to my purposes. Also the woodblock was serendipity -- it had the circular water pattern I wanted to imply.

So this is my interpretation of a Paleo Umi.