Xmas in July

I can't believe it's time to start thinking about the Schuyler House xmas card again!  Xmas in July.  Oh well, that's a trope.

Of course there always has to be a castle in the picture ~ the Schuyler House castle to be precise.  Or some variation on it.

So what goes with a castle?  A dragon?  A xmas dragon in a Santa hat?  Curled up around the base of the castle maybe?  Or a baby dragon hanging in a stocking on the hearth?

Of course we have puppies at SH, but they won't be puppies come xmas.  Still, puppies in little Santa hats would be toot suite.  ;-]

Ha!  They could be guarding the portcullis.  ;->  Keeping watch for Santa?  8-]  That sounds kewt.  Never mind they'll be bigger than Gabrielle by xmas.  Maybe as big as Lady.

~ As an aside ~ it would be really nice to do woodcuts of all the SH dogs.  I did Tay in an xmas card already.  I'll tuck that into the back of my mind for later.

Googling castle portcullis and castle gate for some interesting images to contemplate.

~*~

Ooh!  A thought.  A doggie-door sized portcullis.  8-]

Early Birds Printed

Callooh-Callay, a magical day!  I printed the whole run in one go.  8-]

That's never happened before.  And on a hot day too (when the ink dries out faster).  It just flowed.  8- ]

Of course I was using just one color, due to time constraints.  I'll mess with multi-colors on another run sometime.

 As soon as they're completely dry, I'll sign the backs and ship them off to Bea Gold and the Baren Forum Exchange #56.

This is the first time I've done a bleed print.  In fact the paper was a tad narrower than the block.  But I found it really easy to line it up because the block printed a rectangle on the liner paper underneath.

I like it when things conspire to work together.  8-]

So I guess I sign and number them on the back.  I'll get to that tomorrow, probably.  Then they'll wing their way to the moderator with my abject apologies for being so late.

Looking Out My Backdoor

Multi-tasking

Been editing a poetry collection.  Now back to printing my Early Bird.

Now I'm thinking I'll start with blue and see where it goes from there.  Thinking of adding red (to make purple) and yellow (to make green).

Mini-blocks and Puzzle Blocks

I have a passel of mini-blocks -- Shina grab bag from McClains
http://www.imcclains.com/catalog/blocks/shinagrabbag.html

I'm thinking of doing a bunch of little critter woodcuts -- perhaps my early bird demi-dino series.  

In other news, I got my block for the 

Fantastic Garden: Monumental Collaborative Puzzle Print

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/557726766/fantastic-garden-monumental-collaborative-puzzle-p?ref=card

I'm thinking an early-bird would make a perfect garden denizen.  8-]

Recarving

Recarving delicate lines today.  I have to sidle up to the concept 'cuz I'm pathologically incapable to carve deeper.  ;- j

Early Bird ~ Test Print

Black and white test print with the baren (and wooden spoon).  I'm liking it.

Cleaned, powdered and dried block.

I can see where I have to recarve some of the more delicate lines.

Messing with Colorways

Messing with colorways.  Had a brilliant (possibly cold-crazed) idea to print it in black with points of color highlights.

Here's a faux print w/ added color:

Red of eye, yellow of wing, blue of petal.  ;- ]

I think I like it.

~*~

Going to pull out my baren and do a couple test prints that way.  I don't do the baren well, but I'm not ready to "fire" up the press yet.  And it'll give me an idea  if my color spots will work.

Choose Paper

Choosing and tearing down paper today.  Opted for grey Rives BFK. 

Paper all torn down.  Good thing the instructions say approx. 10"x7.5".  ;->

Next step:  test printing.

~*~

Looking for the right colorway.  Not my strong suit, so I'm looking at others' art to see what they chose (and hopefully why).

Perhaps I should take a class...

~*~

Studying color online -- looking at color woodcuts.  Think I'll steep for awhile.

Time to Test Print

Ok, time to test print and then recarve of course.  I have a tendency to carve details too lightly, and of course the block will swell a bit once I ink it.  So there are bound to be a few details to carve again, especially in the early bird.

But first things first.  8-]

Here's a faux print (bw, mirror image) to see what it'll look like:

Fiddly Bits

Working on those fiddly bits around the flowers now.

Time to stretch.

~*~

Back to work on the flowery fiddly bits.

Time for another break.

More fiddly blossom bits.

~*~

Carve, carve, carve.

Getting there, one petal at a time.

Details

Sketched in some detail on the flowers.  More carving.

Mirrored and bw:

Lookin good.  ;- ]

More Carving

More carving.

Still need detail in the agapanthus.

Here's the full block so far.

~*~

Another day, another session.

Hmmm.  Can't seem to upload a pic at the moment.  Later.

~*~

Now I'm working on the fleur.

It'll be easier to sketch and carve in black.

~*~

More carving.

Starting to Carve

And drawing a bit more detail.  I think I've fixed the feet.  A little more detail to the bee and flower too.

It's always a surprise to see what I'll carve first.  Looks like it's the bee.  ;- ]

~*~

More carvey-carve.

Need to take a break now, before my neck and shoulders turn on me.

Early Bird Cartoon

Early Bird cartoon transferred to the block.  Ready, set, go!

~*~

Hmm.  Giving some thought to a background block now (the reverse side, as I'm down to my last (gasp!) block).  

I'm thinking a green ground and a blue sky, with a large fluffy cloud taking up most of it.  I like carving texture into the background and I don't want to just carve it all away and leave it white.  I'll doodle some color sketches.

~*~

Colored up a cartoon.  Something along this line (didn't have enough colors to play with, but it's the general idea).

Grass of course greener, sky bluer, bird orangeyer, with maybe a bit of brown for accent.  Bee will probably be black, agapanthus a bit purpley-blue.

The trick is in the texture.  Sky in striations, cloud in billows, grass in rows of hash marks.  And of course some texture to the dino-bird, perhaps as shading.

~*~

Ok, did a better job of coloring.

My plan is to carve the foreground first, and if there's time, carve the background.  I will eventually, but I'll have to see if I get it done for this exchange.


Not liking the coloration of the bird.  Work on the plumage.

Cartoon for carving the background block:

Carve away motifs, most of cloud mass (except for the swirls).  Carve hatch marks in the grass area, some striations under the cloud.

Early-Bird Sketch

Getting closer to finalizing the cartoon.  

Bee's a bit large, but that's as small as I want to carve him!  The flower is an agapanthus, a suitably alien-looking flower if I ever saw one.  ;- j

I'm still messing with the arms/wings, but I'm nearly satisfied.  I wanted to get the velociraptor-like feet in the pic, but I may move them around a bit more.

About ready to transfer the cartoon and start carving.

Early Birds

Worked up a loose cartoon, stained the board.  I'll transfer a skeleton image when the board is dry.  I want to work out the details on the board.

Might not use that bee, or that lavender, or even that dino-bird, but it's a rough idea of the image.  I'll certainly add colorful plumage and make him more bird-like.  I like it's posture of curiosity.

The hoatzin comes to mind as a model.  Heck, it's half way back to a dinosaur all by itself.  ;- j

Stamps Finished

Ta-Da!  I glued the stampy bits to the handle bits (and only glued my finger a little bit -- thank goodness I picked it up from the block in time!).  O-O

A little sand paper and time should do the trick.  ;- j

Anyway, here they are:

Britt & Cindy's letterboxing stamps

I'll deliver them this weekend when I see my sister.  It was her commission for her friends.

I want to make myself a chop next.  8-]

Peanut Britt Stamp

Transferred cartoon, now carving.  Pink stampy material sure takes up color.  I may have to use a different transfer system other than charcoal on the back of the cartoon for stamps.  Maybe the computer transfer method.  They sure get "dirty" in the process.

~*~

More carving.

~*~

Test printing.  Works for me.  8-]  Now to glue it to a stamp handle.

Cat & Bird Fights

Been googling cat fights and bird fights (those birds are fierce!), getting a feel for my early birds theme.  I'm thinking of a cat and early bird face off, perhaps over a tasty morsel.

This is the fun stage.  Well, the first fun stage.  ;- ]

Baren Exchange #56

Signed up for Baren Exchange #56, Size Chuban, Theme: Open, Sign-up January 1, 2013 due May 1, 2013.

This'll give me another chance at the Early Birds theme.  ;-]

Hm, so should I make the Leftovers IV prints from leftover paper from this project?

Early Birds

Oh I'm jazzed!

I have a theme I want to explore:  early birds, in the style of my paleo mythos (i.e., imaginary).  I want to regress birds back to dinosaurs.  Bright, freathery, feisty dino-birds.  8-]

I envision a backyard garden scene, with kids and cats and dogs and field mice, all interacting with early birds.  More cute than threatening (except maybe to the field mice), rather like a small dog or a cat.  (Or a dragonette, but that's another theme...)  ;- ]

I'm collecting pics to play with, but nothing is cobbled together yet.  Stay tuned!

feathered velociraptors

http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/Top-10-Feathered-Dinosaurs-6.jpg/

Leftovers IV

Signed up for Leftovers IV print exchange.  The last couple times I've done long and thin pieces, because that's the size and shape of most of my left over pieces of paper.  But I'm thinking this time I'll make something more postcard or notecard size.  Even artist trading card size.  Something small.

I have a number of smallish blocks from a grab bag order of odd blocks from McClain's some time back.  

Don't have my subject yet, tho on another life line I'm exploring the archaic Southwest.  Maybe something petroglyph-like.  That would play into my general paleo mythos themed pieces.

That's a definite maybe.  ;- p